The Amex Platinum card has now been updated with a higher annual fee and benefits that give the appearance of adding benefits. The American Express Platinum card has been considered one of the best travel credit cards available, but is that the case after these updates?
00:00 – start
00:34 – Annual Fee Increase
1:25 – New Sign Up Bonus
2:43 – Hotel Credit
4:23 – Equinox Credit
6:22 – Clear Membership
7:21 – Centurion Lounge Changes
8:12 – Entertainment Credit
9:02 – Final Thoughts
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43 comments
Great video! You hit all the points on why this annual fee hike was a bad move. The credits they added just look good on paper and are not practical at all.
yea its a no for me. Now im on the fence about what i should do with mine.
You don't need Hotel status if you go with FHR, because FHR has everything a elite status member has plus $100 property credit.
Gotta love the benefits for those on active duty tho
The clear credit is good for 2 people if you are a Delta member ($119 and $60 for additional family member if you make a family account.) Also If Amex wants to keep the lounges less crowded, then they shouldn’t have given access to Delta Reserve card members.
when I want to cancel my card will that hurt my credit? when is the best time to cancel?
They charge you the annual fee within a month of having the card now. I got billed my first month.
Yep I am canceling. I received my 100K bonus on year , I used all the extra rewards and benefits due to Covid-19 on year #2 and I am canceling this year due to all the trash benefits 😅
so like a year ago i think at this point people were speculating that a teir above the plat card (below the black card) would exist i wonder if their getting ready for that
I see people considering cancelling their credit card, won't that hurt their credit score? what are the considerations?
Great video very informative
Sorry this video is just dumb. The way he glosses over the prime benefit which are the lounges at the airport. This alone is worth its weight in gold. Free food, drinks shower. Please this alone. Also, use a card as you want the rewards and benefits. I have 5 cards and use 1 and wife uses 1. But the point is they're there if I need them. Otherwise they do nothing for me. If I order on Amazon I use my Amazon card. It's not even a credit card. If I want to buy a computer or Xmas gifts and take 3 months to pay them off then I use those other cards. But if the benefits dong make sense to you don't use the card
Here's my take. I am locked into the $550 annual fee until November 2022. So I will be keeping it until November 2022. But it's still honestly not as bad as people are making it. So in my case let's break it down I use the Saks credits, the entertainment credits because I am a WWE fan and it's on Peacock. And my dad uses SiriusXM. Uber credits for eats. I take 2 day trips a year to see the Phillies. So I can use the Hotel credit I may have to pay but I'll get a better room for about the same price as a decent room. So right there if we add it up it's $100+$240+$200+$200=$740. So it actually comes out $45 on top for me. Equinox credit is pretty useless in my opinion. But if you have a platinum card and you use peloton you may wanna switch to Equinox+ because it will be cheaper after the credit. I believe they said more changes are to come too. So I'm gonna reevaluate come November 2022 to see.
Completely agree with your conclusion. I signed up back in May and am planning to terminate before my year 2 annual fee comes due.
For me, it is worth $550… this is my last year with it. Moving onto the CSR next.
I have the Platinum Card here in Switzerland. Consider yourself lucky with the 700 Dollar Annual Fee, I pay 900 Swiss Francs or 975 USD! But since I travel at least twice a month, the Benefits still outweigh the fee.
Wow this is so frustrating. Amex made a wrong move on this one. I will have to think about keeping it or getting something else.
csr > platinum by a lot
Man I seriously considered dropping my CSR and switching to the AMEX platinum too. I'm so happy I stuck with my CSR even with the increased annual fee. The AMEX increased fee and added useless benefits is a complete slap in the face for current AMEX customers. Equinox credit…trash, Entertainment credit…trash, Hotel credit…trash. I'll gladly take my $300 dollar travel credit from the CSR and other benefits like DoorDash and Lyft. Chase has a chance to really steal a bunch of AMEX customers here. If they added minor changes to the card like increasing the dining and travel multiplier to 5x instead of 3x, that very well might do the trick. I would love to receive a few changes but the likelihood of that happening now is slim to none thanks to this bonehead move by AMEX. Thanks dummies.
Liking the new setup! Thanks for the video!
Thank god i didnt apply i was a click away …its just a status symbol …for now the benefits dont outweighs the cost
Excellent analysis.
Amex customer service keeps me as a loyal customer. They can fix anything, anytime, anywhere, in just a few chat messages.
I've had $800 charges reversed on the spot with Amex.
With Chase and Navy Federal, I've literally been fighting two fraudulent charges for over a month.
I just signed up for the platinum because I saw the 125k bonus & I get the annual fee waived for 1 year. Once I spend the 6k in I 6 months, I will cancel the card end of the year and switch to gold.
I love the card but I'd be damn if I'm paying $695.00 to hell with that! Will be canceling as soon when it rolls around again, I just paid the $550 annual 3 days ago!
You can get hotel program credit and benefits when booking FHR for sure and I believe Hotel Collection too.
One point I think that is important to keep in mind is Amex has given cardholders a retention offer every other year to include the Platinum Card. Chase historically has not offered retention offers on the CSR. The second point is that if you downgrade the Platinum to the Gold or Green, you have a good chance of being offered an upgrade offer to entice you back to the Platinum Card. Finally Amex Offers > Chase offers. While I Gree that overall the CSR is a better card for most people, retention offers, upgrade offers and Amex Offers ensure the Platjnum is better for mode than what you imply.
Thanks for the insight Dustin. I got value from the card in 2019. Once travel dwindled in 2020, I had to take a good hard look at renewal before finally deciding to downgrade. With this hike, any thoughts of Platinum will just fade to a distant pleasant memory. If they still offer it, be sure to get the Global Entry $100 credit before canceling, that’s good for 5yrs and includes TSA Pre-check.
Great video, keep it up
perfect explanation
All wallet charm!
For me the changes are a no brainer: I already pay for CLEAR and use FHR at least once a year. FHR is great for weekend short luxury stays in less expensive cities or dates. Way more value than the added $145 fee. The CSR is not adding anything to make up for the expiration of Lyft Pink which I hardly got to use due to the pandemic and also DoorDash benefits expire. The new changes to the Preferred mean I'm ditching my CSR and changing to the Preferred which my P2 already has.
Amazing review I have the gold the platinum just isn’t needed.
Very good, and no nonsense, analysis. Thank you.
What I REALLY want to know, is if I can buy my SARMs through the portal? Lol!
I'd rather have the UBS's black Infinite. It's loaded with perks without being a coupon book or having to use a spreadsheet for Airlines points. It gives you a big discount on Luxury Hotels and Private Jets.When you are a HNW or UHNW, they don't care about juggling points for free flights.
Let's be honest here folks, most people have the Amex Platinum for one reason, and one reason only, the swag … or as the kids say these days, the flex: and believe you me, Amex knows this, and this is why they will forever keep hiking the annual fee in huge chunks, whilst psychologically "offsetting" these huge fee increases with largely useless "perks" to placate the doubts about the card's "value" the owners of this overpriced bauble surely must have from time to time.
I’m gonna have to disagree. I just went away for 3 days, used my Amex Platinum card benefits ($200 hotel credit, $200 travel expense, $100 hotel credit (x2) and those savings basically paid for my yearly fee. That’s 1 small trip, 1 time. So all these other credit like streaming, phone coverage etc etc etc are simply icing on the cake. If you actually know how to use the cards privileges to your benefit, your yearly fee more then pays for itself. Still my fav card btw
Gold card is the limit for me.
I was offered 150k for the intro offer yesterday. I found the offer through Card Match. Has anyone cancelled their card after year 1? I'm going to wait and see how much value I can claw back to justify the annual fee, but it's looking like quite an uphill battle. How much may cancelling affect my credit score? I'm also guessing that once I cancel this card, I'll never be able to re-apply down the road if things change in my life or the card improves its benefits. Is this true?
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BENEFIIITS YEEAH
-P DIDDY VIDEO (AMEX VERSION)
Thank god the annual fee is waived for military
Lots of good points, but I have heard that an AMEX Platinum is easier to get than a Chase Sapphire Reserve…anyone have any knowledge regarding this?