Amex Platinum for less

33
Pay less for platinum

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Johnny

With the new changes, the annual fee is $550, but Uber+Flight credits make the effective fee $150.

Total costs are therefore, $150 + $175 = $325

Split between two = $325/2 = $162.5 per person
Split between three = $325 / 3 = $108 per person
Split between four = $325 / 4 = $81 per person

Compared to the other premium cards, I thinkt he AMEX plat is mediocre in terms of its tangible rewards. It’s intangible rewards are very valuable thoug, especially the Delta lounges (life saver many of times), Hotel status etc.

I think once my year is up, I will definitely split the card with the GF, and perhaps will get other my dad in on it as well. At $100 pp per year for Delta/Centurion Lounges, Hotel status, is a good deal imo.

Dee

I’m not sure I would offer this to my friends, but certainly worth considering for Hubby and if any of my 5 adult kids want a card.

Debbie

You can just use the points and cancel the card to get the annual fee reimbursement…

bostonflyer

Why are you recommending Charles Schwab if you’re wealthy? It is not the obvious choice at all … if you have 1 million invested in Morgan Stanley, then you can get the $450 annual fee completely waived PLUS the credits on top of that. Not well thought out this time around ….

MSer

FM – this post has to go down as one of the most absurd and irresponsible posts ever written (share accounts????) And for why? Just so you can get a few noobs to click affiliate links to put a few shekels in your pocket? How desperate are you???

Sad.

r hirsch

$156.25 per person with three friends

Ryan

Active duty military gets the annual fee waived, including authorized users 🙂

Ryan

Maybe it’s only family members who are authorized users or it has to be the same address but the AF is waived on my Platinum as an AU (my wife is active duty military) and on another Amex card that I am the primary cardholder and she is the AU.

Mike

For Completeness, you should mention that U.S. active military service members are entitled to have the AF waived for all Amex cards including the the Amex PLT. My cousin who’s in the U.S. Army has his fee waived. I can’t join as an AU and have the the $175 waived, but it’s a legitimate way for me to have an AF and only pay $175 for all the benefits you’ve mentioned as an AU.

Miki

Amex waived AU fees for my Personal Platinum, you just have to ask.

Gloobnib

You forgot to mention SPG Gold as one of the benefits. Gold entitles you to participate in Delta crossover rewards, which for a heavy delta flyer could really add up. I am currently SPG platinum, but in January I moved all of my stays to Hyatt and Hilton, so I will lose the crossover rewards if I drop below SPG gold.

The approximately $15K my company reimburses for my annual delta travel nets me 15K SPG points, which usually turns into 3-5 free additional nights each year. With Gold I still get late checkout and free wifi, which are really the only elite benefits with SPG that I highly value.

TL;DR – Amex plat gets you SPG gold and Delta crossover rewards eligibility.

SS

I would be interested to know the cost vs. benefits of the Amex Platinum CC vs. the Amex Centurion CC. What’s the better deal?

kenny

Adding friends as AUs, got to be some of the worst advice I’ve ever heard. Really, if you can’t handle the fee or don’t feel the benefits are worth the fee, just don’t get the card. We’re scraping the bottom here for CC pumping.

SM

Don’t understand your math. If the fee for each additional user is $175, shouldn’t the total fee for the case where you have three friends joining in be $425 + 3*$175. How are you getting $425+$175 in that scenario?

MS

Read properly:

“Most Platinum cards charge $175 per year for the first 3 authorized users, combined. Additional authorized users cost $175 per year, each.”

JohnnieD

Don’t forget Global entry reimbursement for each cardholder. That totals $400 for me and three AU’s on the Ameriprise version. So far, that’s $600 profit which includes $200 in airline fees. I received no signup bonus but we are taking a few trips in coach so the lounge access will be very useful.

John

GE is only every 5 years. It is a known great benefit for the first year, but if you are just doing the “how much to make in the first year” calc, then it is different from this post (and has been posted on to to the point of overkill in the last weeks). The point of this post was to see if there was financial rationale to keep the card after the first year 🙂

I find the argument week (since it is really just one argument, share it with friends), but I do make the distinction between first year benefit analysis and subsequent years.

Chuck

Question is, would you pay $100 for GE? Personally, I wouldn’t, maybe for $50 I would. GE reimbursement is worth only what you would actually pay for It not necessarily what they charge.