A lot of people wondered whether Amex would increase the annual fee on their Platinum business card – along with the increased benefit coming soon – as they did with their personal Platinum card.
Amex has confirmed that the annual fee on the Business Platinum card will remain at $450.
This is a vital detail. The primary benefit now of personal version > business version is the $200 Uber credit. Those who don’t Uber much might elect to stick with just the business Platinum card for most of the same benefits as the personal card. Note, the 5x airfare is also better on the personal card since it works on direct flights without the need to book through Amex Travel.
Both cards are now way more likely to be ‘keeper’ cards for the long term. If you Uber a lot, you can get recoup ~$400 with the personal Platinum card with the airline and Uber credits. If not, the business Platinum might be worth the $450 annual fee for it’s benefits (50% redemption bonus, 5x amextravel, and 1.5x on purchase $5k+), along with the $200 airline credit.
We’ll have a complete FAQ about the Business Platinum changes at a later date, as we did with the personal Platinum card.
Hat tip to Viewfromthewing
How can I find about annual fee of50% redemption bonus?
What?
While the Business Platinum doesn’t have the Uber credits, it does have a benefit that the personal Platinum does not have which rarely gets mentioned. You get 10 Gogo Wifi passes with the Business Platinum each calendar year. Just like the Uber credits, there are probably a lot of people that would get no benefit from this, but for those that would it saves you quite a bit of money. If you would have purchased these on their own it wold cost you $190.
maybe its just me but i really hate how the personal and business benefits are so damn fragmented. i mean cmon, its really unnecessary. just keep it very streamlined. but if you want to give different benefits for the business version, make it very EASY to understand and COMPELLING to keep both which essentially makes it a totally new product.
I wish I could convince my wife to take the 100k bonus she has been offered for the Plat personal card before the AF goes up. She’s been regularly getting 100k snail mail offers for it for at least 2 years now. She’s just not interested in the points game. She only has a Kohl’s store card in her name — no major credit cards in her name — all are AU’s of my cards. We have no use for the Uber “benefit” so future offers on the card will be getting $100 worse in my eyes. I’ve never had the Plat card but I never get the 100k offer.
BTW – I also wish I could get her into a Chase branch to get a CSR before the 12th — I’ve just about hit the $4k initial spend on mine. It kills me that all her restaurant spend goes on the CSP (she’s an AU on mine) instead of the CSR (it’s not worth the AF to make her an AU on that one) and I will be cancelling the CSP in a few months.
well bill, i see your pain, but at the same time, also consider that many play this game solo since they are single or their SO doesnt wanna play or even get on the damn phone because its just too much work. i myself play solo and even thought about using parents SSN like many do, but I refrain from that as well. when it comes to huge money like the points game, its either the partner is 100% in or out. Otherwise it just becomes a mess. since I play solo, no CSR for me either. But both parents and entire family could get CSRs. i think about it often. haha.
Does she enjoy the benefits you get from the cards? I’ve always used that as a carrot to get them interested.
What kinds of carrots exactly Mr. Sir Charles? You dirty dirty man…
Many carrots out there. Some have mentioned cash bonus, maybe redeeming some of those points for a gift (bad redemption I know) or taking her on a premium cabin flight or premium hotel stay – even just for a weekend may work wonders. My wife’s always been skeptical especially since she’s had problems with her credit in the past (we’re rebuilding now) but I’ve shown her numerous times the benefits. We are even currently on a trip – cash tickets (upgrade to Comfort plus free courtesy of travel credit) had access to a lounge, hotel paid off with points (upgraded due to elite status) many benefits which were due to owning the Biz Plat and Ink Plus. She’s pretty much sold now and once credit is fully recovered later this year will be ready to go
Added plus is that her credit score should go up. Wife was around 740, now she hovers closer to 800. I don’t pay any attention to scores at this point since they’re over rated (in most cases) but if she’s rebuilding this will also give her a nice boost if you play your cards right (no pun intended).
Is she willing to just hand you the keys and tell you to have fun but don’t expect her to lift a finger? That’s basically what my wife does. As long as I don’t ask her for any help then she couldn’t care any less what I do with opening accounts in her name. She knows damn well that I manage her credit and monitor her accounts better than she ever could. The few times a phone call was needed I definitely got my share of eye rolls.
Like William said, just offer her some type of incentive to get the wheels moving and maybe she’ll be more receptive thereafter. If you open a credit card with a $500 cash bonus then give her $300 of it and tell her to go get a massage and whatever else she wants. There’s plenty of decent cash bonus offers to get started. I obviously wouldn’t do this type of deal long term but it helps get the point across that there’s value with churning and CC offers.
I just sign my wife up and do the spend online for her for the most part. She doesn’t care though….she may go for it if she didn’t have to do anything.
I wish I had applied for the 100000MR offer back in Jan. Didnt think I could MS that kind of spend and here I am sitting with 20000 MS already since Jan. I would have definitely spent that kind of money and and closed down Personal AmEx. I wish I could find an offer for Business card now
There is a 75k offer, but not nearly as attractive.
Interesting. Just got an offer today to upgrade my BRG from Gold to Platinum for 50k with 10k spend in 5 months. Now I think I’ll just wait for a 100k offer to return if the fee isn’t going up.
Hilariously, Citi offered to upgrade my TYPremier to a Prestige without any incentive at all. Ummm hard pass.
Will the business platinum get the new metal design?
I have heard both yes and no. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Don’t think it will, at least currently.
So if you can maximize the Business Platinum card you are looking into a effective annual fee of $50? that is amazing considering you you’ll be paying $5000 a year to receive 50% of your MR back. No. Brainer.
I think you mean the first year is a $50 annual fee due to double $200 airline credits? Yeah, first year is sweet.
Sorry, so many typos in my last post.
Thanks for updates, I am wondering is personal MR points account is combined with MR points account from business card? Assuming I have both personal platinum and business platinum. I tried search around but did not find any answer.
Thanks
Yes, they are combined into one account.
yes it is combined.
but you can separate if you want.