How to leverage credit card points for a free iPad Air

When people think of credit cards and their miles and points, they think of travel. But what most people don’t know is that these points are their own form of currency. You can use credit card points for gift cards, offset purchases, link to your Amazon, and even buy Apple products! I want to show how I was able to use my American Express points to buy an iPad Air and how you can easily do it, too!

Before we start, I want to make a disclaimer: I do not advocate getting into credit card debt. The only true way to get value through points is to ALWAYS pay your credit card off in full every month. If not, then all of this is not worth it. So treat your credit card like a debit card and pay it off completely every month. Now, let me show you how to maximize points for Apple products!

American Express Membership Rewards

I love American Express products for many reasons, but one of the best cards to keep in your wallet is the American Express Gold card. Its current welcome offer includes earning 60,000 bonus points and 20% back at restaurants after spending $6,000 in the first six months of card ownership.

The 20% dining credit is great, but we will focus on those coveted 60,000 American Express points because that’s a solid number of points to earn. To receive these points, you have to spend $6,000 over a span of six months. So if you can comfortably spend $1,000 a month or if you have a known large purchase, then this will be an easy 60,000 points to receive.

I mentioned in a previous post how you could use Chase points to get Apple products as well because Chase has a partnership with Apple. Chase has an amazing online Apple storefront built into its portal. I recommend reading that article after this one.

With American Express, it’s a bit different. There is no direct way to purchase Apple products with points, but there is a very simple workaround for this: Gift Cards

Redeeming Amex Points for Apple Products

American Express cardholders get access to the Membership Rewards portal. That portal has many ways to redeem your points with different values. You can transfer the points to airlines, you can directly purchase hotel night stays, you can even exchange the points for cash (but at a terrible conversion rate). One of the options is to exchange the points for gift cards. The amazing thing is that right now, Apple is offering a 25% boost in the conversion value, making it even cheaper to get these gift cards.

Gift cards are offered in increments of $10, $25, $50, $100, and $500 where, normally, you’ll receive a value of .85 cents per point. So, if you opt for a $500 gift card, you’ll need 58,824 points to “purchase” it.

With this new boost in value, that same $500 gift card now only costs 47,059 American Express points! So, if you can get those 60,000 sign-up bonus points and then use them solely to buy gift cards, you can get $630 worth of Apple gift cards! You can use that to buy any Apple product you want, from an iPad Air, to Airpods, to an Apple Watch. You can even use the gift card to offset a larger purchase of a MacBook!

Once you have your points, this is how to actually redeem them:

1. Login to your American Express online account

From there, select Rewards & Benefits from the navigation menu, then Redeem for Gift Cards.

2. Search for Apple from the available retailers

You’ll then be prompted to select whether you want a digital or physical gift card, the number of cards, and the amount.

And boom, you’ve got a chunk of cash waiting to be spent on whatever your Apple-desiring heart wants! That is how you can leverage credit cards to, essentially, get free products from Apple!

Considerations

I did want to mention a few considerations about this card specifically. The American Express Gold card does have a $325 annual fee. There are many ways to offset that fee with some of its perks, like $10 towards Uber every month or their $7 monthly Dunkin credit. If you want to see a more in-depth analysis to see if it is worth it for you, I recommend doing some research. However, for the first year of owning the card, that sign-up bonus covers more than the annual fee.

Final thoughts

As mentioned, I usually use these points to redeem for travel. But some people prefer this type of redemption over traveling. That is what is so amazing about miles and points. They can be used in so many different ways, and you don’t need to pick just one. Be sure to check out our latest video walking through some other ways to do this with other credit cards!

What do you think? Are you in the credit card miles and points game? Have you ever redeemed points for an Apple product? I am obsessed with this subject, so please feel free to fire off any questions below. Remember to always pay the card off in full! If not, then this is NOT worth it!