There are several “flavors” of the Amex Platinum card, one of which is the American Express Platinum Card for Morgan Stanley. You’ll need to be a Morgan Stanley customer in order to get this Platinum card, and it does feature “family” language, but for those eligible and interested, the card features a new welcome offer that features a nice increase over the standard offer. This increased offer is undoubtedly timed to promote the bevy of new Platinum card benefits that were launched today.
The Offer & Key Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $2142 1st Yr Value Estimate$200 airline incidental fee credit for select airline only valued at $140, $200 Uber credit ($15 per month, $35/December) valued at $100, $100 Saks credit ($50 per six months) valued at $25, $600 Fine Hotels & Resorts credit valued at $300, $300 Digital Entertainment credit ($25 per month) valued at $150, $300 Lululemon credit ($75 per quarter) valued at $150, $250 airline incidental fee credit valued at $225, $120 Uber One credit ($10 per month) valued at $48, 400 Resy credit ($100 per quarter) valued at $85 Click to learn about first year value estimates 125K Points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 125K after $8K spend in first 6 months. Terms apply. (Offer Expires 11/12/2025)$895 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 150K after $8k spend in the first 6 months. (Expired 6/11/25) FM Mini Review: In my opinion, this is the best of the consumer Amex Platinum cards when you need two cards thanks to Morgan Stanley offering one free authorized user. Unfortunately you do need to have a Morgan Stanley account to apply. Earning rate: ✦ 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (limit $500,000 in purchases each calendar year) ✦ 5X prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel Card Info: Amex Pay Over Time Card issued by American Express. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $500 after $100K cardmember year spend Noteworthy perks: This card includes all of the great perks that come with the American Express Platinum Card, plus: ✦ 1 Free Authorized User ✦ Redeem points for 1 cent each into your Morgage Stanley account ✦ $695 Annual Engagement Bonus for Platinum CashPlus accounts See also: Amex Platinum Guide |
Quick Thoughts
While not as strong as some of the offers we’ve seen on the “Vanilla” Platinum card, this represents a strong offer for the Morgan Stanley variant, which had been featuring an 80K offer before this increase.
Keep in mind that you will need to be a Morgan Stanley client in order to get the Morgan Stanley Platinum card. Access Investing is no longer available for new customers, so this variant of the card probably won’t be appealing if you’re not already with Morgan Stanley (note that the Schwab Platinum Card, which offers a 10% higher redemption rate when redeeming points for brokerage deposits, is far easier since you could simply open a free Schwab Investor Checking account to qualify).
Still, as you’ll see in our post about which is the best Platinum card or in our podcast episode 244 about the topic, one of the key benefits of the Morgan Stanley version of the card is that you get a free Platinum-level Authorized User card (so the AU gets standard Platinum-card benefits like Centurion Lounge and Delta SkyClub access).
Keep in mind that Amex added family language to the Morgan Stanley card, so if you have or have had the Schwab Platinum card or the “vanilla” Platinum, you may not be eligible for the bonus on this card. That’s not to say that you’re definitely ineligible, just that you may not be. YMMV.
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Because a newbie will ask, even though E*Trade is owned by Morgan Stanley, an E*Trade account does not qualify a person for this card.
Even for existing users, Access Investing will disappear in a few months.
“Because you have assets invested in a Morgan Stanley Access Investing® account, we are notifying you that effective early 2026, Morgan Stanley will no longer support this product.”
Will Morgan Stanley raise their “Annual Engagement Bonus” (used to offset the fee) from $695 to $895 in response to AmEx increasing the base Platinum card’s annual fee?
As you’re likely already aware, the engagement bonus requires Platinum CashPlus, which has a $55 monthly fee. The monthly fee can be waived if (among other things) a person maintains a balance of at least $25k in the Platinum CashPlus account. The interest opportunity cost on that balance will be a minimum of $1000 per year at current interest rates. So, while it sounds sexy, it is actually a bad deal. Good luck.
Even if you don’t qualify for the requirement, even if you do pay the $55 monthly fee you’d still come out ahead with the $695 rebate, wouldn’t you?
By the way, the Schwab Platinum card is also 125K. I’ve seen it with this value at least twice today. Would it make sense to get it now, and then at some point in the future I can get the regular platinum when an NLL offer comes along? I figure that’s a lot easier than the other way around (I don’t think there’s NLL offers for the Schwab variant, or it’s much rarer).
On a different (but related topic), any chance that the Green card will be refreshed and have enough credits to be interesting (and have an NLL offer)?
Will you get the popup confirming if you are ineligible due to the family language?
Try it and report back.
Yes it will. You’ll be able to cancel the application – no fuss, no muss. My own popup actually confirmed my eligibility (I had the Schwab one with no a/f, long ago) but even though I could probably do the spend, I just cannot take the coupon book thing. I don’t want to think about this (or any) card that often and/or at regular frequencies.
Wonder if it’s tough to be MS client?
Define “tough.” 😉 If you have a lot of assets, they periodically call you and want to manage them for a small percentage fee (to which, you should always say NO).
But you can get a Morgan Stanley account if you have E*Trade assets of >= $250K, which includes all assets (savings, trading, IRA, Roth IRA, UTMA accounts, etc.).
Would I move all my assets to Morgan Stanley just to get a free authorized user? No. But I’ve been on E*Trade for over 20 years, and it’s a pretty good platform, which a huge variety of ultra low cost mutual funds. So by itself, I’d recommend E*Trade. Unfortunately, Morgan Stanley doesn’t have nearly the variety of investment options that ET has, and the ones they offer have high expense ratios and the ETF’s have very high spreads, so overall, I’m not enthusiastic about MS.
>> “But you can get a Morgan Stanley account if you have E*Trade assets of >= $250K, which includes all assets”
What do you mean by account? Do you mean if I have enough assets at ETrade I’m eligible to open this Amex card? Or do you mean it makes me eligible to get some other Morgan Stanley account first which then lets me apply for the amex? Thanks
If you have have an E*Trade account with >=$250K in assets, then you can open a Morgan Stanley brokerage account, then you can get approved for the Morgan Stanley Platinum card.
The “easiest” way is to open a Morgan Stanley preferred savings account. You need to deposit >25k in order to open the preferred savings account.
The account earns 5% interest so it’s on par with other HYSA. Assuming you are interested in the card for the free authorized user perk, have 25k sitting around in another savings account you don’t mind transferring, and are eligible for the sign-up bonus (ie no pop-up due to family language), it’s not difficult and would recommend.
The only annoying thing is the entire Morgan Stanley platform seems very archaic. You need to call and speak to a representative in order to open the account and then you need to call when/if you ever want to move your money in to or out of the account.