American Express has several varieties of their premium Platinum cards. And, while they’re expensive, they’re loaded with great perks. Which is the best best Amex Platinum card? As long as the amazing 100K + 10X offer is around, there’s no question that the generic consumer Platinum card offers the best first year value. But what if you’re looking longer term, then which is best? The answer depends upon which perks you value the most. Here’s what you need to know…
Table of Contents
Platinum Benefits
All Amex Platinum cards (not counting the Delta Platinum card which isn’t really a Platinum card despite its name) share the following primary benefits:
- 5X points for prepaid hotel bookings at Amextravel.com
- Up to $200 a year in statement credits for airline incidental fees
- $100 Global Entry fee reimbursement.
- Airport lounge benefits:
- Airport Lounge Access – Centurion, Escape, and Airspace Lounges: Cardholder plus two guests are allowed free
- Airport Lounge Access – Delta SkyClubs: Cardholder is allowed free when flying Delta same day. Extra charge for guests.
- Airport Lounge Access – Priority Pass Select Lounges: Priority Pass Select member plus two guests are allowed free entrance. The Amex version of Priority Pass does not offer credits at Priority Pass restaurants.
- Rental car elite status
- Marriott Gold status
- Hilton Gold status
- Emergency Medical Transportation Assistance (includes medical evacuation)
- Refer-A-Friend Bonus: The generic consumer Platinum card and the Business Platinum card offer Membership Rewards points as a bonus (the amount varies from as little as 5,000 points to 30,000 points or more). The Schwab and Morgan Stanley Platinum cards, though, only offer cash rewards (typically $100 per referral).
Note: Not all benefits are listed. For more complete coverage of perks, including which ones work for authorized user cards, please see: Amex Platinum Complete Guide.
Consumer Platinum Card Benefits
In addition to the perks listed above, consumer cards share the following primary benefits:
- 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel
- $200 Uber credit annually ($15/month, $35 in Dec). Credit can be used for Uber or Uber Eats (meal delivery)
- $100 in Saks Fifth Avenue Credits: Up to $50 in credits each year from January through June; and another $50 July through December.
Business Platinum Card Benefits
In addition to the perks listed under “Standard Platinum Benefits”, above, the Amex Business Platinum Card offers the following primary benefits:
- 5X points for flights booked through American Express Travel (this differs from the consumer card in that with this card you must book through Amex Travel to get the bonus points)
- 1.5X points per dollar on purchases of $5000 or more
- 35% Pay with Points rebate for selected airline, and for business or first class with any airline
- $200 Dell statement credits: Up to $100 in credits each year from January through June; and another $100 July through December.
Consumer Card Variations
In addition to the standard Amex Platinum consumer card, there are two currently available co-branded variations. Here’s a list of the primary perks of each…
The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley
To get this card you must have a Morgan Stanley account. Fortunately, a low-end Morgan Stanley Access Investing account works fine.
The Morgan Stanley Platinum card adds the following benefits:
- First authorized user free: Add one Platinum authorized user for free. Add up to 3 more for $175.
- Invest with rewards: Liquidate Membership Rewards points for 1 cent each when deposited to your Morgan Stanley brokerage account.
- $500 anniversary spend award: Spend $100K in a cardmember year to get $500. If you spend exactly $100K per year, that amounts to a bonus of half of 1 cent per dollar spent.
- $695 Annual Engagement Bonus: You can qualify for this bonus by opening a Morgan Stanley Platinum CashPlus Account before opening the Platinum card account. Details can be found here: Morgan Stanley Platinum Card Fee Free (how to earn the $695 Annual Engagement Bonus)
American Express Platinum Card for Schwab
The Schwab Platinum card adds the following benefits:
- $100 to $200 statement credit: Receive a $100 Card statement credit if your qualifying Schwab holdings are equal to or greater than $250,000 or receive a $200 Card statement credit if your qualifying Schwab holdings are equal to or greater than $1,000,000, when measured following Card account approval and annually thereafter.
- Invest with Rewards: Liquidate Membership Rewards points for 1.1 cents each when deposited to your eligible Schwab account.
To get this card you must have a Charles Schwab account. Fortunately, even a no-fee checking account is fine. And, incidentally, Schwab has one of the best no-fee debit cards around with no foreign transaction fees and it reimburses ATM fees.
Platinum Card Fee Differences
Each of the consumer Platinum cards charge a $695 annual fee, and you can add up to three Platinum authorized users (AUs) for $175.
The Business Platinum card charges a $595 annual fee, and each Business Platinum employee card costs another $300.
The following table shows the total amount paid depending upon the number of Platinum cards you have with each account.
| Number of Platinum Cards | Consumer Platinum | Morgan Stanley | Business Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (Primary Only) | $695 | $695 | $595 |
| 2 (Primary + 1 AU) | $870 | $695 | $895 |
| 3 (Primary + 2 AUs) | $870 | $870 | $1195 |
| 4 (Primary + 3 AUs) | $870 | $870 | $1495 |
| 5 (Primary + 4 AUs) | $1,045 | $870 | $1795 |
Note that with consumer Platinum cards you can add authorized user Gold cards for no fee, and with the Business Platinum card you can add employee Business Green cards with no fee. Unfortunately, you need the authorized user Platinum cards get airport lounge benefits. With the exception of Global Entry credits, authorized user cards do not qualify for their own statement credits, but spend on those cards does count towards the primary user’s credits.
Meaningful Differences
Some of the differences between cards show above are hardly worth mentioning. For example, the Morgan Stanley card lets you cash out points at 1 cent per point value. I don’t recommend that unless you really need the cash. You should be able to get far more value for your points.
Here are the differences that I find meaningful:
- Annual Fees for two: If you want or need 2 Platinum cards, the Morgan Stanley Platinum card is the cheapest option since it offers the first authorized user card for free.
- Annual Fees for a family: If you want or need 4 Platinum cards, the consumer cards are much cheaper than the business cards since the former charges just $175 per year for 3 authorized user cards, whereas the Business Platinum card charges $300 per employee Platinum card.
- Annual Fees for five: If you want or need 5 Platinum cards, the Morgan Stanley Platinum card is the cheapest option since it offers the first authorized user card for free and the next three for $175 altogether.
- $200 Uber credit annually (consumer cards only): If you ride Uber regularly or use Uber Eats, this can be almost as good as cash. For others it may be nearly worthless.
- $200 Dell credit annually (business card only): This is a very specialized benefit, but obviously valuable if you use it.
- 35% Pay with Points rebate (business card only): This used to be the killer feature of the Business Platinum card when it was a 50% rebate. With a 35% rebate, points are worth about 1.5 cents each. That’s good, but hardly a show stopper.
- Cash out points for 1.1 cents each (Schwab Platinum only): The Schwab Platinum is the only card that lets you cash out points at better than 1 cent per point value. Note that until 9/1/21, the cash-out rate is 1.25 cents per point.
- $100 to $200 statement credit (Schwab Platinum only): If you already have a lot of money invested with Schwab, or if you can easily move your investments to Schwab, this is a nice perk that effectively lowers the annual fee by $100 or $200 per year.
- $695 Annual Engagement Bonus (Morgan Stanley Platinum only): If you qualify for Morgan Stanley’s annual $695 Engagement Bonus (see this post for details) then the Morgan Stanley Platinum card is essentially fee-free for you and one authorized user!
- Earn Membership Rewards when referring friends: The generic consumer Platinum card and the Business Platinum card offer Membership Rewards points as a bonus (the amount varies from as little as 5,000 points to 30,000 points or more). The Schwab and Morgan Stanley Platinum cards, though, only offer cash rewards (typically $100 per referral). Since I value Membership Rewards points more than 1 cent each, I’d much prefer to earn 10K Membership Rewards or more per referral than $100.
Which Platinum card is best?
It depends. Your first decision point should be consumer vs. business:
- A business Platinum card is best if you highly value the 35% Pay with Points rebate and/or the $200 Dell credits.
- A consumer Platinum card is best If you highly value the $200 Uber credits, $100 Saks credits, and the ability to earn 5X directly with airlines.
Which consumer Platinum card is best?
If you decide that a consumer card rather than a business card is right for you (see above), then consider these decision points:
- The Morgan Stanley Platinum card is best if you want to add a Platinum authorized user (since the first AU is free), or if you qualify for the annual $695 Engagement Bonus (which makes the card free for you and one authorized user).
- The Charles Schwab Platinum card is best if you prefer cash back over travel rewards (since it lets you cash out points at 1.1 cents each); or if you have a lot of money invested with Schwab since you’ll get an annual kickback ($100 for $250K invested, or $200 for $1M invested).
- The generic consumer Platinum card is best if you value the ability to earn Membership Rewards points when referring friends.
If you are serving on active duty in the military, then get any or all of the cards since Amex will waive the fees upon request. Call the number of the back of your card and tell them you are serving on active duty military and had heard that AMEX offers to handle your account in accordance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
Additional details about each of the Platinum cards follows (click the card names for even more information):
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
More information about Amex Platinum Cards
Please see: Amex Platinum Complete Guide.
The best plat version is the one you’re still eligible for the SUB. For me that’s only MS and Schwab. But considering how shitty the amex airline credits have become, and many of the covid benefits ended in 2020, I think I’ll wait, get under 5/24, and worry about plat cards later.
Also, if you are a Morgan Stanley Reserve client, they are now requiring $25k minimum daily balance in ‘Bank Deposit’, which earns 0. However, that’s not bad with current interest so low. That $25k saving you $550 amounts to 2.2%. And assuming you make use of the benefits…..
Morgan Stanley engagement bonus info is out of date. Premier Cash is now Cash Plus and much easier to qualify for. Don’t need to be Reserve. Can be done with $5k in Access account and $25k in Cash Plus.
Arg! I thought I had updated that. Thanks for pointing it out. I’ve now updated the post. I had previously written a whole post about this change: https://frequentmiler.com/morgan-stanley-platinum-card-fee-free-how-to-earn-the-550-annual-engagement-bonus/
[…] Keep in mind that Amex allows a welcome bonus once per lifetime on most cards in most situations. However, you can have each flavor of Platinum card once — so if you have had the Schwab Platinum or Morgan Stanley Platinum card before, you are still eligible for this one. Read more about the different flavors of Platinum card in this post. […]