Amex Business Platinum Upgrade
After constantly nagging me with mailers, emails and Amex Offer alerts I finally took them up on it. I finally said, enough Amex, ENOUGH! I finally decided to take that Amex Business Platinum upgrade offer. My patience, or should I say resilience, paid off too. The offer just kept getting better and better until I simply couldn’t ignore it anymore. I knew my practice of dealing with my kids nagging me would pay dividends at some point. I have built up a resistance 😂.
Details Of The Amex Business Platinum Upgrade Offer
Here are the details of the offer that finally won me over:
- Earn 140,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 within the first 3 months of upgrade.
- $595 annual fee is NOT waived
Amex Business Platinum Earning Structure
- 5x points on hotels and airfare booked at AmexTravel.com
- 1.5x points in the following categories (capped at $2 million per calendar year across the categories):
- Electronics goods, retailers, software, and cloud service providers
- Construction materials and hardware supplies
- Shipping providers
- Earn 1.5x points earned on large purchases over $5,000
- Earn 1x on everything else
Best American Express Business Platinum Perks
Here are my favorite perks of the card. You can find the full rundown of the card’s perks here.
- Dell Technologies Credits – Up to $400 annual statement credit on all Dell purchases, up to $200 semi-annually. This is a $200 increase from the existing Dell benefit for Business Platinum Card Members. Here are some ideas on how to use the credit.
- Wireless Credit – Up to $120 annual statement credits for purchases made directly from any US wireless telephone provider, up to $10 per month.
- $200 Airline Fee Credit – up to $200 back in statement credits each year on incidental fees at your preferred airline (must select in advance).
- 35% points back – pay with points to purchase all or part of an airline fare (up to 500,000 points back per calendar year) and get 35% of your points back. The purchase must be first class or business class (any airline) or with your preferred airline (any cabin).
Why Did I Finally Decide To Accept Amex’s Proposal?
I have been getting this offer here and there for a few months now. To be honest, Amex has been giving them away like candy. Previously, I had focused on the targeted Amex Gold Business card offers instead because the spending requirements were lower, it had a better earning structure for me and the annual fee was much easier to swallow. Then Amex recently added new perks to the Business Platinum card. They doubled the Dell credit, to $400, and added a wireless credit worth $120. They did that while keeping the annual fee the same, for the time being at least. That annual fee clock is ticking though, since the fee increases to $695 on January 13, 2022.
The value proposition for the Amex Business Platinum has gotten a lot better in terms of credits over the last month or so. The end of the year timing helps me out a bit too. I should be able to get $600 in Dell credits, $400 in airline incidental credits and $120 in wireless credits in the first year. If the annual fee takes a while to post next year I may be able to sneak in another Dell and airline incidental credit too. That more than offsets the currently lower $595 annual fee.
The upgrade offer got a lot better too. My first few offers were for 85,000 points but this one is for 140,000 points. It is 10,000 less than the current public offer on the card but it comes with $5,000 less in spend required. I’ll gladly take that trade off.
I have never held the Amex Business Platinum card before so by taking this upgrade I have essentially ruined my chances of getting it in the future. Well, at least for the next 4 / 5 years or so. I wasn’t too upset by that because I actually prefer this offer.
I could have applied for the card instead and then taken the upgrade offer after approval. That would have given me the coveted double dipped. That is a little risky with Amex RAT on the prowl and would have required a butt ton of spend, $25,000 to be exact. The real issue with that plan is I am still under the Amex pop-up so I couldn’t make it happen anyway. That is another perk of this offer, upgrades don’t fall victim to the Amex pop-up.
Amex Business Platinum Upgrade – Final Thoughts
Overall this offer came at the right time and for the right amount. By jumping on my Amex Business Platinum upgrade offer I was able to lock in the lower annual fee and still get the increased perks. The upgrade offer was juiced up as well, compared to previous offers, and I actually prefer it to the standard welcome offer on the card. I’ll give up 10,000 points for $5,000 less in minimum spend any day. The offer lets me get what is essentially a new welcome offer and do it while still in Amex pop-up purgatory.
The interesting thing is I got the offer on both of my Business Gold cards. Hopefully that holds true in a few months and I can do this all over again a second time.
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Mark, this isn’t about the Biz Platinum but I wondered what you think about this.
We have accounts with both Schwab and Morgan Stanley. In September, after the SUB went to 100K, I finally decided to get the MS Amex Platinum, since we had cancelled my husband’s CSR last winter. I figured getting the AR covered by MS, with free AU card for husband, was better than $200 from Schwab and the lowered points redemption. Schwab had sent me offers with the 100K bonus and I got another email today.
What was interesting was this first footnote, the only one in all bold type:
1. Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or previous versions of the Platinum Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.
What caught my attention was the phrase “or previous versions of the Platinum card”. Has this always been there, or is this new, and does it mean if you had the regular Amex Platinum or MS version (or maybe that earlier Mercedes one), then you are ineligible for the SUB?
I figured that since you guys are students of all the fine print, you would know. Thanks.
I am pretty sure it has been there but not acted upon / enforced. I haven’t heard of anyone getting denied for one at all either.
Mark, u haven’t had the biz plat before? thought it was a typo
i took a NLL offer for a 150k pts & 0% apr in 1 yr, but requires a min $15k spend
Nope, never saw the value with the 100K after $15K in spend offers etc.
What do you use the card for to get to the 10,000 in 3 months?
My overhead is not that high.
Buyers groups help out a lot, especially this time of year.
I got the exact same offer. I’ll probably accept the upgrade. What can you buy at Dell to burn the $200×2 Dell credits?
I bought some Switch games for my son for Christmas. Others buy Xbox gift cards to resell.
You may not have ruined your chances of getting this card in the near future. I have held a business platinum card for three or four years and got another early this year and Amex is still pestering me to get a third one. Hopefully you’ll get similar offers.
They just keep sending out the mailers. I still have no idea what they are trying to do. It is almost like they are pumping up cards to pad stats for a sale even though that makes no sense.
Mark – Love it “butt ton” of spending!
Haha it was the appropriate term imo 🙂