Every year I review if I should keep or close a credit card. If the benefits outweigh the fees, or if I break even, I would generally keep the card. In this article, I’ll review the American Express Platinum.
American Express advertises that their Platinum credit card provides more than $1500 in value for a $695 annual fee. Several travel websites and bloggers also promote this card and claim that the benefits more than compensate for the yearly fee; however, most reviews are biased since American Express sponsors these websites.
I have no business relationship with American Express, nor do they sponsor my efforts; I’m going to share an honest review of how much value I got from the American Express Platinum over the last 12 months and if it’s worth keeping. As a caveat, this review doesn’t consider the welcome bonus offer (100,000 points or more if targeted). Instead, I only attempt to assign a fair value to the benefits offered by the credit card itself.
In the end, I’m going to include a 10% discount on the total value of the benefits since we are prepaying American Express $695 for perks we will use in the future. The 10% discount accounts for the opportunity cost of paying for services a year in advance.
How did I use the American Express Platinum benefits, and how much value did I get?
$200 Hotel Credit
After booking a two-night stay at NH Hotel San Sebastian on amextravel.com, I received a $200 statement credit. The hotel has to be part of “The Hotel Collection” to be eligible for this. My three-day stay was fully covered by this credit. Nevertheless, rates can be higher on amextravel.com than on other travel websites. I’ll discount 25% of the hotel credit to keep the valuation fair.
Value of Hotel Credit: $150
$100 Experience Credit
During the same stay in San Sebastian, I received a $100 credit at the hotel. This credit included restaurant charges. Fortunately, the food was fantastic and worth it.
Value of Experience Credit: $100
$200 Airline Fee Credit
You need to select a qualifying airline and can receive up to $200 per year for incidental fees. My selected airline is United. Currently, buying funds from United’s TravelBank counts as an incidental fee. You can use these funds to buy flights on United Airlines (no partners, i.e., Lufthansa). I used these funds to buy a last-minute ticket from EWR-DFW for a missed flight due to unforeseen circumstances at a wedding after-party. In the past, I’ve even used these funds to travel internationally.
Value of Airline Fee Credit: $200
$200 Uber Credit
American Express deposits a $15 credit to your uber account monthly, and in December, an extra $20 for a total of $200 yearly. Even though I still use Uber for transportation I’ve been using this credit for Uber Eats more recently.
I wait until I receive a promotion from Uber Eats, $10 off of a $25 order, for example, and then combined with the Uber Credit, offsets the fees and total.
Value of Uber Credit: $200
$100 Saks Credit
I receive a $50 credit for Saks charges twice per year in January and July. I consider Saks to be often overpriced; nonetheless, I was fortunate with some fantastic findings. First, I used $50 to buy a pair of loafers on sale for $86.71, bringing my total cost to $36.71. Since then, I have been using these shoes a lot, bringing them with me on some amazing vacations. I’m honestly happy with this purchase.
For the second $50 credit, my significant other found a dress on Saks that she wanted and loved. The dress was considerably more than $50 but completely worth it—another $50 well used.
Value of Saks Credit: $100
$240 Digital Credit
American Express would reimburse you $20 for eligible streaming or digital services every month. However, the most appealing ones for me are ESPN and Disney, which I already get via Verizon. I decided to use the $20 on Audible and The New York Times.
I barely read The New York Times (I prefer The Economist) and wouldn’t be subscribed if I wasn’t receiving this credit.
I’m impressed with Audible, and I enjoy listening to books more than I thought. I doubt I would continue my subscription if it weren’t for this credit. However, I would consider buying some of the books I’ve listened to from Audible.
Since the New York Times has no value to me, and I would have considered paying for three of the Audible books I bought at $5 each, that’s $15.
Value of Digital Credit: $15
$300 Equinox Credit
I couldn’t find a plan or location that would work for me. Therefore, this credit has no value to me.
Value of Equinox Credit: $0
$155 Walmart+ Credit
One of the perks of the Walmart+ subscription is that you can scan items yourself with your phone, then pay using a QR code on your way out. Personally, this is the best part about Walmart+. I rarely shop at Walmart, mainly for some day-to-day basics, and could quickly get them from any other store. As interesting as scanning and paying with your phone is, I wouldn’t pay for this subscription.
Value of Walmart+ Credit: $0
$189 Clear Credit
Clear has been handy, especially now that airports are getting more crowded. My home airport is DFW, and I’ve avoided some long lines using Clear. Once I even asked to be dropped off at a terminal with Clear instead of my departure terminal to avoid an extremely long line. So far, I’ve had good experiences with Clear, but I’ve read about some overcrowded airports where Clear and Pre-Check were useless. As long as I have good experiences with Clear, I’ll see it as a valuable benefit. I pay $169 for two Clear memberships per year.
Value of Clear Credit: $169
The card has other valuable benefits such as Marriott and Hilton status, Centurion Lounge access, and Priority Pass. However, I get these benefits via my business card, and I won’t count them in this review.
Total value of benefits: $934
After 10% prepaid discount: $841
Annual fee: $695
Keep or Close: Keep
The American Express Platinum provides me more value than costs over 12 months, and I’ll keep it for another year.
My articles don’t have any sponsorship or paid advertising, and I’m hoping to keep it that way to be unbiased and write honest reviews. I will only recommend products that I use or have used and can add value to you.
If any of the products I recommend get your attention, you can support my efforts by applying or buying the product using my referral link. Of course, always make sure you are getting the best offer; if you find a better offer somewhere else, please share that with everyone!
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