The offer mentioned below is no longer available.
To learn more about the new annual fee for The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
American Express just released a crazy-good welcome offer on one of its luxury cards that can help you maximize rewards if you have a long list of holiday shopping to complete.
The Platinum Card® from American Express now offers a two-tier welcome bonus that provides 15,000 more points than the previous offer, plus the ability to earn up to 10X points on eligible purchases.
Here are the details:
- Earn 75,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases within your first six months of card membership.
- Earn 10x points on eligible purchases at U.S. gas stations and U.S. supermarkets, on up to $15,000 in combined purchases, during your first six months of card membership. That’s an additional 9 points on top of the 1 point you earn for these purchases.
An offer like this hasn’t been seen on the Platinum card before, so it’s definitely worth considering if you’ve been thinking about applying for this card.
Traditionally, new cardholders earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $5,000 within three months of account opening.
New offer aside, the Platinum card does come with a pretty steep price tag of $550 that isn’t for everyone (see rates and fees). If you don’t plan on using the biggest perks of this card, such as the welcome bonus, $200 airline fee credit and $200 Uber credit, you may want to consider the more affordable American Express® Gold Card, which has a $325 annual fee (see rates and fees). Learn how you can recoup the Platinum card's annual fee. Terms Apply.
Who’s eligible for the Amex Platinum Card welcome bonus?
If you’ve never had the Amex Platinum Card, you may qualify for the welcome bonus. Otherwise, Amex sets restrictions on who’s eligible to earn a welcome bonus.
Amex specifies the restrictions in the terms:
Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this 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.
You can’t earn the welcome bonus if you’ve ever had the Amex Platinum Card. Additionally, Amex will consider how many American Express cards you have and other factors, which means there’s no guarantee you’ll qualify even if you’re a new applicant.
What Membership Rewards points are worth
You can redeem American Express Membership Rewards® points for travel, gift cards, statement credits and more. The exact value of points varies based on redemption method, so here are some examples of what 70,000 points are worth, using Amex’s points value calculator, which lets you check 10,000-point increments.
- Pay with points at checkout: $350 (Ticketmaster), $490 (all other sites, such as Amazon and PayPal), $700 (NYC Taxi)
- Gift cards: Up to $700
- Statement credit: $420
- Book or upgrade travel: $490* (prepaid hotels, cars and cruises), $700* (flights and Fine Hotels & Resorts reservations)
- Transfer points to frequent traveler program partners: Up to 70,000 points in the partners’ program
- Shopping with merchant partners: $350
*Note that you have to pay for travel using your Amex Gold Card through American Express Travel to get these redemption rates.
Do Membership Rewards points expire?
No, Membership Rewards points don’t expire as long as your account remains open and in good standing.
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For the rates and fees of the Platinum Card from Amex, click here.
For rates and fees of the Amex Gold Card, click here.
