Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card

At a Glance  

The Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card awards cardholders with four points for ever dollar they spend at restaurants. Cardholders can also earn 3X points on airline purchases and 2X points on gas station purchases. All other purchases earn cardholders one point per dollar. New cardholders can also earn 10,000 bonus points in their first three months. There are also no foreign transaction fees with this card and no annual fee for your first year.

Ideal for Those Who:

• Do a large portion of their spending on dining and airfare
• Plan to spend at least $1,000 in the first 3 months after signing up for this card
• Travel internationally and don’t want to pay foreign transaction fees
• Don’t want to pay an annual fee their first year

Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card Review

The Premier Rewards American Express® Card from Liberty Bank is this bank’s most prestigious rewards card. It normally charges a $99 annual fee, but new cardholders don’t need to pay any fee their first year.

This is great rewards credit card for frequent travelers, as it rewards them with three points for every dollar they spend on airline purchases. On top of that, cardholders also pay no foreign transaction fees and get access to some glamorous American Express® travel perks.

If you love eating out, the Premier Rewards Amex will give you the most rewards on dining purchases. You can earn four points for every dollar you spend at restaurants.

The rewards don’t end there, though. You’ll also earn two points for every dollar you spend at gas stations, and one point for every dollar spent anywhere else.

Additionally, new cardholders can earn 10,000 bonus points when they spend at least $1,000 in their first three months. Keep reading to learn more about the fabulous features of this American Express® Rewards Card.

Earn More Points on Dining Out

The Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card features a tiered points system that rewards you more points for certain categories of purchases. If you love eating out at restaurants, this may be the card for you. You’ll earn four points for every dollar you spend at a restaurant.

This can be particularly attractive for food writers, bloggers, and restaurant critics who might be visiting several higher-end restaurants per week. Even if you visit just one fine dining establishment a month, that bill may come out to nearly $300 just for you. That purchase will earn you 1,200 points.

You should keep in mind that in order to earn 4X points on dining, the business you’re eating at needs to be categorized as a restaurant. This can sometimes be tricky as many food service business owners are starting to think outside the box in terms of how they format their businesses.

For instance, you might grab something to eat at a cafeteria located inside a grocery store. Even though it is technically a dining expense, the Premier Rewards Card may only earn you one point for every dollar you spent because the business is not technically a restaurant.

3X Points on Airline Purchases

The Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card is also a rewarding credit card for frequent travelers. You’ll earn three points for every dollar you spend on airline purchases.

This is a great feature of this card because it means that you don’t just earn points on airfare. In fact, any purchases you make through an airline will earn you 3X points. If you purchase beverages or pay for extra baggage allowances, you’ll also be earning points.

The one snag in this offer is that you have to make the purchase directly through an airline. This might mean that you won’t earn the extra points if you book your tickets through a third-party agent or travel agent.

However, travelers often get the best fares when they book through an airline. Certain airlines, like Southwest, don’t even provide fares on third-party websites. If you want to make the most of your earning potential, browse through a third-party site to find the best deals but buy your tickets directly from the airline.

Earning Points on Your Other Purchases

The Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card will award you points on your other purchases, too. Purchases at gas stations will earn you two points for every dollar you spend.

As with earning dining and airline points, however, you need to make sure the business where you make your purchases is correctly categorized. You must make your purchase at a service station or automated gas station.

Wholesale clubs or grocery stores that have attached gas stations may not earn you twice the points. If you like filling up your tank at these types of businesses, you should check with Liberty Bank to make sure they’ll earn you the points you want. Nobody wants the unpleasant surprise of learning that their purchases didn’t earn them points.

However, even if your purchases don’t fall into any of these categories, you’ll still earn points on them. All other purchases will earn you one point for every dollar you spend. This is the minimum that most rewards cards offer customers. As such, you can breathe easy knowing that this Rewards American Express® earn isn’t shortchanging you on points.

Earn Bonus Points

This Premier Rewards Amex can also earn you major bonus points when you first sign up. There is, however, a spending requirement. Nevertheless, this requirement is easy for most cardholders to meet.

All you need to do is spend at least $1,000 in the first three months of owning this credit card. That comes out to just over $333 in purchases each month.

What’s great about this offer is that you earn these points on top of any regular points you earn. If you purchase a $1,000 airline ticket right after signing up, you’ll earn 14,000. Essentially, you’ll earn up to 14 points per dollar spent in your first three months.

Redeeming Your Points

The Elan Rewards Program manages the Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card’s rewards. When you’ve earned your points, you need to log into the Elan website to redeem them. You can redeem your points for merchandise, gift cards, travel vouchers and cash back.

Like many rewards cards this day, the Premier Rewards American Express® Card’s rewards catalog is not public. This means you can’t browse it before applying for this card to determine if there is anything there you’d want. Additionally, there’s no way of knowing how many points you need to redeem something.

However, unlike some banks, Liberty Bank does let potential applicants know the cash value of their points. Each point you earn on this Premier Rewards Card is worth $0.01 (one cent). As such, your 10,000 bonus points will earn you $100.

Save Money on Fees

As an incentive to sign up for the Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card, Liberty Bank waives the annual fee your first year. That means that you don’t have to worry about earning enough points to break even on your card.

In subsequent years, you’d have to spend about $2,500 on airline purchases to break even on the annual fee. However, this may be an easy feat to accomplish if you’re a frequent traveler. Many long-haul flights cost around $1,000 round trip. If you take two long-haul flights in a year, you already have your annual fee covered.

Speaking of frequent travelers, this is the only Liberty Bank credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. This means that you can travel the world making purchases here and there without having to worry about paying extra.

However, keep in mind that American Express® is not as widely accepted outside of the U.S. as Mastercard and Visa. While you won’t have to worry about foreign transaction fees, you might have difficulty finding merchants who accept your Amex in certain countries.

Premier American Express® Perks

One of the major benefits of the Premier Rewards American Express® Credit Card is the access to all sorts of premier perks. Travelers don’t just get to enjoy 3X points on airline purchases and no foreign transaction fees. They also receive free amenities at many luxury hotels around the world and can save up to 20% on their stays.

Travelers also get access to travel inconvenience insurance. This means if you lose your luggage or experience a flight cancellation or delay, American Express® can reimburse you for your inconvenience. Cardholders also get their own personal concierge and can even book event tickets well before the general public.

In addition, cardholders can extend manufacturer’s warranties, extra time to return purchases the make with their card, and a free extra credit card.

Should You Apply for the Liberty Bank Premier Rewards American Express® Card?

This credit card is a great choice for those who are looking for the most rewards from their credit card. Earning up to four points for every dollar you spend means you can earn rewards four times faster than with other Liberty Bank credit cards.

Earning 10,000 bonus points in your first three months is a nice touch and comes out to getting $100 back on your $1,000 purchase. This is almost like a 10% rebate. If you combine these bonus points with airline purchase points, you’ll earn even more.

The annual fee is very reasonable for all the elite perks you’ll earn with this card. Nevertheless, frequent travelers will be getting the most value from this card as most of the perks are travel related.