The Amex Platinum card often polarizes opinions in our community. Some love it, some hate it and call it the coupon book. I first got the Amex Platinum card when it had the $450 annual fee. I’d be the first to admit that back then, it had a much stronger value proposition. However, the card has now evolved into a much more expensive card that offers credits that are split across merchants and time frames. American Express offers different versions of the Amex Platinum card. Since the last 4 years, I’ve carried the Charles Schwab version, which you can have if you have a Charles Schwab Brokerage account open.
The Amex Platinum Card: Keep or Cancel
Right out of the gate in January, I saw that my annual fee had posted for 2025. I put in a request for a retention bonus but didn’t get any. Now, I had to make a decision. Should I keep or cancel? I started looking back at the previous year and took an analytical approach to make a decision. The Amex Platinum card has a ton of benefits. What this means that different people may find different benefits useful. This table is an illustration of how I see things and why I decided to renew.
Also, the table doesn’t enlist all the benefits. I’m only weighing or rating the benefits I’ve been using. If you don’t see a benefit here, then it means that I either barely use it or don’t find it useful to at all.
The Amex Platinum Card: Weighing the benefits
| Card Benefit | Frequency of Use | Ease of Use Rating out of 10 | Benefit Rating out of 10 | Monetary Value Derived | Notes |
| $200 Airline Fee Credit | Max it out at the start of the year | 10/10 | 7/10 | $200 | United Travel Bank Reload |
| $200 Fine Hotels & Resorts Credit | 3-4 stays per year | 10/10 | 10/10 | $200 | Multiple stays each year at FHR properties |
| $100 Saks Credit | Low | 8/10 | 5/10 | $70 | Find it overpriced, difficult to use frequently for my style of shopping |
| Hilton Honors Gold Status | Low, 2 times per year | 10/10 | 7/10 | $150 | Complimentary breakfast during non-US stays is very valuable |
| Centurion Lounge Access & Priority Pass | Multiple times each year | 10/10 | 10/10 | $150 | Very valuable for my style of travel, for solo work trips |
| Amex Referral Credit | $100 is awarded per referral | – | – | $700 | You can use the referral link to refer to any Amex card |
| Total | —————————————-> | $1,470 | |||
What about the rest?
Here’s how I view the rest of the benefits, along with my rationale. for why I don’t find them useful.
- $200 Uber credit: I don’t use Uber and find Uber Eats overpriced. Also, I prefer to go out and eat instead of ordering in.
- $240 digital entertainment credit: I tried subscribing to the WSJ online edition and ended up not using it much. Not much into in-home digital entertainment or streaming services. When I’m not working or blogging, I like to spend time outdoors.
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold: I already have Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, thanks to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card.
- Delta SkyClub Access: I’m not loyal to any particular airline, so this benefit isn’t very useful.
The Pundit’s Mantra
Overall, if you do the math, the value of benefits comes to $770 for a card that charges an annual fee of $695. Thanks to the $100 referral credit, it bumped my value up to $1,470 for 2024.
Given that I’m getting decent value for the annual fee that I’m paying, I’m going to keep the card open for 2025. But things can always change. I’ll repeat the process in 2026 and write another post about how 2025 was with the Platinum card.
What are some of your favorite benefits of the Platinum card? Tell us in the comments section.
I’M PASSING AFTER TRIPLE DIPPING ON THE AIR AND HOTEL CREDITS AND oops didn’t realize I was still yelling from previsous anti Fascist oligarchs and their minions postings on FaceBorg
What I still want is lounge access which I get with either of my two Platinum Biz cards 🙂
BTW for the Saks credit, I’ve been geting really fluffy wash cloths and towels! 🙂
Amex has made the Platinum Card one of the worst values in the travel world. If you have a lot of time to clip their coupons, it can be a middling deal, but they know that most people don’t have that kind of time or focus on saving a few bucks and it’s like picking up pennies in front of the annual fee steamroller that will eventually crush you. I ditched it several years ago after having it for nearly two decades, and have saved thousands of dollars by doing nothing.