[EXPIRED] Personal Platinum 100K offer spotted in the wild. Who should get it?

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In January 2013, I signed up my wife for the Amex personal Platinum card.  At the time, via something called the CardMatch Tool (more about that later), she was targeted for 100,000 points after $3K spend.  Since then, I’ve seen great Business Platinum offers, including the 150K offer I signed up for recently (details here), but I haven’t seen personal Platinum card offers with huge point bonuses.  Until now…

Recently I added the CardMatch Tool to my Best Offers page.  It shows up both near the top of the Best Offers page, and near the bottom, like this:

Personal Platinum 100K

The CardMatch Tool lets you check for credit card offers targeted to you.  In my experience, the tool rarely results in offers any better than those already widely available, but every now and then something good shows up…

Update: This offer has expired.

On June 5th, I received an email from a reader asking for help in evaluating offers she had found within the CardMatch Tool.  One offer really stood out (bolding is mine):

The Platinum Card® from American Express – $450 annual fee

  • Get 100,000 Membership Reward® points after $3,000 in purchases with your new Card in the first three months.
  • No foreign transaction fees. No matter what country you’re in, when you use your Platinum Card there are no Foreign Transaction Fees.
  • 24/7 Platinum Card® Concierge service for assistance with reservations, travel, gifts, and more.

Wow, that appears to be the same offer my wife received in 2013!

Your miles will vary

I tried to find this offer through the CardMatch Tool for myself and my wife, but neither of us were targeted.  My guess is that offers like this are limited to those who have never had the Platinum card before (note, though, that I have no inside knowledge of how the targeting works).  I then tried the tool on behalf of my niece who is currently in college and has never had a credit card.  She received a 60K Platinum card offer on June 9th 2015:

 

Clearly, only certain people get targeted for the 100K offer.  And, note that there is no evidence that the offer is available, at all, anymore.  It’s possible that this reader simply lucked into a short term opportunity.  I simply don’t know.  That said, it only takes a minute or so to see if you’re targeted, so it can’t hurt to try.

I didn’t recommend this offer to this reader

Even though this is an amazing offer, I didn’t recommend it to the reader who approached me.  She’s brand new to miles & points and she specifically  told me that she doesn’t make a lot of money, has never had a credit card before, and was primarily interested in domestic travel.

Update: This offer has expired.

The Platinum card offer is terrific, but it has a $450 annual fee that is not waived the first year.  I did explain to her that its possible to recoup $400 in value from the card through the $200 calendar year airline fee credits ($200 this calendar year and $200 next calendar year).  In my view, though, recovering $400 in airline fees is best left to those who travel often and/or can make good use of gift cards, or those who know advanced tricks.  And, of course, the card’s $100 Global Entry fee credit is great, but it doesn’t directly reduce her costs unless she was planning to sign up for Global Entry or TSA Precheck anyway.

My other hesitation in recommending this card to this reader was that it earns Membership Rewards points.  I think of Membership Rewards points as a currency best used by advanced level miles & points hobbyists.  To get the most value from Membership Rewards points it is usually necessary to transfer points to foreign airline programs and understand ways to avoid high fuel surcharges.  Alternatively, a person can spend extra money and hire an Award Booking Service to help.  In other words, it takes either expertise or money to get the most from Membership Rewards.

Also, one of the most likely uses for Membership Rewards, for her, will soon become less attractive: As of October 1, Membership Rewards points will no longer transfer 1 to 1 to British Airways.  Instead, the transfer ratio will drop: 250 Membership Rewards points will convert to 200 British Airways Avios.  British Airways points offer amazing value for short non-stop awards including flights on partners such as American Airlines.  Prices start at just 4,500 British Airways Avios each way.  As of October 1 2015, though, those same flights will cost 5,625 points, if starting with Membership Rewards.  That’s still not terrible, but you can do better with Chase Ultimate Rewards (which, as far as I know, will continue to support 1 to 1 transfers).

Also, among the transferable points programs, I think that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the most accessible to beginners.  And, I think that both the Freedom card and the Sapphire Preferred card are great options for getting started.  I suggested that she start with one or both of those.

Who should get the 100K offer?

In a recent comparison between Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards, I suggested that Amex Membership Rewards were best for those seeking premium international flights (e.g. business or first class).  Of the three programs, Membership Rewards offers the most transfer partners.  Of those, a few have great award prices for certain destinations.  Those awards, though, typically involve at least some fuel surcharges.  Membership Rewards points, therefore, are also best for those who have the means to pay those surcharges (often several hundred dollars per ticket) or, perhaps, to pay for an Award Booking Service… Or, for those who have the expertise to find ways around paying high fuel surcharges.

The Platinum card is also great for anyone who travels often and can make use of its great benefits: airport lounge access, Global Entry fee reimbursement, SPG Gold status, etc. (see: see “Maximizing value from Amex Platinum cards”).  On the other hand, those who primarily want the perks rather than the points may do better with the Ameriprise Platinum card which waives the first year fee for both the primary cardholder and up to three authorized users (details here).

Using the CardMatch Tool

When evaluating the results from the CardMatch Tool, it is important to compare the offers there to those publicly available elsewhere.  Offers displayed by the tool are not necessarily better than or even as good as offers available elsewhere.  As a reminder, my Best Offers Page is a great resource for finding the best publicly available offers.  Most offers on that page are not affiliate links.  I only list affiliate links when, to the best of my knowledge, they are equal to or better than offers available elsewhere.

Wrap up

Update: This offer has expired.

A 100K signup bonus for the Amex personal Platinum card was recently spotted in the wild.  I think it’s a fantastic offer – I would get it if I could – but its not for everyone.  Also, the offer is clearly not available to everyone.  Via the CardMatch Tool, Neither my wife nor I received the offer at all.  Meanwhile, my niece received a 60K offer for the same card.  That’s a decent offer, in my opinion, but obviously 100K is much better.  Hopefully some readers will have better luck than I in finding that offer.

Advertiser disclosure: The link to the CardMatch Tool, as found on my Best Offers page, is an affiliate link. This means that I will earn a commission whenever a person is approved for a credit card offer that they applied for after clicking through that link.

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[…] Personal Platinum 100K offer spotted in the wild. Who should get it? – A very nice offer through the CardMatch tool, but is it right for everyone? […]

Presley

What?! Your niece in college got 60k offer? Does she make a lot of money with a credit score around 800?

I can’t even get a 40k offer.

[…] about the features and benefits of the American Express Platinum card before and Greg does a great run down on who this card is good for and who probably should look elsewhere. Even with a 100,000 point […]

Gerry

Shill.

Phong

Ooo CardMatch seems pretty cool. I never saw it before. Although I find it hilarious. Only good care I got on my card match that I don’t already have is the CSP. I have like 4 CC with Chase that are always paid off in full every month, yet they would not approve me for the CSP after applying twice haha… Giving me different reasons each time…

Marie

Can you get the bonus for the Platinum while you still hold the PRG?

Jason

So.. in light of the 1 time per lifetime rule over at Amex, what if you’ve had the Ameriprise version? They treated as two different products?

Paul

Card Match… what a joke. I love how all the bloggers that discuss Card Match have never actually received these offers, but someone they spoke to has. I will believe it when I see it, which I guess will be never since I stay away from them.

Marie

I have definitely been targeted for high Amex offers via CardMatch, and I’m neither a blogger nor frequent traveler.

Chris

Same here, I’ve gotten them.

Tom

I got a 50k Amex PRG offer and a 75k Business gold card via the match tool in 2013. Haven’t seen anything good since.

Stannis

MR are also useful via Aeroplan to fly domestic United but still avoid the close-in $75 booking fee. Or to top up Delta Skymiles for an award, neither of which I think are terribly complicated. Maybe level 2, but I would encourage everyone to collect as many transferable points as they can.

star

Great post and suggestions for the newbie reader. I would’ve suggested the same, and actually just did for a friend the other day!

Do you think perhaps canceling a few Amex cards if you have more than one (I currently have 5, two of which are authorized users) would help in getting more targeted offers from Amex? I think I read somewhere they tended to target people who don’t have an Amex card. Would be interesting to start collecting data points in a sheet to see what people are targeted for and what their current portfolio looks like and their credit scores.

Dee

I have 5 (2 personal & 3 biz) and I’m an authorized user on 4 more Amex cards (two for my kids, my husband’s Costco and his SPG biz). Two of the latest biz cards were targeted/mailed promotions – a gold & a platinum. I was putting about $4K a month on my SPG biz card. Hubby only puts a couple hundred on his biz card. He didn’t get targeted.

I only put a few hundred/month on my personal Amex cards and have not been targeted for those.

Skor

I never seem to get any AmEx offers in CardMatch, any idea why that might be? I get targeted offers from Chase, Citi, etc but not AmEx. My AmEx profile settings are set up to allow credit card offers.

Lantean

how do you set up your amex profile to allow these offers? thank you.