Update 5/16/24: 125k offer is back.
Update 11/8/23: Offer is slated to end at midnight ET tonight
Update 9/28/23: The 125k offer has come back again now after many months of being lower. (ht USCCG)
The Offer
- American Express is offering 125,000 points after $8,000 in purchases within the first six months of being a cardmember
Card Details
- Annual fee of $695 is not waived the first year
- Morgan Stanley version of the Platinum card offers one free Platinum authorized user, then $195 for each one thereafter
- Authorized Gold cards are free
- Full details here
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x points per $1 spent on purchases made with airlines or with American Express Travel
- 5x points per $1 spent on hotel & airline bookings made directly from the American Express travel website
- 1x points on all other purchases
- $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year
- $200 Uber credit ($15 per month and additional $20 in December)
- Lounge access:
- Centurion lounge access
- International American Express lounge access
- Delta SkyClub lounge access
- Priority pass select membership
- Airspace lounge access
- $240 digital entertainment credit. This is a credit of $20 per month and can be used on Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM and The New York Times.
- $200 hotel credit. This can be used on select prepaid bookings (Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection) when using American Express Travel
- $179 Clear credit
- $300 Equinox credit. This is a $25 credit each month
- Global Dining Access by Resy
- The Global Lounge Collection
Our Verdict
You need to be a Morgan Stanley customer to be eligible for this card and you can no longer use the access investing work around unfortunately. It’s rare we see increased offers on these co-branded versions of the Platinum card, so it’s worth signing up if you are eligible and can make use of all the various credits. We will add this to our list of the best credit card bonuses.
Hat tip to FM
PSA:
Had moved some AAA Savings funds elsewhere and had left ~$500-ish and forgot about it… no fees had been assessed. Got a letter saying “We can no longer continue to service your account”, with no explanation of why. Called MS and rep mentioned that letters were sent to accounts with <$1k in funds, and could transfer money in to keep it open. Will call back again later when the funds transfer and re-verify this is correct/move funds to the Preferred Savings acct.
Transferred funds today to preg savings accr. Rep also clarified that as long as the AAA account is used solely for the preferred savings part there are no annual fees.
Approved with only an etrade account.
did you have to open an MS AAA Savings too? and how fast did you apply for the amex MS plat after getting an etrade account?
Pop-up saying I already had it.
That’s an unfortunate development.
Given the family language, why would you expect anything different?
Any active hobbyist will have had some flavor of the personal Platinum and is an ineligible receiver down field. With the exception of NLL offers, all posts about Amex SUBs are for newbies.
All of the comments about “oh this and oh that” are pointless chatter. Pun intended.
Any churner worth their salt knows you try anyway
There is a free Morgan Stanley savings account yielding 5%. Its called Morgan Stanley bank preferred savings. I am not sure if you need a minimum amount. You have to physically call. Then fund an account, then ask for those funds to be put into the savings account.
Min is 25k
The offer is not available to those who have or have had the Platinum Card.
any flavor??
I have a Morgan Stanley Access investing account. Opened before they shut it all down. If I get the card, can I cash out the points and have the cash deposited in my access account or do I need some other account for the cash back feature?
You can cash out into access investing. I’ve done it
Schwab > Morgan Stanley but they need to step up the SUB game.
Not sure why Schwab never ups its SUB.
What makes in better from your perspective?
1.1pts cash out and the fact that a regular Schwab brokerage account qualifies for the card. Instead Morgan Stanley requires you to jump through hoops, and E-Trade that they just acquired doesn’t qualify. That’s ridiculous. Someone may have a 1M+ account at E-Trade but nope.
Additionally if you have 1M+ at Schwab, you get $200 annual fee credit.
I don’t mention $25K annual fee waiver if your money is sitting in cash at Morgan Stanley because that’s ridiculous at current money market rates.
If someone has an old Access Investing account (like I do) I think Mo Stanley is better with the free AU card. The 1.1 cash out isn’t really relevant.
I got an offer for the Platinum for 175k 8k spent in 6 months
The Morgan Stanley flavored BCP also has an increased offer, $350+annual fee waiver. (And E-trade accounts are eligible for it.)
“You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab or previous versions of these Cards.“
Nothing new.
Except that this offer was NLL last time (just a few months ago) so this change matters