by Daniel | Last Updated January 23rd, 2022
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If you have an interest in credit cards and have seen some of my videos in the past, you may have seen me talking about a few different American Express credit cards.
American Express offers a large range of different Credit cards from beginner cards like the Blue Cash Everyday card to the highly exclusive Amex Centurion Card which is only available by invitation.
What you may not know is that if you are an investor with Charles Schwab you will have access to 2 different American Express Cards that come with a few exclusive benefits that are only available to clients that hold an account with Charles Schwab.
Now it’s not like these cards are totally different from their regular counterparts from American Express, but they do have a few extra benefits that are definitely worth talking about.
In this article, I’m going to review the Schwab Investor Card from American Express and the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab.
Who Are These Cards Good For?
Both of these cards are only available to individuals that have an active account with Charles Schwab, which includes either a Schwab One or Schwab General Brokerage Account’ or if you have a Schwab Traditional, Roth or Rollover IRA that is self-managed.
The Schwab Investor Card is more suitable for anybody that is new to credit cards or doesn’t want a high annual fee, whereas the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab is a premium credit card that is most suitable for people that travel a fair amount and have a relatively high annual income, as this card is not exactly cheap.
APR
Next up, let’s take a look at what the APR is for each of these cards.
And these rates will depend on what your creditworthiness is and will vary with the markets depending on what the Prime rate is.
Starting with the Schwab Investor Card from American Express you will have a 0% introductory APR for the first 6 months of card ownership, and then after this, it will vary between 13.99% and 16.99%.
The APR for cash advances is 25.24%
There is a penalty APR of 29.99% that may be enforced if you make one or more late payments or if your payment is returned by your bank.
And this will last for a minimum of 6 months.
Next up, with the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab, you will have an APR of 15.99% and 22.99%.
Then the Cash advance and penalty APR are the same as the Schwab Investor Card from American Express.
So the less expensive Schwab Investor Card has a more desirable APR than the Platinum card, specifically as it offers a 0% introductory APR for the first 6 months.
Annual Fee
Now let’s take a look at how much each card will cost you on an annual basis.
Starting with the Schwab Investor Card you will have no annual fee.
And with the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab, the annual fee is a hefty $695.
So there is clearly a large difference in the cost of these cards, but to be fair they are totally different in what offer in terms of benefits and user perks.
Sign-up Bonus
Next up, let’s take a closer look at what sign-up bonus is offered with each card, and what the difference is.
Starting with the Schwab Investor Card from American Express you will earn a $200 statement credit after you spend a minimum of $1,000 within the first 3 months of opening the account.
And for a card that doesn’t have an annual fee, this is a pretty nice bonus to get, and it doesn’t require a huge amount of money to be spent to receive it.
Next up, with the American Express Platinum Card for Schwab, you will earn 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend a minimum of $6,000 within the first 6 months of opening the account.
Now as this is a Schwab card, you will have the benefit of actually cashing out your points for cash at a much higher rate than what you will be able to do so with the regular Platinum Amex card.
With the Amex Platinum Card for Schwab, you can actually receive up to 1.1 cents per point if you deposit them into your eligible Schwab account.
With the regular Platinum Amex card, the closest thing to cashing out your points is using them to cover any charges that are made to your card, and currently, Amex is offering just 0.6 cents per point, which is almost half as much as what you can get with the Schwab card.
So this sign-up bonus is worth $1,100 in actual cash, which is a decent sign-up bonus.
And to receive this bonus you will need to spend $250 per week for 24 weeks to meet the $6,000 spend requirement.
Earning Points/Cash Back
Next up, let’s take a look at how you can earn rewards with each card.
And just a note, each of these cards are slightly different, the Schwab Investor Card is a cash back card, whereas the Platinum Card for Schwab is a points-earning card.
So starting with the Schwab Investor Card you will receive unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases made on the card, which is not bad, but not amazing.
As an example, for every $10,000 you spend on the card, you will receive $150 in cash back.
But it’s worth knowing that there are quite a few other cash back cards that offer more in the way of cash back, one being the Chase Freedom Flex Card which offers up to 5% cash back on a few different spending categories, and for this example, 5% back on a $10,000 spend is $500, which is quite a lot more.
And if you’d like to learn more about this card you can check out my review here.
Now with the Platinum Card for Schwab, you will have a few decent ways of earning points.
First of all, you will earn 5x points on flights that are booked with American Express Travel up to a total spend of $500,000 per calendar year.
You will also earn 5x points on eligible pre-paid hotels that are booked through AmexTravel.com.
And then all other purchases will receive 1 point per dollar spent.
So if you travel a lot, the Amex Platinum Card for Schwab will be quite beneficial, as most of its points earning potential is through travel-related purchases.
Benefits and User Perks
Next up, let’s take a look at what benefits and user perks are on offer with each card.
Starting with the Schwab Investor Card there aren’t that many perks that come with this card.
First of all, you will have access to American Express Experiences, which gives cardholders special access to a whole range of different events that include theater, music, sports, and dining.
There is car rental loss and damage insurance of up to $50,000 in the event of any damage or theft to a rental car.
You will get an extended warranty of one extra year on original warranties that are 5 years or less for up to $10,000 per item and up to $50,000 per calendar year.
There is purchase protection that covers new purchases for up to 90 days, up to $1,000 per item, and up to a total of $50,000 per year.
And finally, you will get access to a ShopRunner Membership that provides you with free 2-days shipping and free returns to over 100 stores from across the United States.
So whilst this is not a huge amount of benefits, the car rental loss and damage insurance is a nice option to have that can potentially save you a fair amount of money if you do have any issues with a rental car.
And the purchase protection is also very useful and can come in handy if one of your new purchases just happens to be stolen or gets accidentally damaged.
Next up, with the Amex Platinum Card for Schwab, you will get an extensive range of great benefits and perks.
And one bonus that is exclusive to this card is the Schwab Appreciation Bonus.
With this, you can receive a $100 card statement credit if you have $250,000 or more in qualifying Schwab holdings.
And if you have $1,000,000 or more you will receive a $200 statement credit.
So a good extra to have as it’s always nice to receive free money, but you will have to have quite a lot of money to receive it.
Another valuable benefit is a $300 Equinox Credit.
Then from here, you will get a $200 hotel credit and a $200 Airline fee credit.
You will get a $240 digital entertainment credit which is provided in statement credits of $20 per month.
There is a Walmart+ membership which is worth $155.
You will get a $179 credit that can be used to purchase a CLEAR membership.
Another fantastic benefit that you will get with this card is the American Express Global Lounge Collection.
And with this, you will have access to a large range of different airport lounges which includes the Centurion lounge and the Delta Sky Club.
Along with this, you will also receive a free Priority Pass Membership that is worth $429.
There is cell phone protection of up to $800 per claim, with a limit of 2 claims in a 12 month period, and each claim comes with a $50 deductible fee.
You will be part of the Cruise Privileges Program which is a collection of 11 different cruise lines, and with this program you can receive a credit of between $100 -$300 to spend on the ship depending on the type of room you book.
And to receive the credit you must book a minimum of 5 nights in a double occupancy room.
There is a $100 credit for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.
You will receive $200 in Uber cash each year, which is broken up into monthly credits of $15, and then an extra bonus of $20 in December.
There is a $100 credit that can be used at Saks Fifth Avenue.
You will get a ShopRunner membership.
As part of the Hotel Collection Program, you will receive a hotel credit of up to $100 when you book 2 consecutive nights or more at a hotel that is booked through American Express Travel.
Along with all of these benefits, you will also get the following insurance coverage.
There is trip Cancellation and interruption insurance as well as trip delay insurance.
You will have access to a Baggage Insurance Plan that covers up to $2,000 for checked bags and $3,000 for carry-on luggage.
There is Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance of up to $75,000.
You will also get an Extended Warranty of one extra year on original manufacturers warranties of 5 years or less for up to $10,000 per item and up to $50,000 per year
And finally, there is Purchase Protection of up to 90 days, which covers up to $10,000 per item and $50,000 per year.
Final Thoughts
So what are my thoughts about Amex Cards From Charles Schwab?
Seeing as both of these credit cards are at different ends of the scale when it comes to cost, comparing them with each other doesn’t make much sense.
If you have the budget to afford the Amex Platinum Card for Schwab I think it is a great card with a ton of benefits and user perks.
I specifically like the fact that you can transfer points to your Schwab account and redeem them for actual cash at a much higher rate than what you would get if just had the regular Amex Platinum Card.
Also, the Schwab Appreciation Bonus of either $100 or $200 is also a nice little touch if you just happen to have $250,000 or $1,000,000 in Schwab holdings.
As for the Schwab Investor Card from American Express whilst its not huge on benefits it does have a few nice extras, such as the 0% introductory APR for the first 6 months, and the $200 statement credit after you spend $1000 within the first 3 months of card ownership, which is not too bad for a credit card that has no annual fee.