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American Express raises the annual fee on many of its cards

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American Express has announced a sharp rise in annual fees on many of its UK personal and business credit and charge cards.

There will be no compensatory change in any of the benefit packages.

However, there will be some fantastic bonuses available from today to encourage new sign-ups. These cover The Platinum Card (covered today), Preferred Rewards Gold (covered tomorrow) and the Marriott card (covered this Friday).

American Express announces sharp rises in annual fees on many of its cards

Which American Express cards are getting fee increases?

Here are the changes which apply from today for new applications:

Personal cards:

  • The Harrods American Express Card increases from £150 to £195 per year

Business cards:

Other cards remain unchanged.

American Express announces sharp rises in annual fees on many of its cards

What happens to existing cardholders?

If you currently have any of these cards, you will not pay the new fee immediately.

You pay the new fee from your first billing date after 29th February 2024.

This means that, for example, if your Platinum card renews on 1st January, you will still only pay £575 on 1st January 2024. The new fee will not kick in until 1st January 2025.

Why is Amex increasing fees?

To quote:

American Express strives to deliver industry-leading rewards, value and customer service to all our Cardmembers. In order to continue to provide the same level of benefits, and due to the rising costs of providing these benefits, rewards and services, we are increasing the annual fees on a handful of our Cards. We know that our Cardmembers value the wide range of benefits and services they receive, and are confident our Cards continue to provide great value for money relative to the annual fees.

What is happening with the end of partial fee refunds?

American Express still intends to push ahead with the abolition of pro-rata fee refunds when cards are cancelled mid-year.

The new plan is that pro-rata fee refunds will be available until at least 29th February 2024.

This replaces the original cut-off date of 1st October 2023.

This means there is some good news ….

With pro-rata refunds still available until at least 29th February 2024, you could take out one of the exceptionally good sign-up bonuses launched today and still benefit from a pro-rata refund if you cancel within the next four and a bit months. The exact date for the ending of refunds is still to be confirmed.

The deals are:

To work out if you qualify for any of these bonuses, read this HfP article which breaks down Amex’s rules into bitesize chunks. If you have a BA Amex card, the only bonus you MAY qualify for is 100,000 points (=100,000 Avios) on The Platinum Card.

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earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (157)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mankhool says:
    11 Oct11 October 15:17

    Out of curiosity how many would have Amex Platinum cards in UK (including personal and Business) ?

  • Fred says:
    11 Oct11 October 18:15

    When I was in my 20s, the Centurion fee was £650…

    • sloth says:
      11 Oct11 October 18:29

      a slightly wieird comment since we have no idea how long ago you were 20…?

  • Paul says:
    11 Oct11 October 18:17

    The insurance has been very good for me and the family, especially when kids were small. 1 claim for an infected toe costs nearly £2000 and settled without quibble. Snow delays, volcanic ash, late bags all means I have had more back in claims that my fees have ever cost. The priority pass which I really use got me into the Mykonos lounge last month saving me about £50 on f&b before the flight.
    I use the dining credit and the HN is simply free stuff. I don’t shop there ordinarily but £50 off a high end cognac or whiskey is not to be sniffed at. Mostly I only ever spend £2-£3 more than the £50 and delivery is often free.
    I think Amex are pushing the boundaries with £650 but I know there is enough money around that many won’t notice or care. That’s not me and it is something I’ll have t think about in the next 12 months before my renewal comes up again.

    • ken says:
      13 Oct13 October 14:08

      “£50 off a high end cognac or whiskey is not to be sniffed at”

      You can almost guarantee that even a £150 bottle from HN would be available from someone like The Whiskey Exchange at £30-40 cheaper.
      Exactly the same, in same packaging.

      Past £300 and you might as well have “mug” tattooed on your head.

  • Andy says:
    11 Oct11 October 20:54

    £150 going up to £195 for my Harrods card?
    Not sure the benefits are great now, but a 30% increase seems really harsh.
    ‘Er Indoors won’t let me get rid of it though..!

    • Rob says:
      11 Oct11 October 21:22

      Do you use the dining credit? Thought that £25 didn’t go far and lots of queues. Only place I ever eat is Harrods Bake on Basil St where I occasionally wander after dropping my son at school.

  • A says:
    11 Oct11 October 21:27

    Note sure if there is another travel insurance provider that has trip postponement. My son was unwell before a recent trip so we wanted to push the trio back 3 days and Amex insurance paid for the change of flights (£900), hotel moved the dates as they had availability.
    All other insurance policies don’t have postponement as part of their policy, they would just pay for you to get your money back, which is fine, but then rebooking at short notice would leave you out of pocket.

  • Alistair says:
    11 Oct11 October 22:05

    Is this charge increase applicable to both the credit card and charge card version of the personal gold cards?

    • DJ says:
      11 Oct11 October 22:13

      Should be.

      I asked Amex earlier and they confirmed that it will be applicable to my charge version of Platinum, so I assume it would be the same for the gold charge card.

    • Rob says:
      11 Oct11 October 23:11

      Wasn’t specifically mentioned but I assume it is both.

  • Phil says:
    12 Oct12 October 09:43

    Barclaycard must be rubbing it’s hands together. Perhaps we see increased bonuses on Barclaycard Avios Plus to coincide with Amex fee increases?

    • Rum says:
      12 Oct12 October 10:00

      Exactly what I was thinking. Bullet in Amex’s foot, blood everywhere 😂
      I wonder when they’ll wake up and smell the coffee…

    • BBbetter says:
      12 Oct12 October 16:31

      None of their products compete with Amex cards whose fees have gone up now.

      • Toto says:
        13 Oct13 October 06:25

        I have the gold card and ba. The BA is great. But I don’t get the good card benefits. They’re pretty rubbish to be honest.

  • Ben says:
    12 Oct12 October 10:13

    Presumably the increase in fees will see an increase in benefits?

    • John R says:
      13 Oct13 October 10:59

      It literally says in the second sentence “There will be no compensatory change in any of the benefit packages.”

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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