Chinese Man Earns 422 Million American Express Points

According to Bloomberg a Chinese man recently earned a total of 422 million American Express points after he purchased a HK$281 million (US$36 million) porcelain cup in a Sotherby’s auction. Unfortunately these are Hong Kong AmEx points which are much less valuable than their American counterparts, when converting them to frequent flyer miles you need 15 points per mile so he would’ve ended up with 28 million frequent flyer miles.

Sotherby's

Photo courtesy of Bloomberg

He might’ve been better off using a different credit card, but the main issue he was facing is that you can only move $50,000 per year out of the country due to currency controls. Even though the transaction was broken up into multiple payments it was likely that he would have also needed a charge card as most credit cards will not have a limit that is anywhere near high enough.

Looking at that amount of points really puts my manufactured spending and sign up bonus points into perspective. On the flip side I’m also not spending $36 million on a cup.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

8 Comments
newest
oldest most voted

Easy Victor
Easy Victor (@guest_19711)
July 19, 2014 13:07

I’m more impressed with the fact that his financials would have to be so stellar for Amex to approve a 36mil charge (s). I wouldn’t think someone spending 36mil on a cup really cares about his miles.

J.C.
J.C. (@guest_19702)
July 19, 2014 11:34

There most certainly is NOT a $50k annual limit on currency movements in Hong Kong. There are currency controls in China that apply exclusively to Mainland banks. This is not a factor in cross-border credit card purchases.

Since HK Monetary Authority prohibits credit card issuance to non-Hong Kong ID card holders, Mainland Chinese do not have access to HK AmEx Cards.

Nick @ Personal Finance Digest
July 19, 2014 11:34

Careful–Sotheby’s is really cracking down on manufactured spending. I was only able to cycle through about $10 million before they shut me down.

Daniel
Daniel (@guest_19756)
July 20, 2014 01:12

Oh my!!!! are you serious Nick? what did you spend $10 million on? and wow…..what kind of job do you do to be able to earn that amount of money….

Nick @ Personal Finance Digest
July 20, 2014 11:23

Not even slightly serious. 🙂

Alex
Alex (@guest_19637)
July 19, 2014 00:31

I don’t understand how he can pay $36 million for the cup that he won at the auction with an Amex credit card? Just what kind of Amex credit card that has a credit limit of $36 million?
If it’s an Amex charge card, what kind of charge card is it?