Overview
The Business Platinum Card from American Express is part of American Express' line of high-end Platinum cards. As such, it shares a number of valuable benefits with other Amex Platinum cards:
- Up to $200 a year in statement credits for airline incidental fees
- $100 Global Entry fee reimbursement.
- Airport lounge benefits: Priority Pass Select membership, plus free access to Delta SkyClubs, Amex Centurion Lounges, and Airspace Lounges
- Rental car elite status. National Executive status is particularly valuable in my opinion.
- Marriott Gold status.
- Hilton Gold status. Free breakfast.
The Business Platinum card also has a few unique perks and traits not shared with personal Platinum cards:
- 35% Airline Bonus: Get 35% of your points back when you redeem points through Amex Travel for either a First or Business class flight on any airline, or for any flights with your selected airline.
- Up to $200 a year in statement credits for Dell purchases: Up to $100 credit January-June + up to $100 credit July-December
- 1.5X points per dollar on purchases of $5000 or more
- Amex business cards are not shown as accounts on personal credit reports. This is particularly helpful when signing up for Chase credit cards (since Chase frequently denies applications for those who have signed up for 5 or more cards in the past 24 months).
Unlike personal Platinum cards, though, the Business Platinum card does not offer 5X rewards for airfare purchases made directly with an airline.
At $595 per year, the Business Platinum card is very expensive, but if you value its many perks it can be well worth keeping.
Rewards
| Amex Membership Rewards points can be incredibly valuable if you know how to use them. In general, if you use Membership Rewards points to pay for merchandise or travel, you won't get good value from your points. One exception is with the Business Platinum card where you'll get a 35% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.5 cents per point value, which is pretty good. Another exception is with the Business Gold Card where you'll get a 25% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.33 cents per point value. If you don't have either card, then your best bet is to transfer points to airline miles in order to book high value awards. More details can be found here: Amex Membership Rewards Complete Guide. |
Application Tips
Amex Application Tips
- Safe to Apply: Amex is the safest bank for trying your luck at a new welcome bonus. They don’t usually issue a hard pull when denying your application. Plus, they’ll now warn you during the application process if you’re not eligible for the bonus.
- Lifetime Rule: If you've ever had the same card before, you are most likely prohibited from getting a welcome bonus for the card if you apply now. Fortunately you'll be warned during the application process if this is the case. Amex is known to "forget" that you've had a card after about 7 years.
- 5/90 Rule: In general, you can get at most one credit card within 5 days and 2 within 90 days. The 5 day limit is not enforced when your applications are automatically approved. Neither rule is enforced for charge cards.
- 5 credit card max:Amex usually won't approve applications for new credit cards if you already have 4 or more Amex credit cards or 10 or more charge cards.
- Better Offers: You may be able to get a better offer than the best available public offer. Details here.
- Hard inquiries combine into 1 when approved same day
Check application status here.
If denied, call reconsideration: 877-399-3083 (new accountholders); 866-314-0237 (current accountholders)
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How to Meet Spend Requirements
In order to meet minimum spend requirements, people often look for options to increase spend in ways that result in getting their money back. These techniques are referred to as "manufacturing spend". American Express has terms in their welcome offers that exclude some manufactured spend techniques from counting towards the minimum spend requirements for the welcome bonus. For example, most new cardmember bonuses have terms like this:
Eligible purchases to meet the Threshold Amount do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.
That said, many techniques for meeting minimum spend are perfectly fine. Here are some techniques that are safe for meeting Amex minimum spend requirements (click each link for more information):
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Related Cards (Membership Rewards)
