20,000 Amex Points Without a New Card? Yes, via Rakuten

Read Oct 31, 2026: Rakuten pays $150 for a new Alliant High-Rate Checking account (was $100) and $50 for joining through a referral, as Amex or Bilt points. The six conditions, the direct-deposit catch, the dates.

By Vamsi, RewardsGuru.club. Published October 31, 2026.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Read October 31, 2026 on Rakuten's Alliant Credit Union store page and its Welcome Bonus, Refer-a-Friend and Membership Rewards help pages, on Alliant's High-Rate Checking page, and on Bilt's Rakuten support page, all signed out. Facts are as of October 31, 2026. Rakuten's store rates change without notice, so check the store page the day you click.

Most people who want 20,000 Amex points assume the route runs through a new credit card and a few thousand dollars of spending. There is a quieter route open this week with no credit card in it at all. Rakuten, the cash-back portal, is paying $150 for a new Alliant Credit Union High-Rate Checking account, up from $100, and $50 more if you join Rakuten through a referral. Rakuten pays its cash back as American Express Membership Rewards points at 100 points per dollar if you link an eligible Amex card, or as Bilt Points. $200 is 20,000 points. The checking account has no monthly fee and no minimum balance. What it does have is six conditions, and one of them decides whether this is for you.

The short version:

What Rakuten's page says today

Rakuten's Alliant Credit Union store page, read October 31, 2026: $150 Cash Back, was $100

The store is listed as "Alliant Credit Union: Bank & Save." The $150 is for the "High-Rate Checking and Savings Account Bundle," which Rakuten's description calls "one simple application that gives you both." The six conditions, in Rakuten's words:

  1. "Open, one new Alliant Credit Union Checking account, which automatically comes with an Alliant High-Rate Savings account. (for new Alliant members only)"
  2. "Make 5 qualifying debit card purchases of at least $10 each (totaling $50 or more) within 45 days of opening your account."
  3. "Initiate an initial deposit in the amount of $500.00+ at account opening."
  4. "Complete a subsequent Direct Deposit in the amount of $500.00+ into the new Alliant Checking account within 30 days of clicking the Rakuten link."
  5. "Direct Deposits are defined as coming from an employer or government agency. The following do not constitute Direct Deposit activity: check deposits, peer-to-peer transfers (e.g., transfers from PayPal, Venmo, etc.), merchant transactions (e.g., transactions from PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc.), and bank ACH funds transfers and wire transfers from external accounts, or are non-recurring in nature (e.g., IRS tax refunds)."
  6. "Your Alliant Checking Account must be open and in good standing and have a minimum balance of $1,000 on the 45th day after account opening."

Rakuten's Alliant Credit Union offer terms, read October 31, 2026: the six conditions, cash back provided by Rakuten for new Alliant members only, added within 45 days once requirements are met

Below the list, the terms add that the cash back is "provided by Rakuten, not Alliant Credit Union," that it is "only available for new Alliant members (one Cash Back offer per account) who click through the Rakuten link and apply for, and open, one new Alliant Credit Union Checking account," and that "if requirements have been met, Cash Back will be automatically added to your Rakuten account within 45 days." You must be at least 18 and a legal U.S. resident or U.S. person. Alliant "reserves the right to modify the terms of or suspend this promotion at any time and without prior notice." The separate posting-time box on the same page says "Cash Back will be automatically added to your Rakuten account within a few months." We'd plan on the longer of the two.

The money: what moves and what you spend

Condition Does the money leave you? What to know
$500 at opening No. It moves from one of your accounts to another. Alliant's own online minimum is $25; Rakuten's offer needs $500.
$500+ direct deposit within 30 days No. It is your pay arriving in a different account. Employer or government agency only. Rakuten's list of what does not count is above.
Five debit purchases of $10+ within 45 days Yes. $50 of spending. Anything you'd buy anyway.
$1,000 in checking on day 45 No. It sits there. Checking pays 0.25% APY if you opt into eStatements and have one electronic deposit a month. The paired savings account pays more, but the $1,000 has to be in checking that day.
$50 through Rakuten within 90 days of joining Yes, but it can be the same $50. Only needed for the referral bonus. Five $10 purchases made through Rakuten with the new debit card count for both.

The condition that decides this is the fourth one. A direct deposit here means payroll or a government payment, and Rakuten's terms spell out what doesn't count: a check, a Venmo or PayPal transfer, a merchant payout, a bank-to-bank ACH or wire from your other account, or a one-off like a tax refund. If you can split your paycheck to a second account in your HR portal, the whole offer takes one lunch break to set up. If you are paid by check, by transfers from your own bank, or by clients through Stripe or Square, the $150 never posts, and the account is just a free checking account.

From cash to points

Rakuten pays cash back four ways: a check, PayPal, American Express Membership Rewards points, or Bilt Points. The method you have selected on the payout date is the one Rakuten uses, and its Amex FAQ says that "any confirmed Cash Back earned before switching to points will be converted to points and sent by the next transfer date."

Amex. Rakuten's FAQ puts the rate as "10% Cash Back = 10X points," which is 100 points per dollar. $150 becomes 15,000 Membership Rewards points, and $200 becomes 20,000. You need "an American Express Card enrolled in the US Membership Rewards program" that is "not cancelled or past due"; the FAQ names the Gold, Green and Platinum cards as the most common eligible ones, and says "corporate cards and the Rakuten American Express Card are not eligible at this time." You need at least 501 confirmed points before a transfer date, and "any confirmed points you earn on purchases, bonuses and other rewards will be transferred to your Membership Rewards account every three months."

Rakuten's American Express Membership Rewards points FAQ, read October 31, 2026: 501 confirmed points before the transfer date; purchases, bonuses and other rewards all transfer; transfers on February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15

Bilt. Bilt's support page, updated about three weeks before we read it, says the rate "depends on your Elite Status at the time of your payout date": "Blue members: 50 points per $1 in Rakuten cash-back" and "Silver, Gold, and Platinum members: 100 points per $1 in cash-back." It adds that "limited time promotions or offers may change your conversion rate." The minimum is $5.01 of confirmed earnings, and the same four payout dates apply. So the 20,000-point headline holds for Bilt only at Silver status or above; at Blue, $200 is 10,000 Bilt Points.

Bilt's Rakuten support page, read October 31, 2026: Blue members 50 points per $1 in Rakuten cash back, Silver, Gold and Platinum members 100 points per $1

Cash. If you'd rather have the $200, take the check or PayPal. We value a Membership Rewards point above a cent, so we'd take the points, but that is a valuation, not a rule.

The $50 for joining

If you have never had a Rakuten account, joining through a referral link adds a welcome bonus. Rakuten's Refer-a-Friend terms, read October 31, cover sign-ups "during the period beginning 12:00 AM PT October 1, 2026 and ending 11:59 PM PT December 31, 2026," and its FAQ says the person referred "will get the bonus that was available on day of sign up." Our referral page today reads "get a $50 bonus when you spend $50," with the purchases due within 90 days of joining. Here is our Rakuten referral link. Rakuten pays us $50 when someone who joins through it makes $50 of qualifying purchases within 90 days.

Rakuten's Refer-a-Friend page, read October 31, 2026: Give $50, get $50

Three things from Rakuten's Welcome Bonus terms matter here:

Whether the Alliant cash back itself counts toward the $50 is something we could not confirm. It earns cash back, which fits the definition, but it has no purchase amount. So don't plan on it. Plan on $50 of real purchases, and make them the five $10 debit purchases Alliant wants anyway: shop through Rakuten, pay with the new Alliant debit card, and both clocks tick at once.

The calendar if you open today

Date What has to happen
Saturday, October 31, 2026 Click through Rakuten, open the Alliant account, deposit $500. If you're new to Rakuten, join through a referral first.
By Monday, November 30 The $500+ direct deposit from an employer or government agency lands in the new checking account (30 days from the click).
By Tuesday, December 15 (day 45) Five debit purchases of $10+ done, and $1,000 in checking on that day.
By Friday, January 29, 2027 $50 of qualifying purchases through Rakuten, if you want the referral bonus (90 days from joining).
Late January 2027 Rakuten reviews the account and adds the $150 "within 45 days" of the requirements being met, or "within a few months" per its posting-time box.
Monday, February 15, 2027 The first transfer date the $150 can make as points. If it posts later, the next is Saturday, May 15, 2027.

Keep the account open and in good standing until the cash back has posted and paid. Rakuten's terms require it on day 45; closing early is the one way to do everything right and still get nothing.

Alliant's account

Alliant's High-Rate Checking page, read October 31, 2026: no monthly service fees, no overdraft fees, no monthly minimum balance, 0.25% APY, up to $20 a month in ATM fee rebates, Early Payday

Alliant's High-Rate Checking page, read the same day, says "no monthly service fees, no overdraft fees and no monthly minimum balance," 0.25% APY "when you opt in to receive eStatements and have at least one monthly electronic deposit" (the rate is as of the October 8, 2026 dividend declaration), up to $20 a month in ATM fee rebates on top of 80,000 or more fee-free ATMs, and Early Payday, which releases eligible direct deposits up to two days early. Its footnote 104 sets a $25 minimum opening deposit for accounts opened online. The checking account comes paired with a High-Rate Savings account, 3.01% APY as of the same date. And on membership, Alliant's page says simply: "Anyone can apply to be an Alliant member."

Alliant pays us nothing. Rakuten pays the $150 to you and, if you join through our link, a referral bonus to us.

What we'd do

  1. Settle the direct deposit first. If you can't route $500 of payroll or a government payment to a new account within 30 days, stop here. Everything else is easy; this one isn't negotiable.
  2. If you're new to Rakuten, join through a referral, then set the payout method to Amex points (link the card) or Bilt Points in Account Settings before the next transfer date.
  3. Click through to Alliant from Rakuten's store page, open the checking account, and deposit $500. Write down the date.
  4. Make the five $10 purchases through Rakuten with the new debit card in the first few weeks. Groceries, pharmacy, a utility that takes debit: anything that earns cash back through the portal.
  5. Have $1,000 in checking on day 45, then leave the account alone until the $150 shows in Rakuten's Cash Back Activity.
  6. If you do want a card on top, our Rakuten stacking guide covers how portal cash back and card points layer, and Rakuten's Bank of America card offer is the same mechanism with a credit card in it.

Sources: Rakuten's Alliant Credit Union store page (rakuten.com/shop/alliantcreditunionchecking), its Welcome Bonus Terms, Refer-a-Friend terms and American Express Membership Rewards Points FAQ, and its American Express landing page, all read October 31, 2026; Alliant's High-Rate Checking and Membership pages, read October 31, 2026; Bilt's "Bilt x Rakuten" support article, read October 31, 2026. Cover image: AI-generated.

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