Point Me to First Class with Devon Gimbel MD | How One Purchase Can Earn You 1 Million+ Points with Leslie and Demma

16. How One Purchase Can Earn You 1 Million+ Points with Leslie and Demma

Jun 19, 2023

This week, I’m joined by two guests who are here to discuss a points-earning opportunity that could potentially earn you one million or more American Express Membership Rewards Points. The best news is that this is a significant points reward for a purchase you might be making anyway.

You’ve heard me say that your expenses are assets that can be leveraged to earn tons of points. For many people, the single largest purchase they ever make will be buying a house, but did you know you can actually earn points when you purchase a home? Leslie and Demma have recently leveraged the purchase of a home to earn a huge points reward, and they’re here today to share their experiences and advice with all of us.

Tune in this week to discover how to get potentially one Amex Point per dollar of the purchase price of your home, with no limit on the number of points you can earn, and without needing to use a credit card for the purchase. Leslie and Demma are sharing all of the how-to, the timeframes involved, and how they redeemed a massive points haul at the end of this relatively simple process.


 

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

  • An amazing way to earn an unlimited amount of American Express Points with one purchase.
  • How Leslie and Demma came to discover this offer wasn’t too good to be true.
  • Why taking advantage of this points offer doesn’t require anything different from you than a normal home purchase.
  • How to partner with an RBN agent for your home purchase.
  • The process of signing up with RBN when you’re looking into purchasing a home and what you can expect.
  • How many points Leslie and Demma earned by purchasing their home through an RBN agent.
  • Leslie and Demma’s experience of receiving the points once they’d closed on their home purchases.

 

Listen to the Full Episode:

 

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Full Episode Transcript:

Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher-than-average expenses to travel the world. I'm your host, Devon Gimbel, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset if you know how to leverage them. Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often? Let's get started.

Devon: Hey everybody, and welcome to this week's podcast. Today I'm joined by two guests to talk about a points earning opportunity that you may not be aware of but that can potentially earn you hundreds of thousands if not a million or more American Express membership rewards points. Now, you've heard me say many times on this podcast that your expenses are assets because they can be leveraged to earn lots and lots of points. For many people, the single largest expense or purchase they may ever make in their lifetime is buying a house. 

But did you know that you can actually earn points when you purchase a home? That is exactly what we're going to be talking about today because we are going to be diving into the RBN program. RBN stands for Real Buyer Network, which is a real estate platform and referral brokerage that has a network of buyer and listing agents who pay a referral when clients complete a real estate transaction with them. 

Through RBN you get connected with a real estate agent in your area who helps you find and buy a home, and then you can earn American Express membership rewards points at a rate of one Amex point per dollar spent on the sales price of the home. 

So for example, RBN says that if you buy a home with a purchase price of $750,000, you can earn 750,000 American Express points. Now according RBN, they say that there's no limit on the number of points that you can earn. So particularly for those of you looking for homes in very high cost of living areas, or for those of you with a high budget for a home purchase, you can stand to earn a lot of points by partnering with RBN for your home purchase. 

Also, according to its website, RBN covers more than 330 real estate markets and describes the process of buying a home with them as “no different than a standard real estate transaction” after you've been paired with an RBN agent. Now, it's been about 10 years since I bought my home, and this program was not around back then. So I earned zero points when I bought my house.

So I don't have any personal experience using the RBM platform to buy a home, but I know a few people who have recently leveraged the purchase of a home to earn a lot of American Express points through RBN. They are here today to talk about their experiences in the program. So with that, I would love to welcome my two guests for the day. We have Leslie and Demma here with us today. Welcome to the show ladies. Thank you so much for joining me.

Leslie: Yes, thank you for having us.

Absolutely. I am so excited to dive into your stories. But first, I want to give you guys a chance to share a little bit about yourself. So Leslie, can you introduce yourself, please? Tell us a little bit about who you are, where you are, anything that you want to share?

Leslie: Yeah, of course. My name is Leslie. I'm currently practicing in urgent care in the Bay Area. I've been a points fan since maybe residency when I met my husband, got my first credit card with Chase Sapphire, redeemed some of it through the portal for a honeymoon. But since then, I've been so lucky to have met one of my really good friends and colleagues, Kylie Huang, who actually introduced me to this group here. Then ever since we took our business class trip to Maldives, that's where it kind of took off. So that's where I am.

Devon: Amazing Demma. How about you?

Demma: Yes. Hi, I'm Demma. I moved from the Midwest, actually, and I'm currently in Southern California. I've always had interest in points but didn't really dive in until maybe early this year when I heard about your amazing group. I'm super excited here to talk about my experience and really looking forward to earning more of those points. But I just feel very fortunate that I was able to stumble upon RBN, which we're going to be talking about.

Devon: Yeah. So Demma, as I understand it, you stumbled on RBN because of Leslie right. So, Leslie, let's start with you. Can you tell me a little bit more about how is it that you first learned about RBN and this potential to earn a lot of points when it comes to buying a home?

Leslie: One day, I guess with Facebook, they have targeted ads. Lots of these articles came up, and I saw this one about how to earn points while buying a house. In the Bay Area, everything's so expensive, but I was like this could be a really good opportunity. So luckily at the time, I did join Point Me to First Class, and I did do the search button. But when I searched RBN, it was just crickets. Maybe one or two posts about hey, has anyone had this experience yet? However, yeah, nobody's done it yet. 

So I did a little bit more digging on the internet. I read some Reddit articles, and it seemed like it was something legit. Then another guy came up on the Points Guy article as well. Yeah, I knew that that had to be legit. So maybe it's just kind of uncharted territories because it's such a big earnings potential, but no one's done it yet. Sometimes it does sound too good to be true. So that's how I stumbled upon it.

I think I did post, but a lot of us are in the same boat. A lot of uncertainty. So I said hey, might as well. I'll just put my foot in and see what happens. We can jump back if there's anything. So as long as I don't put any sensitive information out there, I think we should be fine. So I actually signed up on the website, entered my information, and went from there.

Devon: Yeah, so tell me a little bit more about what that process of signing up actually looks like.

Leslie: So with signing up with RBN, their website is pretty straightforward. You first enter the city that you are looking for your house, whether you are selling or buying. They will match you up with an agent. So once you enter that, they will actually ask you a few more questions on your budget, your range, and I believe what size housing that you need

Then there's a link where you can place three of your dream homes or something that you're looking for so that they are able to get a better idea and match you up with the agent who can look for that style of home that you're looking for. After that, you submit it. I believe they reached out to me to ask me for a couple of dates where we can do a Zoom meeting with them and talk a little bit more.

Devon: Yeah. Do you remember what the timeframe of that process was in between when you submitted that information on the RBN website and then when you actually ended up connecting with one of their agents for that initial Zoom meeting?

Leslie: It could have been within one to two weeks, but because my husband and I, we have kind of different schedules and we weren't able to get one with both of us off together for about three weeks. But yeah, they definitely have pretty good availability within one to two weeks.

Devon: Yeah, Demma, what was your experience like? Was it similar to Leslie's in terms of that initial portion of the process where you enter in your information and then get contacted by somebody?

Demma: Mine is a little bit also different in the sense that because I already have information coming from Leslie when she had posted about her experience. I remember I wrote it down. April 5th is when I saw that post. Right away from there, I did a little bit of research, but I signed up immediately with RBN. With my schedule, I didn't get a meeting with them until I think three weeks after. But I did a lot of the legwork. I did go to the dashboard. It's pretty straightforward, like Leslie said, and sign up for everything. 

I remember just randomly putting three addresses around the area, which was kind of out of budget for me, but I'm like I'm gonna have to do this. I'm super excited. Then before I even met with them, the concierge, I actually already found an agent who was willing to do it with me. So I kind of did it a bit different in that sense, but happy that my agent got approved. She applied. So we became a “perfect match”, which really I found her as my match. I'm super happy about it.

Devon: Yeah. So when you actually had a meeting, that's what I was wondering about. Do they automatically just pair you up with one specific real estate agent? Or do you have any say in who you work with in terms of the agent?

Demma: Yeah, so for me because I found this agent who was very happy to like look into it, I was not given any options anymore. I think within after the meeting, after 10 minutes or so, I got this email. Congratulations, this is your agent. But from what I'm reading typically they would present maybe two or three agents, and then it's up to you to choose who you want to work with.

Devon: Leslie, how was your experience? Were you paired with just one specific agent? Or did you have a choice of one of several people that you could work with?

Leslie: So I was paired with three agents. If you think of it as a matchmaker, it literally is. So I was given three profiles, and we read through each agent’s profile and a little blurb of what they wanted to say. Actually, the one that we went with was Tonya Colton, which I'll give her a shout out because she's so amazing. Because my husband and I were looking for homes that we can do some renovations, and in her bio data she listed that she had a lot of experience under her belt for home renovations and etc. So we felt like she was the best fit for us. 

But there was another one that we were also thinking about as well. So I contacted both of them. Tonya got back to me immediately. The other one was out of town, but I don’t know things were meant to be. So I was able to connect with Tonya. She was just really like, we loved her personality. We just felt like we clicked. Then we told RBN that we were going to choose her officially, and that's where it went forward.

Devon: Once you had decided that you did want to work with Tonya, what then did the process look like for you in terms of looking at homes and potentially putting in an offer?

Leslie: Right, so this part, it was just more we were independent with Tonya. RBN, at that point, would step back and be in the background. Tonya and my husband and I, we actually set up a phone consultation. She went through the details, like what were we looking for in a house? How many bedrooms? What does the kitchen have? What do we really want? Backyard, no backyard since we have a kiddo and a dog. In what kind of locations? What's important to us? 

So I'm assuming that's what a typical experience is with a real estate agent, but this is our first real house. So I can't speak too much about that. So that's how we did it though. Then she gave us a list of houses that were on the market. We would go browse with her every few weeks. Then ask for the RBN side, they would just check in. I don't know, Demma, if you got these weekly emails from RBN. 

Demma: Yes, I did. 

Leslie: I think they were automated. If there were any changes to statuses, you could update them, but a lot of times I just ignored them. Then I just did my thing with Tonya.

Devon: What did that overall time frame look like for you Leslie where from the time that you got matched up with Tonya, do you remember how long it was that you all looked for homes before you actually put an offer in on a home?

Leslie: I think we were browsing for about a month to month and a half. We did go out several times with Tonya to tour a lot of houses until we stumbled upon this house, which ironically, we’d seen a while back before we got on our own, but we came back to this house. Yeah. So overall, it took about a month and a half for us to come up with this when that was within our price range and what we wanted?

Devon: Yeah, Demma, what was your experience like in terms of timeframe from when you got matched up with the agent that you wanted to work with? What did that look like for you?

Demma: Yeah, sure. So I'm different. Me and my husband, we are actually not first time homebuyers. So we kind of know the process. When we moved here late last year, we started going to open houses. Just sort of really looking at areas, but because of the pricing and the market we're like we're not ready to buy. We want to make sure this is really a good fit for us. 

So fast forward to again April when I saw that post. During this time, I've already met a couple of agents and, again. So shout out to my agent Jeanie Burke. She's the one who said yeah, let's do it. She did explain to me through my work, I have an opportunity to also get like 20%, I believe, off the commission that will be part of the closing costs. But then I was like no, no, I need to get that many points in my Amex. So I preferred that. 

We went for coffee and then it was kind of meant to be. So that week, we went to a couple of houses, and we found this place. We're like OMG, why did we not see this during one open house, and we heard that house was already pending. But our agent said we should put in a backup offer because this market is just crazy. Then we're like okay. Then so I went, spoke with lenders. Then I think within ten days true enough the first buyer’s offer fell through.

So we came in. We're like OMG again. So really that process and because we need to close sooner so that we can get this house, we had like a three week closing date, I think. We were getting the weekly reminders from RBN. Actually, I would respond to those reminders sometimes, and someone would respond back. So I'd say their customer service is very good. Then they said yeah, all we need this, this, this, this. 

Once you close. So from the time we found this house in four weeks, we closed. So once you close, once the process is completed, you'll get an email saying oh we'll deposit 100 points. Sort of like, I guess, a practice. Just make sure it's the correct account as well. Because one of the requirements is you have to have, well, I believe you don't need an American Express per se, but you do need to connect it. 

So I think in the process, if you don't have it, you might need to open but they will help you with that. But since I already have an American Express account so I connected that. Then so when I got that email about the 100 points and it deposited, I was like oh my God. I was like texting my friends, Carmela and Tina. I'm like oh it's happening. It's happening. Because I've never told anyone, just the three of us

Then so I think that same day I got all of the points, and I'm like oh my God, I need to post this. So the timeline was literally two months. So April 5th is when I saw the email, again, from Leslie, and then June 5 is when I got all of the points.

Devon: That's an amazing timeline that both of you once you initially signed up with RBN got connected with your agents. Sounded like even in a tough housing market, both of you are located in California, that it didn't take that long for you to find homes that you liked and to actually put in offers and get them accepted. 

Now, Demma, one of the things you mentioned, which I'm really curious to ask you about and hear more about, is that you said that this is not the first time that you have actually purchased a home. So you are able to compare or contrast this experience of purchasing a home through RBN to a prior home purchase where RBN was not involved. Did you notice any big differences between those two experiences?

Demma: Actually no. Honestly, exactly what RBN has been saying on their website. Once you get paired to the agent who is considered an RBN approved participant, you don't have to worry about RBN at all. Those are just a document that towards the end that they need to receive. But otherwise, it was just like a normal transaction. We went, we’d look at houses, we’d put in offers, and a lot of back and forth more with like the seller and the lender, but nothing really from RBN until closer to the closing time. Difference in the sense that I'm just super excited that I can't wait for the points. But everything else from choosing a house to closing is like a normal transaction of buying a house.

Devon: That's really good to know because I think a lot of people probably have questions about like if I'm going to sign up with this program. Is this going to significantly impact my experience of looking for a home or buying a home? Particularly if it's going to impact their experience in a way that they consider to be negative. So it's great to hear from you that you didn't really notice that big of difference between purchasing a home through RBN versus when you had done it the more “traditional” way in the past.

Demma: Yeah, exactly. I think this is just more exciting for me because I know I'm gonna have to settle for a house that's affordable, but still California price. So just thinking about that and the opportunity to earn those many points just made it a bit more special buying this house.

Devon: Yeah, that's amazing. Leslie, I'm curious to hear from you. So Demma had mentioned that it sounded like it was a very short timeline in between, Demma, when you closed on the home and then all of your newly earned American Express points landed in your account. Leslie, do you happen to remember what your experience was between the time between closing and then when your points actually showed up? 

I'm really curious, were you at all worried? Like, are they even going to come at all? Or is this gonna be a huge hassle for me to try to track down my points? I know some of us get worried we make one purchase on Rakuten, and we're thinking like are my 200 points going to track for one online purchase, and here you are buying an entire home, right? So tell me a little bit what your experience was like actually getting all of your points.

Leslie: Right. So I actually closed escrow on March 30th. My agent said that she had submitted the payment unnecessary for the points. So my points actually came, I got the first test points of the 100 as well. Then all of them came in on April 5th, the day that I posted it. So the turnaround time maybe about like five days. 

I know RBN says that sometimes it can take few weeks, kind of a gray area, but it really just depends on how fast the agent can get all their information in after closing and submitting it and RBN processing it. So it seemed pretty streamlined. Yes, I definitely know what you mean. When my points are in limbo somewhere in space, I get really nervous.

Devon: Yeah, and of course this is just an N of two at this point. You are the only two people who I personally know who have purchased a home using RBN, but I think it is really reassuring to hear from the both of you that it did not take an excessive amount of time for your points to land

It also sounds like once you actually go through the regular process of submitting the offer and closing on a home, there wasn't a lot of extra stuff or extra steps that you all had to go through in order for those points to post. But tell me, please, if I'm missing any sort of part of that process where you were required to do something or to submit something extra in order to get your points. 

Leslie: No, there was no extra steps. 

Demma: It was a very smooth process. I think it also depends on your agent. But I feel like maybe Leslie’s agent already wasn't RBN person, but my agent from out of nowhere. I'm like if you'd like to work with me, if you would like to look into RBN, and she was the one who said yes. I feel like we were a perfect fit, and everything else was just smooth from there.

Devon: Yeah, that's really wonderful to hear. Now, one of the things that RBN says that I was very curious about is that you can actually earn up to one American Express point for every dollar on the purchase price of the home. So clearly when we're talking about buying a home, right, these are not insignificant numbers and not an insignificant potential amount of points, particularly in a very high cost of living place like California where you're both located. 

I'm really interested to hear did you end up actually earning one Amex point for every dollar of the purchase price of the home, or was it different for you? Did you know that going in?

Demma: Yeah, I can speak about it. So reading off the website, it said one is to one if the agent's commission is 3%. I think maybe it's we're in California, but also maybe because of the pandemic, the agent’s commission fee was 2.5%. So even before asking them exactly I think I was dividing 2.5 by three, and it came out to like 83 something percent

Then when I asked them so let's say I purchased this amount of the house, how much would I be getting with a 2.5%? It does come out to 83%. So for example, if you did buy, let's say, a $1 million house, and your agent's commission fee is 2.5%, then you will get 833,333 points on that purchase.

Devon: Leslie, how about you? What did you find was your experience in terms of how many points you were able to earn compared to the purchase price of your home?

Leslie: Right, same here. My agent’s commission was 2.5%. So just like Demma said based on that ratio that they give you, it's not exactly one to one, but slightly less but you have to do the math. So.

Devon: Can you give us sort of a ballpark range of about how many points did you end up earning for the purchase of your home going through RBN?

Leslie: Yeah, with the NorCal prices, we were able to earn about 1.7 million points with our purchase. Very happy about that.

Devon: That is astounding. I mean, here's the thing, right. I think within the points world, there's so many different opportunities that we have to earn points and so many different things that we can leverage, even amongst our expenses. We talk about things like being really strategic about signing on for new credit cards to earn sign on bonuses because that can be a great way to earn a lot of points at once. All these different ways that we can earn points, but I don't know any other way where you can literally earn a million points or more in one go. 

I think that's why this presents such an amazingly unique opportunity. Obviously, it's not going to be applicable to everybody at every time. This is not one of those points earning opportunities that I think many of us would refer to as churnable meaning that you're probably not going to be earning points through like an RBN purchase of a home several times or many times. 

But even one time presents such an amazing points earning opportunity to hear that you earned close to 2 million points is really just astounding to me. I'm really curious Demma, what was your experience? Ballpark: how many points did you earn going through RBN for purchasing your home? 

Demma: Yeah, I got 1.07 as opposed to 1.7 but still a very good number of points. So that really was kind of the icing, like the cherry on the top of that cake or whatever you say that. 

Devon: Yeah, I mean, over a million American Express points. There are so many fantastic things that you can do with those points. I am dying to hear number one, have you already spent any of the American Express points that you earned from the purchase of your home? Number two, what do you plan to do with all of those points? Because you have a lot of options.

Leslie: My family and I, husband and little one, we actually booked a trip to Asia with Singapore Airlines with some of these points. So we're really excited for next year. So that's what we're doing.

Devon: How many points did you end up using to book that trip? Do you remember? 

Leslie: About 500,000.

Devon: I'm assuming you're flying business class, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Leslie: Well, we're doing Premium Economy. We were actually going to do business, but had a little discussion with my husband saying that our two year old at the time, he's very needy. So he might be sitting in one of our chairs the whole time. So we'll save the business class for him maybe when he's five or six.

Devon: Yeah, and the fantastic thing is you have so many more American Express points leftover that certainly at least one more trip, if not several trips, are in your future with all of those points that you earned. That is so exciting. Demma, how about you? Have you spent any of your hard earned Amex points yet? If not, what are you thinking of doing with them?

Demma: When I got those points deposited, I'm like looking at my husband see this is real. He didn't really believe until he saw the numbers. He was like, I don't remember what he said. I think he said wow, just wow or something. So that very same night, I think the next couple of nights, I was up all night looking for flights because I haven't been home for a while.

But because I am planning to go at a very busy season, I did end up just using economy but same with premium and also Singapore Airlines. Funny enough. Like I ended up, I feel like, either three to four cents per point with how I did my math if it's correct, but this is flying five people round trip. So my two kids and my mom.

Devon: Absolutely incredible. I assume to fly five people round trip, I don't care what class of service we're talking, I feel like ever since especially the pandemic ended and travel really started opening up again it seems like flights everywhere basically any time of year have all become so expensive to book. 

So especially when you aren't thinking about flying a family, multiple people, again, I don't care what class of service we're talking that is not an insignificant out of pocket cash expense. So to be able to use some of these points that you earn to be able to fly your whole family home I think it's a pretty extraordinary experience to be able to have. I bet you're looking forward to that so much.

Demma: Yes, for sure. Because it'll be my kid’s also first time home for their parents, and I have a five and almost, well, they're going to be six and three when we travel. So even if they have their own seats, I'm sure they would like to climb on our lap and just yeah. So it's been, yeah, that's all I can say. 

Devon: Well, that sounds absolutely incredible. One of the things that I'm wondering about, I'm sure some other people who are thinking now about possibly utilizing this platform in order to purchase a home and to earn all these points, is we kind of touched on that idea that initially this sounds like something that's too good to be true. Based on both of your experiences, it sounds like well no. This is actually legitimate. 

That you had a very reasonable experience utilizing this platform to buy a home. The points that you expected to earn you did earn in not a super long period of time after you closed. But I'm still wondering, is there anything about this experience that maybe wasn't entirely positive for you? Or is there anything that you think people should really be aware of if they are considering approaching RBN about using their platform to buy a home? Demma, is there anything that comes up for you?

Demma: Mine mainly is so again, I was able to find a person who was interested to look into it, but I feel like what I've read, and I confirmed with her, it does take a big chunk out of their commission. Because we had met during an open house a few weeks prior, and she was like I feel like you are really good buyers. We're going to have so much fun. I remember that. So that's why I went back to her

She was the one who said yeah, but just thinking about because this is also their livelihood. They earn money from it, from your commissions. To take away some of that is probably the part that was sad. But I also felt like I did not force her at all. Like I said okay, here's the link. Look at it, and let me know. She right away said yes, I'm all in. Let's do this. I think that really made the process smooth in addition to the RBN being very responsive to all of the questions. So that was very, very good.

Devon: Yeah, I think it's something that's excellent to take into consideration and to know about. Leslie, is there anything that you think is really important for people to consider that you would want to tell people about your experience so that they can make a really informed decision for themselves about whether or not this is something that they really want to look into?

Leslie: You're presented with three agents initially during the match. My biggest fear, initially, I was asking them was what if I don't match with all three, or if we go with one of them down the line, and we feel like it's not a good fit anymore. They reassured us that if that's the case, they will be able to match us with another group of agents as well. Then you can start from ground zero and see which ones fit you the best.

So it may not be for everyone. I know I've heard through a friend's friend who went through the process, but not in full details, but they said they didn't mesh well with the agent. So I'm not exactly 100% sure what happened. So it may not be fit for everybody. That's something to keep in mind that you are not committed with one person. 

If you feel like it's not a good fit, feel free to open up and speak up and ask them for a different set of agents that you can choose from and find a real fit for you. Because you are trying to find your dream home or selling your home, something that's meaningful, and you want to make sure that it's the right person to do that.

Devon: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's such an incredible point. Because I think kind of on two accounts. Number one is one of the things in the points world that I think it's great to keep in mind is that to never sort of let the points tail wag the dog, right. Like this is an amazing potential points earning opportunity for sure. 

But to not lose sight, Leslie exactly what you said, that really this isn't about oh, how can I do something for the sole purpose of earning a lot of points is that especially when you consider buying a home that clearly you need to always prioritize what's going to work best for you, what's going to work best for your family. 

If you are able to utilize a platform or an opportunity like RBN to earn points as well, that's amazing, but to never sacrifice that or what's going to be a really good fit for you in terms of the agent that you work with or the outcome that you're looking for in terms of buying a home just for the sake of being able to earn what is potentially a lot of points. So I think that that's a really wonderful thing to keep in mind. 

Leslie and Demma, thank you so much for joining me today. This is a conversation that I have been looking forward to for so long because this is such an incredible points earning opportunity that, again, I don't have personal experience with. So I have been really excited just for myself to learn about this, but more importantly for you to be able to share your stories with so many other people out there who might also be wondering whether or not this is really legitimate or if this is something that's worth their looking into.

So I appreciate so much you're joining me today. For those of you who are listening who are intrigued by this conversation and potentially want to take advantage of this opportunity to earn American Express points for a home purchase, you may want to go over to RBN’s website to learn more about the program sooner rather than later. 

Now, I noticed on their website earlier this morning that in order to participate, specifically in the Amex points earning program through RBN, you need to connect your eligible Amex account by June 30, 2023 and close on a home sale or purchase with an RBN participating agent by July 12, 2024. So I have no affiliation whatsoever with RBN or its home purchase program. So please also do your own due diligence if you are considering working with them on the purchase or sale of a home

Before we wrap up today, I just realized there was one more question that I wanted to ask you both. Just to clarify, because I think it's a very reasonable thing for people to be wondering about, which is in order for me to earn all these American Express points, am I supposed to purchase a home using my credit card? Because so many of the other ways that we earn points is by actually putting expenses on our credit card.

So could you Leslie or Demma, either one of you, could you just clarify for us really quickly do you have to buy a home using your credit card in order to earn all of these points?

Leslie: Actually, you do not need to purchase your home with your credit card. I know Amex Platinum does not have a ceiling. It’s very tempting. However you do not. So it’s pretty straightforward.

Devon: Yeah. So for those of you who are out there worrying wait a minute, my credit limit is actually not as high as the purchase price of a home. No. RBN says on their website that the actual purchase of the home is done very traditionally, either in cash or financing through a very traditional mortgage. So for those of you who are a little bit worried about whether or not you actually have to use a credit card to purchase your home, the good news is that you do not. 

So for any more information about this program, can I encourage you all to go to RBM website and to check it out. Thank you so much, Leslie and Demma for joining me today. It was so fun hearing your stories.

Demma: Yes, thank you so much. Again, thank you for this amazing group. You know I don't think if I share this with friends with family, they will totally understand. So I really felt, and so hopefully the next person, if you're listening to this and you have questions, feel free to reach out to me and to Leslie I'm sure. 

Devon: All right. Thank you ladies so much. Everybody else. I will see you back here again for a new podcast episode next week. Have a great week everybody.

Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of Point Me to First Class. If you want more tips on turning your expenses into travel, visit pointmetofirstclass.com to learn more. See you next week.

 

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