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Note that the offers mentioned in this post have since expired. See our Best Offers page for current offer information.
To borrow a popular phrase, Stop the madness! If you told me at the beginning of the week that we’d see an offer for any credit card as good as the Resy offer for the Platinum card that we reported the other day, I wouldn’t have believed you. If you’d have followed that by telling me that some would instead see a targeted offer for 100K plus 10x back on $15K at US Gas Stations and US Supermarkets, I’d have laughed you out of the room. And so when someone told me yesterday that they say an offer on the Amex Platinum card for 125K points after $5K spend in the first six months that also includes 10x at US Gas Stations & Supermarkets on up to $15K in purchases in the first 6 months (since expired), I facetiously responded with the line, “Screen shots or it didn’t happen lol.” Sure enough, it did. Some people are targeted with this 125K offer — and I can’t imagine seeing this and not applying for it.
Holy guacamole. Mama mia, that’s a spicy meatball. Hat tip to reader Erik L for the screen shot. This offer was found via the Amex prequalification tool.
The following is a summary of all four current (these bonuses were current at the time of writing but have since expired) welcome bonuses being reported on the Amex Platinum card. The next few sections summarize the points portion of the offer. For more details on the awesome perks of the Platinum card, which can include more than $1100 in statement credits in the first 12 months, jump down to “Sweet Amex Platinum statement credit and perks no matter which offer you use” or keep reading below the offer summaries.
The “only 75K” + 10x offer (offer expired)
Many other blogs are reporting what I’ll call the “only” 75K offer, which only includes 75K points after $5K in purchases plus 10x at US gas stations and US Supermarkets . It’s actually not that this offer is bad – indeed, in a normal week, this offer would be a big deal. It’s just that there is a better public offer, which is why we never reported or listed this deal.
The “only 75K” offer made better by referral (offer expired)
If you can’t get the 100K or 125K offers listed below and you would rather have points than the restaurant credits of the Resy deal, you could help a friend pick up a nice bonus. This works particularly well if you’re playing with a spouse/significant other. Since Amex lets you generate a referral across cards these days, Player 1 can find his/her best referral link (some cards offer a bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points when you refer others) and refer Player 2. In some cases you may see the “only 75K” offer through a referral. If your other household player is picking up 25K points for referring you, that becomes much less crummy indeed.
Note that you may only see the 60K offer when clicking through a referral link, but it’s probably worth trying each browser on your computer.
The public 75K + $300 in restaurant credits offer (offer expired)
This is the offer we had listed on our Best Offers page until the 100K offer (below) became available to everyone. We always make an effort to list the best publicly-available offer (that is to say an offer that everyone will see when clicking through) on our best offers page / individual card pages.
In this case, our link goes to restaurant reservation website Resy, which has what appeared to be a phenomenal offer for the Platinum card (I use the past tense here only because of the even better targeted offers below):
- Get 75K points after making $5K in purchases in the first 6 months
- Get 10x at US gas stations and US restaurants on up to $15K in purchases in the first 6 months
- Get 20% back on restaurant purchases worldwide for the first 12 months up to $300 back
We wrote more about that offer here. The nice thing about this offer through Resy is that it is easily available to anyone by applying via the link to Resy that you find on our Platinum Card page.
The amazing 100K + 10x offer (offer expired)
As if the above wasn’t good enough, people began reporting an even better targeted 100K deal yesterday (update: this is now available to everyone!). Both Greg and I took a swing at it and successfully snagged the following offer:
- Get 100K points after making $5K in purchases in the first 6 months
- Get 10x at US gas stations and US restaurants on up to $15K in purchases in the first 6 months
This version of the offer does not have the restaurant statement credits of the Resy deal about but instead replaces that with the additional 25K points added to the welcome bonus.
When this post was first written, the 100K offer was targeted, but now it is available to everyone. Click here to find an up-to-date link to the 100K offer.
The incredible 125K + 10x targeted offer (offer expired)
Some people are seeing an absolutely incredible offer via the Amex prequalification tool or the CardMatch Tool. For those who are having trouble reading the fine print in the screen shot at the top of this post, this targeted offer includes:
- 125K Membership Rewards points after you spend $5K on purchases in the first 6 months
- 10x at US Gas Stations and US Supermarkets on up to $15K in purchases for the first 6 months
If you were able to max out the $15K in 10x spend, that would be 275,000 Membership Rewards points. Uh, wow. That more than mitigates the $550 annual fee given that, as Greg pointed out this morning, those points could be cashed out via the Schwab Platinum (maybe you pick that card up next year after you’ve got more points than you know what to do with?) for $3,437.50. For anyone aware of the myriad of Membership Rewards sweet spots, those points could be worth much more with partners whenever travel resumes.
Sweet Amex Platinum statement credit and perks no matter which offer you use
As I’ve written about several times now this week, by applying now for an Amex Platinum card, you can get more than $1100 in credits in the first 12 months on top of the points:
- Up to $400 in airline fee incidental credits ($200 each calendar year; apply now and you can get this $200 before the end of this year plus another $200 in credits next year)
- Up to $200 in Uber credits over the next year ($15/mo and $35 in December)
- Up to $150 in Sak’s 5th Ave credits ($50 between January and June and $50 between July and December; apply now and use the credit once before the end of this year and then twice next year)
- Up to $40 in wireless services credits ($20 in November and $20 in December 2020 due to temporary COVID enhancements)
- Up to $40 in streaming services credits ($20 in November and $20 in December 2020 due to temporary COVID enhancements)
- As Greg pointed out in this morning’s post, you may also be able to get credits for Variis by Equinox (though I didn’t see this offer in the new Platinum account today)
And as I’ve noted several times this week, the Platinum card also comes with other terrific standard benefits like Hilton Gold status, Centurion lounge access, Delta SkyClub access when flying Delta, and more. See our Amex Platinum Complete Guide for more.
Note that if we knew that these amazing offers would be around in December, we probably would have held off on applying as it could potentially be possible to get an extra set of airline fee credits in January 2022, but we just don’t know whether these offers will be around and they were too valuable to ignore. If you’re a gambler, you might wait it out until December.
Bottom line
Some people are finding a prequalified offer for both 125K points after $5K spend in the first 6 months and 10x at US gas stations and US supermarkets on up to $15K in purchases for the first 6 months and that offer is absolute insanity. As I argued in yesterday morning’s post and will talk about on tomorrow’s podcast, I think that some people are making the mistake of looking at the 10x categories as an all-or-nothing proposition. If you can’t spend the full $15K in the temporary bonus categories, who cares? Before this week, the best offer I ever recall seeing on the Amex Platinum card was for just 100K after $5K in purchases with no 10x bonus categories. Given that most purchases on the personal Platinum card only earn 1x, most people would only end up with 105K total points with that 100K targeted offer (which, before this week, was considered to be such a good offer that many of us check for every few months hoping to see). If you are targeted for the 125K offer, I think that’s the best offer we’ve ever seen on the personal Platinum even if you don’t spend a dime at US gas stations or US Supermarkets. On the other hand, if you’re able to spend $5K in those categories (which works out to about $193 per week, which is probably at least close to a realistic grocery and gas figure for a large segment of readers), you would end up with 175,000 points. That is amazing.
To find the 125K targeted offer, you can go to the American Express prequalification tool. Again, this is a targeted offer, so most people likely won’t see it. However, it’s always worth a shot. The 100K offer that Greg and I found is also an awesome deal, but the 125K offer would obviously take the cake. I tried a few devices in my household before I saw the 100K offer. I knew my wife was wrong when she told me to throw those old laptops away.
Any way you slice it, these offers are the rare type of thing that we just don’t expect to see again and wouldn’t wait on because we don’t know whether they’ll be around for long.
H/T: Readers John and Erik L and Doctor of Credit
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What’s the likelihood of the 125K offer? I tried the Card Match and the Pre-Qualification link and got 75K. The main link in an incognito yielded 100K. Should I take that and be done?
Is the 125K a crazy rare thing? And is it essentially a 0% chance once you’ve gotten your answer on the prequalification page? Or is it something that might pop up for me or change?
The 125K offer is rare. Personally I tried once to get it to appear and then gave up and went with the 100K offer. The offer on this page should give you the 100K offer even without incognito mode: https://frequentmiler.com/amxplat/#Goto
Wouldn’t you know it? I applied and got the card a couple weeks ago. In today’s paper mail is the 125K offer. *shakes fist at the sky*
So have you ever heard of anyone getting their offer upped based on an offer they received after applying for the card? And does the 125K not include the $200 home furnishings bump? And what would become of Katherine’s (I think it was) referral bonus that she got when I used your link and I guess it was her turn to be rotated in from the FM Insiders FB group?
1) Unlikely that they’ll match in this situation because the 125K offer does not include the $200 statement credit. Two substantially different offers now. That said, there’s certainly no harm in asking.
2) Referral bonus would be unaffected by anything you do now. You got approved, so that’s been awarded. They aren’t going to claw that back whether or not they match you.
Thanks. I’ll give it a shot and report back only in the event of success.
Nick, I’m curious if you have met you $5k SUB spend yet. I saw a dp on DoC from someone saying that they got the 30k referral bonus offer soon after meeting the SUB spend. It could explain why Greg has the higher referral offer, but you and I don’t. I’d be interested to hear if you’ve met the SUB spend, and if your referral bonus increased soon after. Thanks!
I received the business platinum bonus twice before but just received a targeted offer for 100k. Never had the personal platinum and hence eligible for the current 100k offer. Not seeing the 125k. Should I just take the business offer now and the personal later?
I wouldn’t do it that way. Those 100K Business Platinum offers come around now and then (I’ve seen as high as 150K, though that offer requires $20K spend). We’ve never seen an opportunity to get both 100K plus 10x in two highly useful categories for up to $15K spend as we are seeing on the personal Platinum right now. Even if you only do $5K at 10x over six months, you’ll end up with 150,000 points. That’s phenomenal return on $5K spend that we’ve never seen before and as such I have no idea whether or when we’ll see that again. Add on top of that the $30 monthly PayPal credit through June on the personal card ($150 in credits for you that aren’t normally there) and I can’t see missing the personal offer right now if you’re eligible.
Thanks for the advice, Nick. The only reason I was leaning towards the business platform is that I already had it and may not be eligible again without a similar targeted offer. Never had the personal platinum and should be eligible anytime. I can see the personal offer is more valuable.
[…] month, we wrote about the incredible offers available on the Amex Platinum card. While many readers were eventually able to get the offer for 100,000 Membership Rewards points […]
What kind of spend is safe to hit the minimum spend on AmEx cards these days without having your points clawed back or otherwise experiencing the wrath of AmEx?
(1) Can I pay a contractor who invoices via paypal?
(2) Can I send my landlord a check with plastiq?
(3) Can I pay taxes via Paypal Key (before January 4th)?
My guess is that all of those would be fine with Amex IF you can get those payments to go through paypal and paypal key
Tax payments are dead for PayPal key and all PPK Amex support is ending 1/4/21.
After that will PayPal payments for services (eg. paying invoices where fee is paid by service provider) , Plastiq payments for rent and tax payments count towards Amex minimum spends?
These are all legitimate non-cash equivalent purchases as far as I understand it. Thanks for your original reply and any additional insight you can offer!
[…] working on the spending requirement for the big new cardmember bonus and this would provide a decent chunk of […]
[…] Incredible Amex Plat Offers! 125K + 10x [targeted], 100K + 10x, 75K + 10X + $300 […]
[…] As if on cue after this morning’s post about Extreme stacking for holiday purchases, shopping portal Rakuten is offering 10% back or 10x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at Saks Fifth Avenue today. This could make for an excellent stack for new Amex Platinum cardholders who have taken advantage of the recent amazing welcome offers. […]
Amex-zing experience!
My wife and I landed our best Black Friday deal for 2020 – our welcome bonus for meeting the minimum spend requirements on the American Express Platinum credit card that we recently applied for got upgraded (finally!) from 75,000 to 100,000 Membership Rewards Points by a kind Amex customer service representative named Catherine!
I’d applied for the card on the 12th of November when Amex had a seemingly awesome welcome bonus offer of 75k points on meeting the minimum spend of $5,000 in 6 months (amongst other juicy benefits). But, within 12 hours, on a Friday the 13th that lived up to its name, after reading a post on the ever-so-dependable Frequent Miler blog, I realized that I was targeted by Amex for a 100k Membership Rewards Points welcome bonus on the same card with the same spend requirements! WTF! Missing out on 25,000 Membership Reward Points (equivalent to $400-500), and that too by a whisker, is a big deal, and more so for us because we extensively (and sometimes solely) use points for travel and other purchases!
What ensued was my making multiple calls to the Amex customer service in the last fortnight starting on that fateful Friday the 13th, requesting them to reconsider my case and increase my welcome bonus to match the latest 100k offer that is showing up for me till date (talk about adding salt to injury!). But this didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Yesterday, on Black Friday, I called Amex again to follow up on my case. After ending a lengthy call with Catherine, who patiently heard me out and promised to reach out to me if there’s any progress on my case, it seemed as if I had hit a dead end. Let’s admit it, I had pushed my luck despite knowing very well that Amex doesn’t usually budge on such matters. I got the feeling that it was time to write off our loss of 25k points and move on to something more iDeal.
Voila! Within a few minutes of ending the call with Catherine, she called me back that she again went through the notes pertaining to my case on file. She acknowledged that I had indeed called them to plead my case that very day (hello again, Friday the 13th!) and multiple times thenceforth. So, she mentioned that, being a customer herself, she understood how terrible it must feel to narrowly miss out on such a great offer, and, therefore, used her authority to kindly increase my welcome bonus to 100,000 Membership Rewards Points with the same spend requirements! GASP!! She even added a reminder on her calender to check in with me in April (by when we hope to meet the minimum spend) to ensure that we have received the entire 100k points!
WOOHOO! Thankful to Catherine at American Express, and to all the fantastic and tireless customer care representatives who reciprocate their customers’ patience, time and effort with their own patience, consideration and kindness! And many thanks to the team at Frequent Miler for these prompt and detailed alerts!
” Amex prequalification tool.” – i do see 100k but is it targeted for intended receipient will it work for others?
[…] the way that Amex is displaying bonus points for those who have opened Platinum cards under the incredible new welcome offer that includes 10x at US Supermarkets and 10x at US gas stations on up t…. It isn’t immediately clear that those purchases are earning bonus points, but fear not: the […]
[…] instead: The Platinum card’s 100K + 10x bonus category if you can swallow the annual fee (the welcome bonus more than mitigates the fee and 10x Membership […]
I was having a hard time finding the 100k offer but had repeated success on 2 different devices with this method (though not every time):
1) Using Microsoft Edge in a regular, NOT InPrivate tab, on a Windows PC, load the Amex Platinum page (at link in this post) – probably will show 75k
2) Leave the page open for 20 minutes, it should expire.
3) After the expiration page shows, refresh, now it may show the 100k offer.
You might try this a few times. Also, side note, I had 3 browsers open with some in incognito/private tabs refreshing them all again and again for about 15 minutes before this worked the first time. I only discovered it because I walked away from the computer and they all expired, then I returned and refreshed them all and Edge regular tab was the only one to show 100k. Subsequently I’ve had it work intermittently without other browsers open or repeatedly refreshing.
Got the 100k. Couldn’t get the 125k offer even after many attempts and browsers.
How do people plan on maximizing the x10 offer by spending 15k at gas/supermarkets?
Doesn’t Amex receive level 3 CC processing data and deny the x10 (or even shut you down) if they see abnormal spending on gift cards? (Amazon, Visa/Mastercard etc.)
I have a large family and still don’t spend anything near 15k in 6 months
In Greg’s case, smallish gift cards ($200-$300) with every grocery purchase and hope. According to his post about maximizing this offer at least. Regarding level 3 data – idk. For awhile it was only MC and Visa and only certain merchants, reportedly.
Thanks for replying. I’ve done some more digging and it appears that though Amex may only be getting level 2 they have something else that effectively makes it like the Visa/MC level 3.
Either way I think you can assume that they CAN see your purchase details if they want to. It may be that it’s not automated to reject it but be carful not spend in a way that draws attn and makes their RAT team take a deeper look since they likely WILL see the GC’s and claw back or worse.
[…] card because of the extraordinary signup bonus (here’s the coverage by Doctor of Credit and Frequent Miler), you might be wondering whether Triple Dipping (TM) the $200 airline credit with one annual fee is […]
I tried different browsers and methods for a couple of days. Today I ran the AMEX prequal tool with my wife’s info, it didn’t show platinum in the featured offers but I clicked on “all cards” and it had the 125k offer just sitting there. Needless to say my wife is now the proud owner of a new AMEX platinum. BTW she has never had any AMEX cards in the past.
Hi guys, I have been meaning to thank you….I read your article on this deal last Thursday, I went Incognito and there it was 100K + 10X in Gas/Supermarkets for 6 months. I really want to thank you as I am not a business owner therefore I cannot get business cards at all. I try to follow good advice when available and this deal is incredible for me. I know now the 125K deal is out there but I am still very happy with the deal I got….thanks to Nick (and Greg) I can work on my spending this holiday season…..
I echo Mario and all the countless other FM readers. This blog rocks! Other blogs post their affiliate links that do not even have the best public offers available and were completely silent about the better “targeted” offers out there. Thank you Greg, Nick, and the team for letting all of us know about the better offers out there!! Took less than a minute in incognito mode and using a VPN to get the 100K offer + 10x.
I signed up a week or so ago under the $75K offer. Any chance of me convincing an agent to increase the offer to $100K??
No. We did have one reader who reported getting matched on the 10x categories, but zero chance of getting matched to the 100K or 125K offers.
My problem is that since AMEX Platinum is such a good card, me an P2 have it already for to years, so cannot qualify…
P2 had 20k retention after $3k spend, my retention was during Corona time and has 30k without any purchase requirement. Adding to that over $700 each that we received refund for air incidentals, Del, Travel, Small Business, Saks (that $100 really worth ~$20), few Uber ride, Streaming, Cellular… I think that we got fantastic value during 2020, but I really miss the 100k MR offer.
Are people still getting the $100 Dell credit via Amex offers? I couldn’t find it on the new Platinum card.
I haven’t seen it show up. I was specifically looking for that and the HBO offer. Haven’t seen either.
Hi nick
If i add my wife as an authorized user (the gold card), will she also be getting 10X points? Or amex only counts 10X if the platinum card is used?
In other words, will the primary card (platinum) and authorized users (gold) combine points to reach the 250,000 goal?
Thanks
Her purchases would also code 10x. I’m thinking about adding several family members with the free gold AU cards for that purpose.
Nick – how does Amex differentiate between standard gold cards and the Platinum AU variety? My wife and I both have the standard gold cards and I was just approved for the 100k platinum offer. I’m going to add her as an AU gold for the platinum.
The two are completely different things with the same name. Standard Amex Gold cards have a number of category bonuses and perks. Platinum card Gold AU cards have the same category bonuses as the Platinum card (not the Gold card) and only a few perks.
Initially this was surprisingly frustrating for me given the current state of COVID Affairs limiting the benefits of the card. Great offers, absolutely, but when using Greg’s spreadsheet I was struggling to make the fee be reasonably easily offset (which is what the spreadsheet is for — to examine each individual’s value of a card). There were so many potential negative offsets:
–Airline credits – now? I don’t see using the 2020 credit, even after examining your post on this. Likely use the 2021
–Can count on one hand how many times I used a food delivery service.
–Saks is kind of a lame add on.
–COVID credits are easy, but limited at this time.
–On a good ay, All of the travel benefits are of extreme limited use (have never been within 1000 feet of a Centurion lounge; rarely fly Delta; Marriott platinum; will I stay in a Hilton in 2021?) .
–My calculation basically came down to the value of the points vs the net annual fee (for me ~$270; even with what might be mediocre bonus points earning for me– I have a tesla (so the gas spend is exactly $0) and groceries are not much spend for me, especially if that bonus spend cannot be easily met with gift cards (clawbacks).
But still the math still seems to work out. If I happen to figure out a use for the airline credit this year that works, and happen to use even 1 Saks credit, then it is easy.
Am I off base here?
Agree very much with you. IMHO the only way to get Platinum card(s) to work is use it to fly (5X points). How many card carriers use the rest of benefits? IMHO almost zero. Lounges nice, agreed. But the rest. Airline fee credit, if you can carry a Platinum card chances are you are flying first/business class so bags are not a problem and more than likely you have status anyway. Sure today’s SUBs are nice, but what about after that? I can take my AmEx Business Plus and get 100,000 ($50,000 spend X 2) points per year and oh by the way zero investment. Platinum just spent 55,000 (@ a cent) of those points on the sign-up. If the card won’t keep working for you to zero out the sign-up expense, why get it? The card companies are stupid people! PS: doing this long before the internet and all the cards tempting one available today. The card/point game can be very additive. Any card carrying AAs type clubs out there?
To each his own — Vince, you sound like you’ve used the spreadsheet logically and you’re valuing benefits based on logic rather than emotion, which is smart.
That said, I disagree with some of Harry’s points above in the following ways:
1) You said “the only way to get Platinum card(s) to work is to use it to fly (5x points). I definitely disagree there – I’ve never bought a cash flight on a Platinum card (we’ve had the Business Platinum for years) as we almost always fly on award flights in my household. The times when we do pay for a cash flight, an Amex card is the last card I want to use given that it has no travel protections. No thanks. That 5x category is useless to me (obviously others may see it differently).
2) “How many card carriers use the rest of the benefits?” Obviously you’re right that most cardholders don’t use all of the benefits. That said, I think readers here who pick up a Platinum card are likely to be in the minority in the sense that many of us do frequently use the other perks. I had a Business Platinum long before I was a blogger and regularly made use of free Hilton Gold status (free breakfast), National Executive status (getting my choice of a nicer selection of cars – I came to enjoy that benefit very much actually), and Fine Hotels & Resorts (I’ve found many opportunities to use this where a stay of around $200 (and in some cases as low as $66) have come with free breakfast, 4pm checkout, and a $100 hotel credit. That won’t work for every stay, but I’ve used FHR at least once almost every year. Often there have been times where my wife and I booked back-to-back one-night stays so we could get the $100 credit both nights (and since you can book up to 3 rooms, we’ve even done the back-to-back trick a few times when traveling with family and getting multiple rooms to get the free breakfast and $100 credit both nights). To be clear, I don’t value all of those benefits as much now because I have Hilton Diamond now and we’ve been able to snag National status in other ways. Chase Luxury Hotel Collection can be competitive with FHR. So those benefits may not matter enough to be a big deal to you, but my point here is that I used those benefits long before I was a blogger. You may not and Vince may not and you should consider that when thinking about this offer, but I think there are others out there like me who do/have used the benefits. And some other benefits have been randomly helpful (the Platinum concierge helped me get a reservation for a very hard-to-get restaurant in Chicago a couple of years ago and have me a fantastic dinner recommendation in Omaha on another trip). I don’t value those benefits in dollars and cents, but it’s fun to have access sometimes.
3) In terms of comparing this Platinum offer to the Blue Business Plus, you’re absolutely absolutely right that the BBP offers much better return on everyday spend with no annual fee. The advantage of the Platinum card is the combination of welcome bonus and credits in the first year. I would agree that most people don’t need to carry a Platinum card beyond the first year. If you’re not using benefits that outweigh the $550 annual fee, you definitely shouldn’t keep it (and you’d find that using Greg’s spreadsheet).
However, comparing the $550 annual fee against 55K points from the welcome offer is in my opinion a bit misleading. Maybe Vince won’t make use of the airline credit this year or the Sak’s credit, etc — and if not, he has to consider how that affects first year value for him. In my case, I’ll use most of the credits. But even if I wouldn’t, consider this:
It’s easy to get a great return even if you don’t plan to use the points toward travel. As Greg noted on the podcast this week, you could get this card and the 100K + 10x now, enjoy whatever of the credits you can use, and then if you decide not to renew, you could cancel next year and possibly open the Schwab Platinum and cash it all out at 1.25cpp. If you only did the $5K minimum spend for this 100k offer and did that entirely at qualifying grocery and gas locations, you’d have 150K points from this offer (assuming you get the 100K offer) and then next year you could get 65K (with points for minimum spend) from the usual 60K offer on the Schwab card. That’s a total of 215K Membership Rewards points after $10K total spend ($5K for this offer and $5K for next year’s). Cash that all out (215K points) for $2,687.50 via the Schwab card. After accounting for your $1100 in annual fees ($550 this year and $550 for the first year of the Schwab card), you’re looking at $1,587.50 cash in your pocket without considering any value for any of the statement credits or side benefits of the Platinum card. If you value any of the Platinum card’s benefits at all, that represents a pretty terrific return on $10K total spend. Compare that to the 20K points you’d have earned for the same $10K spend on the Blue Business Plus and your comparison doesn’t appear very equal.
Obviously “winning” in that case relies on your following through and depends on whether or not you’re able to get the Schwab card next year. There are some variables for sure The Platinum card definitely isn’t a card you get for long-term return on spend. Getting 1x Membership Rewards points isn’t very good. The card is only worthwhile if you value the credits and other benefits. As you said, I do usually fly business and first class (on award tickets), so I don’t need the incidental credits to cover checked bag fees usually – I find other ways to use the credits. Whether or not you’re able to do that will surely influence whether or not you want the card long-term.
Nick makes good points as long as you are traveling. Past travel experiences don’t count as I had the Platinum card in the 90s when I traveled international for business. Another point is once the 10X or whatever has passed, one has to look at use. You have to take in consideration a new card takes away from an old card(s) gaining points. Most of us that are not traveling – personal or business – spend X dollars a month. I assume most are getting points on their existing spend (cards). If you are rocking and rolling spending, then by all means get the card. I’m not. Also Platinum travel protections are nil when you traveling on “free” tickets. Spreadsheets I have on everything you can imagine and have had long before the Internet looking out as far as 2025 traveling (point requirements airfare, hotel, etc.). Each to their own as they say, I just can’t justify a card costing that much at this time.
[…] Many of us were overjoyed this week when American Express came out with new offer after new offer on the personal Platinum card. (For full details, see Incredible Amex Plat Offers! 125K + 10x [targeted], 100K + 10x, 75K + 10X + $300) […]
[…] to the almost unbelievably good welcome bonuses available, I expect that a number of readers have recently picked up a new Platinum card. If you’re […]
FYI, Both P2 and my own Gold cards are showing 30K referrals. I generated a referral from P2 to me and saw the 75K version of the Platinum card. So that’s 105K total bonus points, plus 10x for six months.
You are taxed on those 30k points though. Not sure the 5k extra makes that up if you can pull the 100k offer
It’s funny because when I try to use the tool in incognito mode on chrome, I fill out the info it asks for and then it immediately goes to the amex login. When I login, the only offer for the plat card is to upgrade for 25k points. There are other cards it will let me apply for but I can only upgrade to plat from the gold card I have I am assuming. According to my records, the last time I had the personal plat amex card was in 2012 when I closed it in Feb. of that year. I have had several biz plat amex since then. Do they count?
No, they don’t. I had that problem the first time I saw the 100K offer as well. The second time it just let me fill out the application without logging in.
[…] Incredible: 125K + 10x Platinum offer for some [targeted] […]
Can someone targeted for the 125k please post the new Offer Terms link?
I received a pop up message after applying saying based on my history with American Express (cards opened and closed etc) I am not eligible for the welcome offer. I have never had this card. Does anyone else get this message as well?
This is discussed elsewhere in the comments on this post. What happened is that based on your history they’ve identified you as someone who just opens cards for bonuses and then cancels them, or stops using them. Some people have indicated that they’ve “cured” this problem by starting to put spend on other open Amex cards although that will probably take some time to have any effect.
[…] this offer when clicking through a referral link (in the same sort of way that some people see the 100K + 10x offer on the personal Platinum card), it now seems that this is the standard referral offer on the Business Platinum […]
Do you qualify for the offer if you had this card before? I closed mine 2 years ago.
No, it has lifetime language.
[…] consider that Amex has some partners that are much better for booking Star Alliance awards and the monster Platinum card offer stands out farther […]
I had Platinum Mercedes-Benz card in the past. Is it considered a different product?
Yes it is a different product.
One note there: when they killed off the Mercedes-Benz Platinum, they eventually changed those cardholders over to this vanilla Platinum. If you canceled your Mercedes-Benz card before that changeover, you are definitely eligible for this. If you held on to the card after it changed to the plain Platinum, you would have had this product after that conversion and therefore likely wouldn’t be eligible. Hope that makes sense!
[…] my new Platinum card with the 100K + 10x welcome bonus (I applied before the 125K offer was reported) arrived yesterday, one of the first things I did was […]
[…] Update 11/14/20: Since this post was written, additional great offers have surfaced. Please click here to see every option. […]
[…] Since this post was written, additional great offers have surfaced. Please click here to see every option. […]
[…] Since this post was written, additional great offers have surfaced. Please click here to see every option. […]
[…] Update: Since this post was written, additional great offers have surfaced. Please click here to see every option. […]
I got the 125k offer but it says “Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.”Screenshot: https://prnt.sc/vj3gky
I had the Platinum Card several years ago and closed it maybe 3 years ago.
Have you had the card and still applying for this offer?
[…] Incredible: 125K + 10x Platinum offer for some [targeted] […]
Regardless of the browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari) on MacBook or Android phone, i am taken to the Amex login page after entering my or my wife’s info in the prequalification page. I don’t see any offers. Is anyone else experiencing this?
That’s what happens to me as well. Then, after logging in, just get the 75k offer.
Same issue, same result…. very sad!
Are any of these bonus offers available on the Schwab Amex Platinum? I currently have the vanilla Amex Platinum and would definitely open the Schwab Platinum to get this deal and the option to cash out at 0.0125. I have the Schwab brokerage account, but don’t know where to check for offers on their Platinum for greater than a 60k bonus. Is this exclusive for the vanilla card?
Unfortunately it’s only for the generic Platinum card.
Is there a link to what Grocery stores actually code as grocery? For example, I assume a store like Kroger does. But what about Meijer, Walmart, Target, etc. which sell not only groceries but other products? What about warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club and BJ’s Warehouse?
Not that I know of — and I wouldn’t probably put entire faith in one if it existed. I’d probably just make test purchases at the places where I want to shop and see how it codes. I say that because, for example, we all know that Walmart almost never codes as grocery (unless you have a Neighborhood Market or you’re ordering at Walmart Grocery online or something like that). I have a Walmart near me that doesn’t code as grocery on most of my cards and it doesn’t code as grocery on the Freedom card for the first year grocery bonus. However, this year Chase has offered temporary grocery bonuses on co-brand cards (like Marriott, Southwest, etc) and on the CSR and those temporary bonuses have counted as grocery and earned the multiplier.
I wouldn’t expect stores like Walmart or Target to code as grocery – more like Kroger. Meijer is an interesting question. I haven’t been in one for a long time but I recalled it like a more grocery-heavy version of Walmart (though this was in the days before Walmart supercenters).
Warehouse clubs almost certainly won’t code as grocery. Maybe they’ll code for gas if you can use an Amex there? I’ll have to try that. Again, I’d expect actual grocery stores to be the main ones that code as grocery (like Kroger, Safeway, Giant, Stop & Shop, Price Chopper, Shoprite, etc). On my Gold card, meal delivery services like Hello Fresh and Sun Baskets have also coded as grocery.
Meijer in our area (southern Michigan) coded as grocery for the 12X Hilton bonus earlier this year (none of my bonus points got clawed back) so hopefully AMEX will continue that with this 10X bonus.
From the Pacific NW here. Typically Fred Meyer (Kroger NW store) doesn’t code as grocery for AmEx but does for Visa and Master Card.
It may depend on the specific Fred Meyer as most are superstores with groceries and a few are almost all grocery.
YMMV
There’s a partial list provided by Amex for most of their bonus categories. It also has FAQ section below. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/rewards-info/retail.html
My wife was approved for the 75k SUB and $300 restaurant credit on Wednesday night before the 100k and 125k offers started popping up. I chatted and called Amex yesterday and asked if they would at least honor the 100k offer and they gave me the big fat No. So, I am trying to game plan on how I can max out the 10x grocery spending. I have a family of 6 and on average we spend around $1200 a month for groceries. However, some of that comes from purchases at Sam’s Club which won’t code as grocery for Amex. My parents and in-laws both use CC to buy their groceries to get points. I have read quite a few posts lately about Amex clawing back points for buying gift cards but I was wondering if anyone has any experience buying a gift card or two along with regular groceries and sliding under the radar? I can buy Lowe’s gift cards at my local supermarket and I will be buying new flooring and appliances in the next 6 months. Thanks
No idea whether it will work, but that’s Greg’s plan and mine too. https://frequentmiler.com/my-plan-for-maximizing-the-incredible-amex-platinum-offer/
I opened most of the Gold/Plat cards about 6 or so years ago. I never opened the plat personal for my wife, but did open a plat biz for her. I can’t seem to get any offer other than the 75K with the 5X rewards on airlines. No 10X. When i tried applying without logging in I got the “not eligible for welcome bonus msg”. Strange because I know she has not had the personal plat card, and I have not really be doing much with her credit card game lately.
If you’re getting the pop up, it could also be because you’re not putting spend on your existing Amex cards. Anecdotally, sprinkling some spend on current cards can sometimes get the pop-up to go away (assuming you know she hasn’t had the card before).
However, I don’t know how you’re not seeing 10x. Every link for the card is showing the 10x now to my knowledge, even referrals.
It’s pretty strange, I get pre-approved verbiage for the 75K/10X through the resy link. But this is what I get if I login and go to https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/platinum/
https://imgur.com/a/M14tUYS
Not to be picky but I’m pretty sure you could get $250 in Uber credit because you’ll get next November and the points post December 1 so you should be able to use them before cancelling.
Amex is giving early Xmas gifts and is going to take them away when you spend $15k on gift cards
You’re absolutely right. I intentionally noted what you could get in the first 12 months, but as you note you’ve really got 13 months before you have to make a decision. If I knew this offer would be around on December 1st, I’d wait to go for a triple dip on the airline and Sak’s credits.
I got the 75k offer with the link. Then went incognito and got a 100K offer for $5k spend and 10x gas and supermarkets. Any idea how to get “targeted” for 125K bonus? I will try a few more things and different browsers. Thanks.
Man, I thought it was a steal when I got in a few months ago at 60,000 points plus $300 back on restaurant spend. I’m jealous of everyone able to get in on this now! But I guess at least I got a few more months of the wireless/streaming credits.
As Stephen reported earlier today, at least one reader reported that he was able to get AmEx to add the 10x grocery/gas spend even though he applied for Platinum two months ago. So, it’s worth giving Platinum customer service a call to see if they will match you to the 10x spend for the next six months. Good luck!
SO got offer and was approved. FYI: Launch the Pre-Qualification tool in an incognito window.
Tried this but got prompted for login credentials. Is this bc your SO doesn’t have an Amex account already?
I got asked for login credentials sometimes, but then eventually it didn’t prompt login and it went through just fine.
Neither me nor my husband were eligible, but our son is!
Had my fiancé check and she was targeted for this offer. We’d been sitting on a mailer offer for 100K after $5K in 3 mo’s. This offer is unbelievable, especially with the length to achieve the spend (she’s taking my word for it). Approved in two minutes- BOOM. Thanks FM!
So far, no luck on finding the 100 or 125k on the Platinum for player 2. I closed my Plat 3 years ago and have the Gold. They are offering me 45,000 points for the Green Card. Is this a good deal?
I keep my credit reports frozen. Do I have to unfreeze them to try to get this deal? Thanks.
Unless you have opted back in to receiving prequalified offers after freezing, then yes I believe that is affecting it. I don’t know that it’ll work, but you could try unfreezing and then I’d also recommend opting IN here (the site is focused on opting out, but as you’ll see at the button at the bottom you can also use it to opt IN.
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
As of a few years ago when I used to pay more attention to this stuff, Amex almost exclusively pulled Experian for all but people living in like a tiny slice of Texas somewhere or something like that, so if you don’t want to lift the freeze on all three, you might get away with just unfreezing Experian. A temporary lift is now free in many states (it used to cost a few bucks in many states that have since made it free, but YMMV).
Thanks! I did both, unfroze my Experian and opted in. Card match didn’t come up with any Amex offers. I did incognito and got the 100k. Went for that, didn’t want to pass it by in hopes of finding 125k and losing 100k.
Glad it worked!
Also, for some reason I did NOT get my card number as usually is the case.
Did you try to generate it at the end of the application process? Sometimes when Amex is unable to generate the temporary card number (when you request it) they give a statement credit. If they do (and they don’t always), it’s usually pretty small. But every now and then you hear of someone getting like a $200 or $300 statement credit when Amex can’t generate the temp number.