For years, the entry point for the American Express Platinum Card® Exclusively for Morgan Stanley was to open an Access Investing account. However, that option was eliminated a few years ago. But Doctor of Credit reports good news for those interested in this flavor of Platinum card: E*Trade customers now qualify for the Morgan Stanley variant of the card. That is potentially exciting news since the Morgan Stanley version offers a free additional cardholder, which provides that additional cardholder with perks like lounge access and more.
Update 1/19/26: According to this Youtube video, it is possible for E-trade customers to get a Morgan Stanley Platinum Cash Plus account.
The Deal
- A landing page on us.etrade.com now indicates that E*Trade customers are among those potentially eligible for the American Express Platinum Card® Exclusively for Morgan Stanley
- Direct link to the E*Trade landing page
Quick Thoughts
The following update has been added to the application terms & conditions:
The Platinum Card® from American Express exclusively for Morgan Stanley is only available for clients who have an Eligible Account with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (which includes E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley) or Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association.
An Eligible Account is a brokerage or bank account (i) held in your name, (ii) held by a trust where you are both the grantor and trustee of such trust, or (iii) held as a beneficial owner of a personal holding company, a non-operating limited liability company, a non-operating limited partnership, or a similar legal entity. American Express will only issue the Card to (1) a Morgan Stanley client who is an individual; and (2) an individual associated with a Morgan Stanley client (if the Morgan Stanley client itself is not an individual). Eligibility is subject to change. American Express may cancel your Card Account and participation in this program, if you do not maintain an Eligible Account.
I’m not positive when E*Trade customers became eligible, but I know that there was a time in the past when they were not. Further, the landing page for the card at the E*Trade website indicates that E*Trade customers are “now” eligible, so this appears to be a relatively recent change.
This is great news for those who want the Morgan Stanley version of this card, since it should be possible to open a free self-directed E*Trade account and then qualify for the Morgan Stanley version of the Platinum card.
The key benefit of this flavor of the Amex Platinum card is that the first additional cardholder is free. An additional Platinum-level cardholder on the other consumer Platinum cards costs $195. If your goal is for two cardholders to have benefits like access to Centurion Lounges, Escape Lounges or Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta the same day), the Morgan Stanley version of the card is the least expensive way to accomplish that. See more detail in this post.
This development made me wonder whether there is now a play for a discounted Morgan Stanley Platinum card.
Platinum Cash Plus for E*trade customers?
A key benefit of the Morgan Stanley version of the Platinum card is the chance to earn the annual engagement bonus. Morgan Stanley Platinum Cash Plus customers receive an annual $895 engagement bonus. Historically, it has been necessary to have a Morgan Stanley investment account to get a Platinum Cash Plus account, and the Platinum Cash Plus account requires a $25,000 monthly balance to avoid paying a monthly fee for that Platinum Cash Plus account. Given the current interest rate environment, the opportunity cost of keeping $25K in the Platinum Cash Plus account has outweighed the value of that rebate.
However, I wondered aloud in our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group yesterday whether it is possible to open a Platinum Cash Plus account with an E*Trade self-directed brokerage account. Here’s why: if it is possible for an E*Trade customer to open the Platinum Cash Plus account, then it might make sense to pay the $55 monthly fee for the Platinum Cash Plus account in order to get the $895 annual engagement bonus. If that worked, it would be possible to get a Platinum card at a nice discount:
- Open an E*Trade account
- Open a Platinum CashPlus account
- *Pay the $55 monthly fee for the CashPlus account* (since the opportunity cost of keeping $25K in the account is too high!)
- Open the Morgan Stanley Platinum card
- Qualify for the $895 engagement bonus (which requires having a Platinum CashPlus account)
- End up paying $660 (in monthly fees for the Platinum CashPlus account) + $895 (Morgan Stanley Platinum card annual fee) and getting back $895 (engagement bonus). The net result is paying $660/yr for a Platinum card that comes with a free Platinum-level additional cardholder.
Again, to be clear, I do not know if this is possible.
The terms regarding who is eligible for a Cash Plus account are unclear. Here’s what it says on the Morgan Stanley website:
Unfortunately, that is a slim description. It notes that eligible investment accounts include but are not limited to a few example account types. I am sure that a self-directed Morgan Stanley brokerage account qualifies to open a Cash Plus account. I don’t know whether a self-directed E*Trade account qualifies for a Cash Plus account (keep in mind that Morgan Stanley owns E*Trade).
Note that members of our Frequent Miler Insiders report receiving a 1099 for the engagement bonus, though I believe that the reporting threshold for a 1099-MISC increases to $2,000 in 2026 (this is not tax or investment advice; consult your tax professional).
Even if the Platinum Cash Plus move is not possible, it is obviously good news for many that it is now far easier to qualify for this version of the card, since it offers the opportunity to have that additional cardholder for $195 less than on other versions of the card.
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My recent DP – Called Etrade support and asked about opening the cash+ plat account. They brought on a MS FA who was super helpful and opened the account on my behalf. The whole process from the initial call to completing the e-signs and opening the account only took about an hour. No previous MS relationship, no blank account creation/conversion
No mention of IRAs? I happen to have a managed account with Morgan Stanley and have the MS Platinum, but I’ll be moving that account soon. I also have an IRA with E-Trade that I manage personally. Only reason I changed from vanilla Plat to MS is for the free AU. I don’t have a Platinum Cash Plus account.
It also looks like you need to have monthly qualifying deposits of $5K per month into the Platinum CashPlus Account in addition to the $25K minimum monthly balance to avoid the $55 monthly fee.
Math is math. Taxes kill this hack. Taxes on engagement bonus makes this a wash.
I wonder if you take the route of paying the monthly maintenance
fee if they take that amount off the tax bonus.
Yes. The fees generally reduce the taxable bonus amount.
unfortunately I tried this and was not successful. I was told I needed a Morgan Stanley account
I’ve had the first $55 fee of the year waived automatically every January as a courtesy without even asking. I’ve essentially paid only $605 each year.
Appreciate the share Nick! Hope this helps everyone out. Remember to reference that you want to open a “Blank Morgan Stanley” account and if the agent doesn’t know they’ll put you on hold and talk to their supervisor. Love what you guys do, keep it up!
I already have a E*Trade account. Could I get the $895 annual engagement bonus without a minimum balance or do I still have to keep $25k in there? Just asking since 25k was the rule for the MS account but not necessarily for ET.
My understanding is you only need $25,000 in the Platinum Cash Plus account if you want to keep it fee free. Otherwise, you have to pay the monthly fee. Your balance at e trade is totally irrelevant.
So the Platinum Cash Plus account is still the only way to get the $895 engagement bonus and E*trade doesn’t offer that?
Yes that is correct
Since the $895 engagement bonus is taxable, does any taxes above 26% makes this a wash if you are paying $55/month in fees?
Actually it’s interesting, according to the article Nick wrote “ Note that members of our Frequent Miler Insiders report receiving a 1099 for the engagement bonus, though I believe that the reporting threshold for a 1099-MISC increases to $2,000 in 2026 (this is not tax or investment advice; consult your tax professional)”
So maybe they won’t send you anything to report on your taxes; which would be a major win.
Only if you are ok with not reporting all taxable income.
on the other hand I wonder if you can count the $660 as an investment loss the same way you’d have to report interest earned on the account.
But would you consider the $660 an investment loss? That’s like saying a bank charging you a checking account monthly fee can be classified as a loss; it’s not, it’s a fee.
Has anyone had success? DOC is full of report of E*Trade only accounts getting denied for the card as ineligible.
I’ve had the MS Amex Platinum for 4 years now. Opened with $5k Access Investing account which is now almost $7k (not as good as the S&P 500 has returned but not bad). First year kept $25k emergency fund in Cash Plus account to avoid monthly fee but realized that was not smart so have been keeping about $1k-$2k in account and paying $55/month ($660 year) and getting the annual fee reimbursed annually so I basically get an Amex Platinum with a free authorized user for $660/year. Never received a 1099 once so YMMV. They tell me that my Access Investing will close out in Q1 2026 so just wondering if I will no longer qualify to keep my Cash Plus account open once that happens. Hopefully we get some clarity soon.
I also wonder this. Seems like now that e*Trade is allowed, I should just ask them to roll my Access Investing account into an e*Trade account.
I guess this is one of those things that we won’t know unless someone tries, but hopefully we’ll get an update! I remember looking into taking advantage of the MS card and found the process of getting approved to open an account way too confusing!
But this subject to the “family” language right?
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab or previous versions of these Cards.
I have a MS Platinum card via the Access Investing account. They’re shutting down Access Investment accounts early next year, and have been calling to move you off of that product.
One of the options they presented was opening a Platinum CashPlus account. I went with that option, with the intent on doing the exact same thing you described — pay the $55/month CashPlus fee, a la $660 for the year… in order to get the $895 Engagement Bonus at the end of the year.
Interesting. I was able to get a Morgan Stanley Platinum Card in 2023 despite having no Morgan Stanley accounts and only E*Trade brokerage and savings accounts at the time. I never understood why I was able to do that based on what I had read at the time and since until now.
To open a CashPlus account, you need to have an existing relationship with Morgan Stanley (E-Trade brokerage does not count)