New Amex Platinum Benefits Are Now Live
At the beginning of March, American Express announced that they would enhance the benefits on the Platinum cards, would make the card out of metal, and increase the annual fee to $550. The date when these changes kicked in was March 30th, and here we are. The new enhancements are now available and ready to use. There’s also an new increased public bonus. Let’s take a look.
Increased Annual Fee
All flavors of the Amex Platinum card now have an increased annual fee of $550. The only exception is the The Platinum Card from American Express for Ameriprise, which has a waived annual fee for the first year, but it doesn’t come with a sign up bonus.
For existing Platinum Card Members, the annual fee will take effect on their annual renewal date on or after September 1st, 2017.
New Sign Up Bonus
With the increased fee, American Express has also released a new signup bonus. You will receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points when you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.
That’s significantly higher that the usual 40,000 bonus, but much less than highest offers of 100K or 150K that we’ve seen in the past. Remember that you can only get Amex sign up bonuses once per lifetime. So you should wait for one of the best ever offers to come around, if you don’t need the MR points or the benefits right away.
Use Your March Uber Credits
One of the added benefits is the $200 in annual credits for rides within the U.S., as well as VIP status where available. This credit will come as $15 in Uber credits for U.S. rides every month plus a $20 bonus in December. That means that you have only two days to use your March credit. These credits can also be used for UberEATS if you don’t really need any Uber rides.
Get Your Metal Card
If you apply for a new Amex Platinum, you will receive a metal card. But the metal card is available for existing cardmembers as well. American Express will send you the new metal card when you current card nears its expiration date, but why wait till then.
You can request a new metal card by phone or through chat. I chose the latter and my card is on its way after a one minute friendly conversation.
Add Free Additional Gold Cards
One other benefit is the free additional Gold Cards. These cards don’t come with any exciting benefits but you can add a few Amex cards to your arsenal for free, which can be great for Amex Offers.
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[…] week American Express made some small changes to their Personal Platinum card including the addition of an Uber credit and 5X earning on flights and hotels. They also upped the public bonus to 60,000 points while at the same time raising the annual fee by […]
[…] new benefits and an increased annual fee kicked in yesterday for the American Express Platinum cards. Now we’re seeing some targeted offers for […]
Just a head’s up – I requested a new metal card via chat five minutes ago, and I was told that I would have to wait until my membership anniversary.
No new metal card for me until I’m hit with the $550 fee.
That’s strange. Maybe try again, or call?
Thanks. I called and was able to secure a new metal card this morning.
If you have both regular Amex Platinum and the Mercedes Benz flavor, does that mean you get $30 per month in Uber credit?
Yes, you should. I have Amex Platinum & Schwab Platinum and see two (WASTED) credits expiring today…..and spend 5 months in Vancouver (and Uber credits only good in the US).
On another note, just applied for the Schwab card a few days ago and received it yesterday with the 40,000 point offer. Activated the card and then noticed 60,000 point offer when chatting to add authorized users. Chat representative would not bend to give the extra 20,000 points. I will call again and try. 40k point offer is for $3000 spend & $450 fee; 60k offer for $5000 spend $550 fee
Thanks, I just noticed the $30 credit in my account this morning!
If Amex waives the $550 fee, I’ll keep the card. Seeing they clawed back “MY” 100K bonus, they will need to give me something to retain my business. If not, adios. I did however get $400 in airline credit and $200 global entry fee which eased the pain.
Is the $15 amount refund per day or per transaction up to $15? I sometimes ride 2x in the same day at $9 each ride. Will this get reimbursed?
Thanks!
I… don’t understand how the Uber credits work. Do we just charge $15 Uber rides to our Platinum cards and AMEX refunds them?
Just add your Platinum card as a payment option in the Uber app. It will automatically recognize it is a Platinum and add $15 in credit to your account. You don’t even need to pay with the Platinum card, but just need it linked.
Are these credits per account or per card? IE: my wife is an auth user on my account. Will she get free rides?
Primary card only.