Sign-Up Bonus and Earning Points
For a card with no annual fee, The Plenti Credit Card has a pretty decent earning structure. Earn 3 Plenti® points per $1 spent at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000) and 2 Plenti points per $1 at U.S. restaurants.
Other purchases will get you 1 Plenti point per $1 spent.
The card also comes with a sign-up bonus (see the table above for details) to get you started on the right foot.
Plenti points can be redeemed toward purchases or as credit toward bills from specific Plenti partner retailers. The full list of 16 partner retailers is below.
Of course, you don’t need to have a credit card to earn Plenti points, but using the credit card is a great way to maximize the amount of Plenti points you earn.
Bottom Line: You can earn Plenti points with or without The Plenti Credit Card from Amex, but using the card enhances your ability to earn points if you shop at U.S. supermarkets and restaurants!
Using The Plenti Program
Plenti is a free loyalty program with a variety of partners all under one “umbrella,” which eliminates the need to keep up with tons of separate loyalty programs.
Each partner determines its own structure for earning and redeeming points. See the chart below for earning ratios.
You can’t get The Plenti Credit Card without being a Plenti member, but it’s easy to sign up when applying for the card.
Visit Plenti online or access the mobile app, available from Google Play and the Apple Store.
Already signed up?
You may have already started the sign-up process with one of the Plenti partners, such as while checking out at a Rite Aid store or online with another retailer. However, you must finish the sign-up process online to get access to all of the rewards.
Once you finish the process, you just have to link your accounts (we will explain this process shortly) and provide your Plenti membership card (or phone number) to get your base points.
This next point is very important: Using The Plenti Credit Card from Amex earns you Plenti points on top of regular membership points. But, you still have to show the Plenti membership card when you shop, even though it may seem like an extra step.
The only exception is Macy’s: once you link your Macy’s credit card to your Plenti account, you don’t need to show your Plenti card at the store again.
Bottom Line: You must show the Plenti membership card even when paying with The Plenti Credit Card from Amex in order to earn both Plenti® membership and Plenti® credit card points.
The Plenti Credit Card from Amex Benefits and Perks
The credit card typically comes with an introductory APR; see the card summary table for the current offer.
After that, the APR is set at a variable rate (see card summary table). Whether you want to carry a balance (and pay interest) or pay in full each month is up to you.
Because it is an American Express card, it comes with a variety of travel and shopping benefits such as roadside assistance, purchase protection, and entertainment access.
We will discuss these benefits in the Unique Features section below.
Bottom Line: Pay 0% interest during the first 12 months of owning The Plenti Credit Card.
Drawbacks of the Card
There are a couple of things to consider before choosing The Plenti Credit Card.
The Plenti program’s only travel partners are Alamo, Enterprise, and National. Besides these 3 car rental agencies, there are 2 gas station partners: Exxon and Mobil. But that’s about it for travel except for Expedia.
You can earn Plenti points with Expedia, but only by activating offers. We’ll explain how this works in another section.
There also aren’t many options for redeeming your points, since points can only be used directly with the short list of partners.
Combine With Other Rewards Cards
A great way to maximize the points you earn with The Plenti Credit Card is to use a credit card combination strategy.
Chase Freedom® earns a whopping 5% on purchases made in bonus categories (up to $1,500 per quarter). You can redeem that cash-back in the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
For example, you could use the Chase Freedom card during the quarters that supermarkets and restaurants are bonus categories and earn the 5%.
Once you max out those categories, you can switch back to The Plenti Credit Card from Amex for the 2-3 pts/$1.
Another option is to use the Barclaycard CashForward™ World MasterCard to earn 1.5% for all purchases that would only earn 1 point per $1 with the Plenti® credit card.
With this card, not only is there no limit to how much you earn at the 1.5% rate, you also receive a 5% cash-back bonus when making a cash rewards redemption!
Because you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards to Plenti® points, you may want to combine use of this card with The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express or the American Express Gold® Card.
Not concerned about earning Plenti points at all? Then The Plenti Credit Card from Amex probably isn’t the right card for you. In that case, you might want to try one of the other best American Express cards.
For instance, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express doesn’t rotate categories. With it, you earn 3% at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year), 2% at U.S. gas stations, and 1% for everything else in the form of reward dollars good for statement credit.
Bottom Line: Combine cards to get cash-back in non-bonus categories or boost your Membership Rewards account. If you don’t care about accumulating Plenti points, there are other American Express cards available for cash-back.