Should I Sign Up For The American Express Business Platinum Card Before Annual Fee Is Increased To $595? (9:59pm EST End Time)

Update: Looks like Dan got the date wrong.

Update: According to Dans Deals the annual fee will be increasing to $595 9:59pm EST 1/30/19. Only a couple of hours remain. It isn’t clear if this will affect all links or only affiliate links.

In case you didn’t know American Express is increasing the annual fee to $595 on the Business Platinum card at the start of February, this is an increase of $145 annually. American Express is adding the following benefits:

• One year of complimentary Platinum Global Access from WeWork ($2,700 value), a network of premium workspaces around the world. With Platinum Global Access, enjoy over 300 workspaces in 75+ cities and 20+ countries.
• Up to $200 in statement credits annually for U.S. purchases with Dell on your Business Platinum Card.

I believe the Dell credit will be a $100 semi annual credit, working similar to the Saks Benefit rather than the monthly Uber benefit offered on the personal version but that is yet to be confirmed.

Some readers want to know if they should sign up before the annual fee is increased, or wait until afterwards. The current bonuses available are as follows:

• Some people have been able to get 100,000 points after $10,000 in spend by using the call in method. This is very YMMV, but it has been working again recently.
• You can get a bonus of up to 75,000 points. This is broken down to:
  • 50,000 points after $10,000 in spend within the first three months
  • Additional 25,000 points after an additional $10,000 in spend within the first three months
• Referral links are offering the same as the public bonus. Self referrals work (or get a loved one to refer you) and the best offer currently is 20,000 when referring from the Business Gold Rewards card.
• Some people are targeted for 75,000 points after $5,000 in spend

When other cards have been refreshed like this, we have seen the public sign up bonus fall after the product refresh. If that holds true then applying now would make sense as you’d be getting a better bonus and saving $145 in the first year. I think if you can get the 100,000 point offer after $10,000 then applying now is a no brainer, if you can only get the 75,000 point offer then I think it only makes sense if you can self refer and hit the $20,000 in total spend required.

It’s obviously also possible that we see a really strong launch offer from American Express, although that isn’t consistent with what has happened previously. At the end of the day, the choice is yours! Will you be applying or waiting? Let us know in the comments below.