American Express Business Platinum 50K Upgrade Offer
These days as American Express is cracking down on everything, they seem to be looking closely at what kind of customer you are. Do you only purchase gift cards? Do you “abuse” the rewards program in their view or do you make them money? It’s hard to say what exactly they look for, but if they deem you a worthy customer, the relationship can be quite lucrative.
While merchant Amex Offers are seemingly less valuable with all of the recent changes, the bank has always been very generous with other offers. From bonus points on normal spend, bonus points for enrolling in certain services like Pay Over Time or generous upgrade offers, they do deliver on many levels.
My wife recently received such an upgrade offer. A couple of years ago she opened up the Business Platinum card when it was offering a 100K bonus. After a year of having the card she decided to downgrade it to a Business Green card. This ensured she kept all of her employee cards in tact and honestly between all of the Amex Offers the small annual fee was more than offset.
The Upgrade Offer
Fast forward to this past week, when she received the following offer on her card:
What’s interesting is that this came via email, but the offer didn’t show up anywhere in her online account. Either way, just as I did with my Business Green two years ago, she upgraded and here is why.
American Express Business Platinum 50K Upgrade Offer – Considerations
When deciding whether to take this offer, here is what we considered:
Annual Fee – This is prorated based on where you are in your cardmember year. Unfortunately my wife just hit her annual fee and thus we will be paying pretty much the entire $450 for the year as if she signed up for the card as new.
Bonus – My wife already received a sign-up bonus for this card and thus can’t get another one for a long time.
Annual Travel Credit – This card gets a $200 annual travel credit per calendar year. She could theoretically get this card once in 2018 and once in 2019 before deciding what to do with the Business Platinum when the annual fee comes due again next year.
Spend – This offer requires $10,000 in spend. After meeting the spend, she will have earned 60,000 points total (50K bonus & 10K from normal earning). 6X is a great earning ratio on everyday spend. Amex is fairly strict about not paying bonuses when spending is met through purchasing gift cards. Thankfully our business has legitimate spend so that won’t be an issue.
Other Benefits – My wife has the Mercedes Benz Personal Platinum already, so she already has most of the Platinum benefits from that. She will be able to get the 35% airline bonus and some other perks like Gogo internet passes, but those don’t weigh heavily on the decision.
Final Decision
In the end this is how I see it. In exchange for paying $450, she will receive $400 in travel credits the first year plus 6X earnings (60,000 points) on her $10,000 in spend. That all adds up to being worth it in my opinion, considering she is no longer able to get a welcome bonus on this card. Upgrade accepted!
Have you received an upgrade offer from American Express for this or any other card? Share your Amex upgrade thoughts/experiences in the comments!
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I received an upgrade to Hilton ascend in July after not using the card for nine months.
I got this on two (previously downgraded) Green Biz cards. Yes, please!
I’m trying to work out that I meet the spend mostly with $5k+ purchases to maximize the 1.5x bonus as well.
Warning. $200 travel credits not available if downgraded to Green Business in same year as upgraded back to Platinum Business
Interesting. Do you know that from experience? My wife downgraded over a year ago so that isn’t applicable here, but I had never heard that.
I have 5 premium cards and will avoid Amex Platinum. It’s just not worth it to me.
I have a CSR, Citi Prestige, Hilton Aspire Amex, Ritz Carlton Visa, and SPG Luxury Card. Three of those cards give me free nights, PREMIUM free nights.
Yes….my husband just received an offer to upgrade his EVD to a personal platinum. Since he had that card two years ago, I knew the wait would be mighty long before getting it again, so I bit for him. The bonus was 60,000 MR points for $5000 spend. Easily done, and the points have already posted.