by Daniel | Last Updated September 15th, 2022
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links, at no cost to you.
With the American Express Platinum card being one of the most popular premium credit cards on the market it is also one of the most expensive (obviously not including the Centurion card).
And this begs the question of whether it is really worth the high annual fee.
In this article, I’m going to go through a few different scenarios to see whether it’s worth having the Amex Platinum card.
Basically, I’ll talk about my experience with the Platinum Amex over the past 5 years and then I’ll go over what benefits I actually use with the card and whether I am actually receiving value from this card or just wasting my money.
History of the Platinum Amex Card
The American Express Platinum card was first launched in back 1984 and had an annual fee of $250, which at the time was pretty expensive.
Now in 2017 when I upgraded from the Amex Gold card and got my first Platinum Amex Card, it was ‘only’ $450 a year, which at the time I thought was pretty expensive and the most I would want to pay for a credit card.
Now fast forward 5 years and it is substantially more expensive, It has increased in price by over 50%.
Currently, it costs $695 to maintain the card each year, which is not cheap.
But in defense of the high annual fee, the Platinum Amex now offers so many benefits and user perks that if you take advantage of them, you can quite easily cover the cost of the annual fee and still have a ton of value to make use of.
Also, looking at the initial $250 cost for the Platinum card back in 1984, if you account for inflation, that $250 would now be the equivalent of $712.89 in today’s money.
So depending on how you look at it, the card is priced at a similar value to what it was back in 1984.
Are The Benefits On Offer Useful For You?
Now it’s no secret that the Amex Platinum comes with a ton of added benefits and perks that can be worth quite a lot of money.
One question I always ask myself when applying for a new credit card is whether I will be able to make use of all the benefits.
And a simple way to decide if a credit card is worth the annual fee is to choose the benefits you are most likely to use and then calculate their value.
This will give you an approximate value that you will be able to gain from using the card.
So for this example, I’ll go over what benefits I actually use, and this should provide you and me an Idea of if I’m actually wasting my money by having the Platinum Amex.
Benefits I actually use
Global Lounge Collection
One of the most useful benefits for me personally is access to the Global Lounge Collection.
I travel quite often and almost always take advantage of the airport lounges that are available at the given airport I happen to be at.
Just this year alone I have visited the Delta SkyClub twice, once at LAX Terminal 3, and then at JFK Terminal 4 the Centurion Lounge twice at London, Heathrow Terminal 3, and then the Canopy Lounge in Nice, which can be accessed with the complimentary priority pass select membership that you receive as a Platinum card holder.
Now valuing this benefit is pretty straightforward.
The Delta SkyClub values entry for guests of members at $39 per person so that 2x $39 which equals $78
Then for access to the Centurion lounge Amex charges $50 for an additional guest, so that’s 2x $50 which equals $100.
And then according to Loungebuddy.com it costs €30 per traveler to access the Canopy Lounge in Nice, which is pretty much $30 USD
So up until September of this year, just this benefit has provided me $208 in value.
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 minus $208 | $208 | +$487 |
$189 CLEAR membership
Another really nice benefit that I started using this year is the CLEAR membership.
And to get this benefit, all you need to do Is pay for a CLEAR membership with your Platinum card and you will receive a credit of $189.
This is a nice benefit to have when traveling within the US as it gets you through airport security quite a bit quicker.
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 – $208 – $189 | $189 | +$298 |
$100 Global Entry Credit
Now the next benefit that I use specifically to re-enter the US when I have been traveling overseas is Global Entry, and this is a benefit that is offered by Amex in the way of a $100 statement credit.
And it is really good! I can literally skip the queue at immigration upon entry to the US, scan my passport, and walk straight through to pick up my bags.
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 – $208 – $189 – $100 | $100 | +$198 |
$200 Uber cash credit
With the $200 Uber cash credit each year I use about 50% of this as I travel overseas a fair bit, so I get about around $100 worth of value.
And just note that this can be used for both Uber rides or Uber eats.
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 – $208 – $189 – $100 – $100 | $100 | +$98 |
$100 Saks Fifth Avenue Annual Credit
Each year with the Platinum card there is a $100 credit that can be used at Saks Fifth Avenue, which is spread out into a $50 credit for the first half of the year and then another $50 credit for the second half of the year.
And I always use this.
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 – $208 – $189 – $100 – $100 – $100 | $100 | -$2 |
$240 Digital Entertainment Credit
Then there is the $240 digital entertainment credit which can be used for use for access to Audible, Disney+, The Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, and the New York Times.
Now I only use this for access to the New York Times, and that costs $4 each month.
So over 12 months, that’s a saving of $48
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 – $208 – $189 – $100 – $100 – $100 – $48 | $100 | -$50 |
Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance
As I do travel a lot, a tend to rent cars from either car rental agencies or Turo.
And this can save you money in a couple of ways.
The first is the fact that you don’t need to pay for insurance from the car rental agency, assuming the car is worth less than $75,000.
And if you hire a car for a few weeks it is possible to save a lot of money.
Then if there is actually damage to the car or an accident, depending on the situation, Amex is quite helpful.
Back in 2018 I accidentally had an incident with a hire car that I had In France where one of the rims was scratched in a car park, and not surprisingly, the car rental agency sent me a bill for almost 400 euros.
Thankfully, I had paid for the entire car rental with my Platinum card, which has car rental loss and damage insurance.
So I talked with Amex about the situation, and they helped me to file a claim against the cost of the damage that was caused to the car, and in the end, I was able to get a full refund on the cost of the bill that was given to me from the car rental agency.
And the best thing is, I didn’t have to pay for the original car rental agency’s additional insurance, which can quite often cost a fair amount on top of the normal price of the rental car.
Even on a relatively cheap car, it can cost upwards of $40 a day for decent coverage, and over a 2-week period, this is $560.
So to put it simply, my experience with Amex was really good for this situation and it really did save me a lot of money, from not having to pay over $40 a day for insurance, to being totally covered for the 400 euro bill.
And in terms of value, I would say this saves me approximately $300 a year just in waived insurance fees from car rental agencies.
| Annual fee | Benefit value | Cost to me |
| $695 – $208 – $189 – $100 – $100 – $100 – $48 – $300 | $300 | -$350 |
So that’s pretty much all of the benefits that I actually use each year with this card, and thankfully it is $350 net positive!
But there is a ton of additional value I could be getting from this card which includes:
- Equinox credit of $300
- Airline Fee Credit of $200
- Hotel credit of $200
- A $155 Walmart Credit
- Digital entertainment credit of $240
Now, these extra benefits are worth an additional $940!
So I should really start making better use of my platinum card
How To Get The Best Sign-Up Bonus
Now generally speaking, when you sign up for the American Express Platinum card it is possible to get a pretty decent sign-up bonus.
And it’s not uncommon to see an offer of 100,000 or 125,000 membership reward points if you make at least $6,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of opening the account.
Now as I have mentioned in some of my other articles (videos), it is possible to reactive up to 150,000 membership rewards points when you first sign up.
And a couple of ways to try and receive this increased sign-up bonus are:
CardMatch Tool
So if you don’t initially get a large sign-up bonus offer it’s worth heading over to the website creditcards.com and trying out their CardMatch tool.
This basically performs a soft credit check to see if it is possible for you to receive a better sign-up bonus.
And seeing that it only does a soft credit check, it shouldn’t affect your credit score at all.
Now if the card match tool doesn’t provide any success it is possible to try using an incognito web browser to see if you get a better deal.
Then if this is unsuccessful, you can just keep checking back to the Amex website after a few hours or over a couple of days.
Seeing that Amex will most likely use cookies to help identify and remember your information, they may very well offer you a better deal over an extended period of time to try and get your business.
Although the 150k sign-up bonus doesn’t happen all the time, It is possible, as you can see in the screenshot below.
So it’s worth considering whether it is worth spending a lot of time trying to get a better sign-up bonus, as 50,000 extra points can be worth at least $500, if not more if you use them correctly.
How to Earn Membership Reward Points
Now as with most premium credit cards it is possible to earn points when using the Amex Platinum Card for everyday purchases.
And these points can then be used in a variety of different ways, which will affect how much they are worth.
Redeeming Membership Reward Points The Wrong Way
So in this first example, I’ll talk you through a not-so-valuable way to redeem your membership rewards points.
And the reason I want to do this is to show you what you are potentially missing out on, as these points can potentially be worth a lot of money!
Basically, if you use membership rewards points to buy products through some of the merchant partners of Amex, the points will only have a value of 0.5 cents per point.
And this is the lowest valuation these points will provide you, so try not to use them for these types of purchases.
Redeeming Membership Reward Points The Right Way
Now there are a few ways to take much better advantage of your hard-earned membership reward points.
The first is to use the points through American Express Travel for flights, flight upgrades, or hotel bookings through the Fine Hotels & Resorts program.
This will basically double the value of your points to 1 cent per point, which is clearly a better way to utilize your points as they will be worth twice as much as the previous example
Now even though this is a pretty good way to make use of your points, there is an even better way to get a lot more value.
The Best Way to Redeem Your Membership Reward Points
Now the best way to make use of your membership rewards points is to actually transfer them to one of their airline or hotel partners which consists of 17 different airlines, and 3 different hotels.
Generally speaking, points or miles can be transferred to these programs at a rate of 1-1, or slightly more.
Now as an example, I’ll show you a couple of different options that provide a fair bit more value.
First of all, let’s take a look at Delta.
So if you travel from LAX to Singapore on October 19th retuning on the 26th, a main cabin economy fare will cost $1,116.
Now if you select the option to use points you will see that it will cost 70,000 points + $122 in fees.
So if you based the points at a value of 1 cent per point, this fare would cost the equivalent of $822, which is $294 cheaper than using cash.
Another way to look at it would be to take the original price of $1,116 and divide it by 822, which will give a points value of 1.35 cents per point (this includes the $122 in fees)
And this example is already more than 30% more valuable than using points through AmexTravel.
Now seeing that I use a flight to Singapore as an example, let’s take a look at a Hotel for the duration of the stay where we can use points, and get some pretty decent value.
So seeing that Hilton Honors is a Hotel partner with Amex it is possible to transfer your Membership Rewards Points to Hilton Honors Points at a rate of 1-2.
Basically, for 1 Membership Reward Point, you will receive 2 Hilton Honors points in return.
So upon searching the hilton.com website I have found a room at the Hilton Garden Inn Singapore Serangoon for the same dates (19th Oct – 26th Oct) and the normal rate for the room if you pay cash is $202 per night or $1414 for the 7-day stay.
But if you choose to use points it requires 30,000 Hilton Honors points per night or 210,000 Hilton Honors points for the 7-day stay.
So because Membership reward points can be transferred at a rate of 1-2, it will only require 105,000 Membership reward points to pay for the entire booking.
And even if you value the points at 1 cent per point, it would be equal to $1,050, which is a saving of $364.
Another way to look at it would be to just divide $1,414 by $1,050 and you get a points value of 1.34 cents per point, which is pretty good.
Design Options
Last year Amex made it possible to personalize your Platinum card with the choice of 3 different metal cards.
The first option is the Classic Amex Platinum card which is the card that I had for 4 years of my card ownership.
And it looks really quite nice.
The second card option to choose from, which I actually have now is The Platinum x Kehinde Wiley.
And this is a nice botanical theme that has been implemented onto the Platinum card, and in my opinion, it looks really good.
Then the final card option is the Platinum x Julie Mehretu.
And this is an interesting abstract image by the successful visual artist Julie Mehretu.
So I think it’s a nice option to be able to personalize your credit card.
There are also a couple of different options of Centurion cards to choose from which you can see here.
Final Thoughts
So in conclusion, at least in my case, I believe that the America Express Platinum card is well worth the $695 annual fee.
Even though I don’t even use half of the benefits that are available, I still get plenty of value in return.
Obviously, everyone’s situation is different which will affect whether the Platinum card is a good fit for you.
But hopefully, this video was able to shed some light on some of the valuable benefits that this card offers.
Now if the Amex Platinum Card sounds a bit too pricey, or the benefits don’t align with your lifestyle, why not read this article where I do a full in-depth review and compare it to the Capital One Venture X and the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.