Using the American Express platinum card is a flex for sure but after a recent price increase
to $695 per year It's got a lot of us thinking is this card really worth it.
So today was talk about five reasons why you should actually avoid the American Express
platinum card.
Alright, let's jump right into it.
What is going on everyone I hope you are all having a fantastic day.
So the first reason that you should avoid the Amex platinum is pretty obvious and that
is the ridiculous $695 annual fee.
And with very few exceptions like the American Express centurion, that now makes the platinum
card the most expensive consumer credit card product that is widely available and yes many
of you might be able to justify that cost with the many credits that come with this
product but for a lot of us the math probably doesn't work out on that one which we'll talk
more about in a second.
I do feel it's important to mention here that active duty military do currently get the
annual fee waived so if you do happen to be active in the military then first of all thank
you for your service and second of all you might as well go and get this product because
you will not have to justify that annual fee.
Now for the rest of us that still have to pay that 700 bucks a year, we really have
to look at the second reason why I feel you should avoid this card and that is that a
lot of the credits that the platinum card gives you are honestly completely useless.
And the worst part is American Express doesn't exactly clarify how useless a lot of these
credits are.
Now there are the obvious ones like the $300 equinox credit which I don't know about you
but for me, the nearest equinox gym is over 2 hours away so not going to be using that
one but there's also things like these Saks 5th Ave credit which in my opinion is useless
for everyone because if you can afford to shop at Saks 5th Ave normally then number
one you're probably not that concerned about using a credit on that purchase and number
two you probably don't stress too much about a $700.00 annual fee on your credit card and
for the rest of us who don't meet those criteria, we wouldn't shop at somewhere like Saks 5th
Ave anyway so what's the point?
But again those are just the obvious ones and sadly American Express actually hides
the complete pointlessness of some of the other credits like the $200 hotel credit which
only applies for specific criteria on prepaid find hotels or resorts or the hotel collection
properties plus with similar American Express
products like the gold card there are sometimes minimum state requirements before that credit
kicks in and across the board it all just seems a little bit shady and useless in my
opinion.
So this whole reason is not a negative for everyone but as we've talked about in previous
videos, you really need to look at the net benefit that you're getting out of this product
in order to understand how much it's going to cost you out of pocket and if you do want
to see my other videos where I fully explain that then I will leave a link to my full review
in the description below.
Alright but moving on from there we've got the third reason why you should avoid the
American Express platinum card and this is actually the one that is likely going to cause
me to close my American Express account and that would be that there are just simply better
alternatives.
Now for the past several years, the platinum card was at the top of the pack, especially
when compared to competitors like the chase sapphire reserve which at the time had a similar
annual fee but didn't offer quite as good benefits.
But none of the platinum cards annual fee has increased, the tides have turned a bit
and with new companies stepping into this premium credit card space like Capital One
with their new Capital One venture X card, it's really given consumers a lot of alternatives
many of which in my opinion are much better options.
Now again I have done a number of videos comparing the platinum card to things like the venture
X as well as the chase sapphire reserve so check that out for more info but I'll see
you the trouble, in my opinion for a majority of consumers the new Capital One venture X
card is probably a better alternative considering it offers better points across the board,
the exact same signup bonus and even an anniversary bonus that you get every year just for having
the card.
Oh and by the way it's $300 cheaper per year than the platinum card so that was pretty
self-explanatory but it's gotten myself and a lot of others at least considering that
it might be time to switch and when my anniversary date is up in a few months, that's definitely
something that I will be seriously considering.
Now before we move on to #4 I will just mention that before you jump ship, it's always worth
giving your credit card company a call to see if they have any kind of retention offers
which is basically where they will give you a chunk of points just for keeping a card
so just something to keep in mind before you jump ship and switch to something else.
Now the fourth reason that I feel you should avoid this card is another pretty obvious
one but something that a lot of people don't really think about and that would be if you
don't travel, then the platinum card is more than likely not worth it.
Remember that the American Express platinum card gives you a number of travel-related
credits including a clear membership, TSA pre-check, lounge access including the very
fancy centurion lounges, not to mention the fact that the only way to get the maximum
amount of value out of your American Express points is by transferring them to airlines
and other travel-related companies.
Now yes you can redeem those points directly for cash but at the moment you're only going
to get 0.006 cents per point which is basically POINT-LESS….. that was a terrible joke….
but seriously that's less than 1% cash back equivalent and 1% back is basically the ground
floor for consumer credit cards nowadays so if you're not transferring those points to
get maximum value then you're probably better off sticking with something like the American
Express gold card which I absolutely love or going with a completely different company
altogether.
Alright but that brings us to the 5th and final reason why I think you should avoid
the American Express card and I'm actually going to call this one the miscellaneous reasons
and that's because those first four are probably enough to help you make a decision one way
or another but if you're still on the fence, there are a number of smaller miscellaneous
reasons why the platinum card might not be the right fit for you.
First of all just like I talked about earlier how you may want to consider alternative options,
there are also alternative options of the platinum card itself including the business
version which for some reason has a lower annual fee at the moment but offers some more
unique catered credits if you were a business owner.
But there are also options like the Charles Schwab platinum card which does currently
have the same $695 annual fee and many of the same benefits but gives you a few advantages
like a cash redemption on points of over 1% instead of that pathetic 0.6 percent that
we talked about with irregular platinum card.
There's also some more niche down things to consider like the chase 5/24 rule which if
you're not familiar this is basically an unofficial rule from chase where if you've opened five
credit cards in the past 24 months you will automatically be denied from any chase credit
card product.
So if you're currently at four cards in the past 24 months and the platinum card would
be your 5th then you might want to very carefully consider whether or not that is the right
choice because this will lock you out of being able to get any chase credit card like the
sapphire preferred or sapphire reserve at least until you fall back under that 5/24
rule.
And lastly this one is kind of ridiculous but something like a platinum card might just
not be worth the headache.
I know that sounds a little odd but not only is the platinum card not worth it financially
for a lot of people in terms of the credits that you get but for some of you, it might
just not be worth having to keep track of all the different coupons and credits and
point multipliers and transfer bonuses and all of that chaos.
I'm a huge credit card nerd but I understand that a lot of people just want to swipe their
credit card, build their credit score and maybe earn some cash back and if that's you
then trust me this product is not for you.
So overall I do like the platinum card and I think that for the right type of consumer
it is a fantastic product but especially with the recent price increase a lot of consumers
will now have to carefully consider whether they can truly justify $695 per year based
on the random assortment of credits that this product offers.
I will leave a fantastic resource from ask Sebby down in the description below where
you can input all of your information and it'll basically help you determine whether
or not you can justify the annual fee.
But of course, at the end of the day I would love to know what you think of the American
Express platinum card and whether or not you are able to justify it based on your spending
habits.
As always if you did get value out of this content and you want to help support me the
easiest way to do that is actually by checking out some of my favorite financial tools down
in the description below including each of those offers from chime and Sophie well you
can sign up for what I feel are the best banking options right now and depending on what is
currently being offered maybe even get some free money while you're at it.
Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe to the channel for more content like this
in the future and of course thank you so much for your time today I really do appreciate
it so much take it easy and I'll see you in the next one!