The American Express platinum card has been the top dog in the premium credit card market
for decades but after a recent increase to its annual fee it's left a lot of us wondering
if this product still worth getting and is it worth keeping.
So let's run through everything that the American Express platinum card is currently offering
headed into 2022 and help you decide if this is a good financial tool for you.
All right let's jump right into it.
What is going on everyone I hope you are all having a fantastic day.
So we've loosely discussed the platinum card in previous videos and compared it to similar
products but I've never done a deep dive into this credit card so that's exactly what I
want to do today.
So first of all let's just rip the band-aid, as of a few months ago American Express raised
the platinum cards annual fee to a mind-boggling $695.
Now they've also updated some of the credits that you get but that's left a lot of people
to basically say that the platinum card is a coupon card but I would say that it's always
kind of been a coupon card.
And what I mean by that is the only way to truly justify that ridiculous annual fee is
by getting a net benefit out of the many many credits that this card offers.
So we'll talk about those credits in the second but first of all, the American Express platinum
card is currently offering a 100,000 point signup bonus when you spend $6000 in the first
six months of having this card plus they will also give you 10 points per dollar at all
restaurants worldwide on up to $25,000 in purchases for your first six months which
if you're like me and you spend way too much money on food then that is a pretty enticing
offer.
Beyond that, though you're also going to earn five points per dollar on flights booked directly
through the American Express travel site, five points on hotels booked through American
Express travel, and one point on all other purchases.
So as we talked about before, the points are OK but again the true benefit from this card
lies in the ridiculous amount of credits it gives you.
Brace yourself for this one.
Currently, you're going to get a $200 hotel credit although this does only apply to their
selection of fine hotels and resorts or the hotel collection and in my experience that
involves jumping through a lot of hoops and sometimes paying more for the same room so
I wouldn't really include that one as a net benefit here.
But you do also get a $240 digital entertainment credit, a $300 equinox credits, a free clear
membership which allows you to get through airport security and other points of security
a lot faster and that has a value of $179, a TSA pre-check membership which is only useful
every four years but has a value of $100, as well as a $200 airline fee credit, a $100
Saks credit which I'm sure is incredibly useful for all of us and lastly a $200 Uber cash
credit that can be used for either Uber eats or the Uber ridesharing platform.
So depending on which of those benefits you're accounting for and which ones you will actually
use, right out of the gate you're getting $1,400 of value out of this card not including
the 100,000 point signup bonus which at a bare minimum is worth at least $1000 depending
on how you redeem those points.
But justifying a card that is this expensive is not as easy as saying you get $1400 of
value it only costs $695 per year and therefore you were coming out several hundred ahead.
As we've talked about many times before when it comes to any kind of paid credit card,
you absolutely must look at the net value that you're getting out of that card and what
I mean by this is yeah you're getting a $300 equinox credit for example but if you currently
don't pay for equinox or maybe even with that credit you have no desire to go to equinox
or maybe there's not even one near you then that credit is going to be completely useless.
in fact I would even argue that something like the $200 Uber cash credit might not give
you the net benefit that you think.
And that's because if you currently aren't spending money on Uber eats or Uber ridesharing
then even though you're getting $200 towards the services, that isn't actually replacing
a spending category that currently exists within your budget and therefore it's not
giving you value back towards the annual fee it's simply giving you a credit that you can
spend on things that you otherwise probably wouldn't purchase.
I know that's getting a little confusing and really nitpicky but I feel it's important
to clarify that especially now that they have raised the annual fee to that insane $695
that for most of us is honestly impossible to justify.
OK but putting those gripes aside for a minute I will mention that you do also get some smaller
credits in the amount of $20 each month that can be put towards partnered services like
Peacock, audible, SiriusXM, the New York Times which I know for me at least is actually really
nice because I already pay for an audible subscription, therefore, a credit like this
would actually be supplementing an expense that already exists in my budget and therefore
gives me a net benefit.
You also get cell phone protection up to $800 if you paid with your American Express card
as well as a ton of different travel and retail insurance coverages such as trip cancellation
insurance, baggage insurance, primary coverage on car rentals, purchase protections and so
many other things you'll probably never use but it's definitely nice to know that they
are there especially if you frequently travel.
Now that actually brings me to the last major benefit of the platinum card that we have
not yet discussed that would be the airport lounge access that this card gives you which
includes 1300 general airport lounges in over 140 countries as well as their network of
over 40 centurion lounges which are so nice.
Plus if you're really a baller you can also get 20% discounts on things like wheels up
which is basically Uber for an airplane and up to 40% discounts on wheels up core membership
you know if you're looking to book a private jet or something.
Now in terms of the American Express travel portal where you're actually able to redeem
all of those points that you're earning, in my opinion this is one of the best and easiest
to use travel sites they give you a ton of options for flights hotels cars cruises without
jacking up the prices for no reason and just recently I was able to book two international
flights for my fiance and I using just our American Express points through the travel
portal and it was easy plus we got two free tickets which Is always a good feeling as
well.
Now I will mention that American Express my experience is a little bit slow in getting
you your points and credits and in a lot of cases you do have to jump through several
hoops and make sure that you're activating certain offers especially with all of the
different coupon things that they have within the app but One thing I have found though
to help me keep track of those different offers and points not just with my American Express
card but all of my credit cards is an app called Max rewards.
I am part of the MaxRewards affiliate program so if you do want to try it out and get a
month of MaxRewards gold for free then I will leave a link in the description and be sure
to use code “MAGNIFIED” when you sign up but without getting into too much detail
in this video, basically MaxRewards allows you to track all of your credit cards under
one platform, monitor your credit utilization, card balances, the rewards available to you
and perhaps most importantly, which cards are the best to use for certain spending categories.
Plus, they can also suggest a card based on your geographic location and I know especially
when it comes to products like the American Express gold or just having multiple credit
cards in general, it can get really confusing keeping track of which card you should use
in certain situations, so MaxRewards really helps take all of the guesswork out of that.
Plus, with MaxRawards gold which is their paid option they will even activate all of
those countless American Express offers automatically for you which is pretty great.
So if you'd like to see a full review on the MaxRawards app then definitely let me know
down in the comment section below but again I'll be sure to leave a link in the description
if you did want to check it out and be sure to use code “MAGNIFIED” when you sign
up to get one month of gold for free and you’ll support my channel which I really appreciate!
So at the end of the day deciding whether or not you can justify the $695 annual fee
of the American Express platinum card comes down to whether or not you will use the available
credits and get a net benefit out of them.
Now I get the keeping track of all of that can be really confusing but thankfully asks
Sebby actually has a really useful calculator that I will leave a link to in the description
where you can basically go through your exact scenario and it will tell you whether or not
you should get this card so if you're on the fence then I definitely recommend checking
that out.
But if you're a baller he's just looking for a premium travel experience and the heaviest
metal credit card that is currently available to my knowledge then I'd definitely go ahead
and get the platinum card but if you're on a budget and you're not too sure that I would
look into something like the new Capital One venture X card that gives you similar premium
travel benefits at a much more affordable annual fee.
So I'd love to know what you think of the American Express platinum card down in the
comment section below and whether or not you were able to justify that high annual fee.
I'll also leave a link down below where you can check out the platinum card on the American
Express website and claim that signup bonus if you do decide to go ahead and apply plus
you help support my channel which again I really appreciate.
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 one offer from the point cash back debit card that will
currently give you $100 when you sign up and make your first purchase so be sure to check
that out using the link down below.
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 I really do appreciate
it so much take it easy and I'll see you in the next one!