The American Express Platinum Card Is Now Offering Pay Pal Credits

Doctor of Credit (H/T) has reported yesterday that the American Express Platinum Card is now offering Pay Pal credits. American Express and Pay Pal are offering six monthly credits worth $30 each for Platinum cardholders, to be exact. These credits are worth $180 total if they are used in full. They will be offered monthly from January through June 2021 in a similar fashion to the Platinum Card’s monthly Uber credits.

The Pay Pal credits are only available to those who hold a personal Platinum Card. American Express Business Platinum cardholders might receive another temporary benefit. But this is not currently confirmed by American Express.

What’s Going On?

Furthermore, the monthly streaming credits and wireless mobile credits from 2020 are now expired. But the new Pay Pal credits are intended to replace them for the first half of 2021.

Unfortunately, Platinum cardholders will not realize as much value as they could have in 2020. One $30 monthly Pay Pal credit is worth $10 less than the $40 in total monthly credits from 2020. Therefore, Platinum cardholders will realize $60 less over the six month period than they would have in 2020. These numbers assume that Platinum cardholders will use the Pay Pal credits in full each month.

Fortunately, the Pay Pal credits are very easy to use. There is no enrollment required. Platinum cardholders just have to add their cards to their Pay Pal wallets and select their Platinum Cards when paying with Pay Pal. The ease of use is a positive sign for American Express whose credits are normally hard to use.

However, there are some limitations on how cardholders can use the credits. Cardholders may not purchase gift cards, reload prepaid cards, purchase cash or cash equivalents, or engage in person-to-person payments. None of the above purchases qualify for the credits being triggered.

Final Draw

The American Express Platinum Card offering Pay Pal Credits shows that Amex is nicely leveraging their partnership with Pay Pal. Cardholders can justify up to $180 of their annual fee if they use the credits in full each month. Fortunately, the ease of use compared to many other Amex credits increases the value of the Platinum Card for the first half of 2021.