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What is the difference between American Express Gold and American Express Platinum?

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We often get asked about the differences between American Express Preferred Rewards Gold and The Platinum Card from American Express.

In truth, virtually the only thing that Amex Gold and Amex Platinum have in common is the fact that you earn American Express Membership Rewards points from your spending and as a sign-up bonus.  Everything else varies.

To find out more, or to apply, the website for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is here.  The website for The Platinum Card is here.

Difference between American Express Gold and American Express Platinum

How does American Express Gold differ from American Express Platinum?

I am going to compare each key feature of the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum cards side by side.  If you want to see a dedicated article on either card, click here for our full review of American Express Preferred Rewards Gold and click here for our full review of The Platinum Card from American Express.

How do the cards differ legally?

They don’t, as of late 2022.

After decades as a charge card, The Platinum Card is now issued as a credit card.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold has been issued as a credit card for almost six years now.  As long as you meet the small minimum monthly payment, you can roll over what you owe from month to month – although you will be charged interest. 

Here is the current interest rate information:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold:

The representative APR is 88.8% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 31.0% variable.

The Platinum Card:

The representative APR is 704.6% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 31.0% variable.

How do the annual fees on Amex Gold and Amex Platinum differ?

Amex Gold has no annual fee in year 1 and is £195 per year thereafter.

Amex Platinum has an annual fee of £650 per year.

Annual fees are refunded pro-rata if you cancel. This is due to change in late 2024 but no date has yet been announced.

How do the minimum income requirements differ?

American Express brought back PERSONAL minimum income requirements during 2023. It previously looked at household income and did not have an official minimum.

Amex Gold requires a personal minimum income of £20,000.

Amex Platinum requires a personal minimum income of £35,000.

To put this into comparison, all other personal American Express cards have a minimum income requirement of £20,000 except for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express which is £35,000.

What are the sign-up bonuses?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold offers 20,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £3,000 within 90 days. This is the most generous sign-up bonus generally available on any free UK loyalty credit card – albeit that Amex Gold is only free for the first year.

The Platinum Card offers 40,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £6,000 within 90 days.

Membership Rewards points can be converted 1 to 1 into Avios or Virgin Points. Click here to see what other reward programmes are Membership Rewards transfer partners.

This means that you can receive 20,000 Avios points for free by applying for Amex Gold (no fee in Year 1), spending enough to trigger the sign-up bonus and then transferring the points to British Airways.  You would receive 40,000 points by applying for Platinum.

difference between American Express Gold and American Express Platinum

What are the rules for qualifying for the sign-up bonuses?

These differ by card. There are fewer restrictions for getting the Platinum bonus than the Gold bonus, perhaps unsurprising given the large fee difference.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold:

The Amex Gold sign-up bonus is only available to customers who have not held a personal American Express card in the previous 24 months. 

You will receive the sign-up bonus if you have a Corporate or Business American Express card via your job and you receive Membership Rewards points from it.

You will definitely receive the bonus if you are only a supplementary cardholder on someone else’s American Express card. As far as Amex is concerned, that card belongs to the primarily cardholder and does not make you an ‘existing cardholder’.

If you do not qualify for the Gold bonus, you can still apply.  You still receive the other card benefits, including the four free airport lounge passes, £120 of Deliveroo credit and ‘no fee in the first year’.

The Platinum Card:

The Amex Platinum sign-up bonus is only available to customers who have not held a personal American Express card which earns Membership Rewards points in the previous 24 months.  This would include Green, Gold, Platinum and the American Express Rewards credit card.

You are OK if you currently or recently only had a British Airways, Marriott or Nectar American Express card.  All that matters is that you have not held a personal card offering Membership Rewards points.

You will receive the sign-up bonus if you have a Corporate or Business American Express card via your job and you receive Membership Rewards points from it.

You will definitely receive the bonus if you are only a supplementary cardholder on someone else’s American Express card. As far as Amex is concerned, that card belongs to the primarily cardholder and does not make you an ‘existing cardholder’.

If you do not qualify for the bonus, you can still apply.  You still receive the other card benefits, which are substantial.

To summarise on bonuses ….

  • You are blocked from the Gold bonus if you have had ANY personal American Express card in the last two years. 
  • You are ONLY blocked from the Platinum bonus if you have had a Green, Gold, Platinum or any other MR-earning personal American Express in the last two years.
  • There is no scenario under which you can get the bonus on both Gold and Platinum within a two year period, unless you have Gold and receive a targetted upgrade offer to Platinum
Difference between Amex Gold and Amex Platinum

What other card benefits do you get?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold:

You receive FOUR free airport lounge passes each membership year with Amex Gold, valid at any airport lounge in the Priority Pass network. Heathrow (including the Aspire and Plaza Premium lounges in Terminal 5), Gatwick, Luton and Stansted – amongst many others – have participating lounges as do most major airports worldwide. After your four free visits, you can make further lounge visits for a £24 charge.

You will receive 2,500 bonus Membership Rewards points for every £5,000 you spend, up to a maximum of 12,500 bonus points per membership year. You receive these as soon as you pass each £5,000 threshold.

You will receive a 10% discount and free additional driver on Hertz bookings. We looked at the American Express Gold / Hertz partnership in more detail in this article.

You receive Preferred Plus status with Avis.

There are also 600 4-5 star hotels worldwide which offer a $75 in-hotel credit and an upgrade when booked by an American Express Gold cardholder via the American Express travel service.

The Platinum Card:

The Platinum Card has substantial benefits – easily the best package of any UK loyalty card.

You receive travel insurance for yourself and your family. Some benefits require you to pay for your trip with an American Express card, but the core medical benefit is automatic. There is an age limit of 70 on the travel insurance. If you choose to give your free supplementary card to someone outside your family (eg your parents) they are covered too – my Mum had mine until she hit 70.

You receive full car hire insurance – with no requirement to pay with your card.

You and your main supplementary cardholder will each receive a Priority Pass card. This gets the cardholder plus a guest into 1,300 airport lounges across the world for free, including the Aspire lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5 reviewed here and the Plaza Premium lounge in Terminal 5. As you get two Priority Pass cards, each of which allows a free guest, you can get a family of four into a lounge – as I do on a regular basis.

You can also get into Amex’s own network of high quality ‘Centurion’ airport lounges for free. These are primarily in the US but are rolling out globally – the only UK site is in Heathrow Terminal 3, which we reviewed here.

You will also receive status in various hotel schemes for as long as you keep the card:

  • Gold in Marriott Bonvoy
  • Premium in Radisson Rewards
  • Gold in Hilton Honors
  • Gold in MeliaRewards

Other travel benefits include Eurostar lounge access in London, Brussels and Paris whatever your class of travel. You also receive lounge access when flying with Delta although any guests must pay $29.

There is an exclusive hotel booking scheme called ‘Fine Hotels & Resorts’ which offers valuable additional benefits on your stays. If you are a regular visitor at five star hotels then you can recoup your entire membership fee via FHR bookings. I wrote more about Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts here – for me, the guaranteed 4pm check-out on every stay is invaluable, especially for weekend breaks.

Non-travel benefits include:

  • £100 per year to spend at Harvey Nichols, either instore or online. This is split into £50 to spend between January and June and £50 between July and December. There is no minimum spend – it is genuinely free stuff if you spend exactly £50.
  • £150 to spend at 160 UK restaurants. This benefit renews on 1st January each year. There is no minimum spend required and you can use the £150 over multiple visits to different restaurants if you wish.
  • £150 to spend at 1,400 international restaurants. Again, this benefit renews on 1st January each year.
Difference between American Express Gold and American Express Platinum

What do you earn per £1 spent on the cards?

Both cards earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold has three special bonuses, however:

  • foreign currency transactions earn 2 points per £1
  • airline transactions earn 2 points per £1
  • you receive a bonus of 2,500 points for every £5,000 you spend in a card year, up to a maximum of 12,500 points

What is best way to spend Membership Rewards points?  As it turns out, I wrote this lengthy article on how to best redeem Membership Rewards points.

Do Amex Gold and Amex Platinum impose foreign exchange fees?

Yes. Both card impose a 3% foreign exchange fee on transactions outside the UK.

American Express Gold is a better card to use abroad than Amex Platinum, because you earn double Membership Rewards points when spending in a foreign currency.

Conclusion

I hope this article has helped you realise that American Express Preferred Rewards Gold and The Platinum Card are two completely different beasts.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold gets you:

  • a sign-up bonus of 20,000 American Express Membership Rewards points
  • a free first year (£195 thereafter)
  • a generous offer of four free airport lounge passes per year
  • £120 of Deliveroo credit (24 x £5) per year
  • up to 12,500 bonus points per year based on spending

The Platinum Card has a very heavy fee – and is not free in the first year – but comes with an unmatched range of travel and non-travel benefits and a big sign-up bonus. 

Whether or not these benefits are worth the fee is up to you.  I make it work – I’ve had a Platinum card for over 20 years – but it depends entirely on your circumstances.

Where do I apply?

The application form for American Express Preferred Reward Gold (20,000 points sign-up bonus) can be found here.

The application form for The Platinum Card (40,000 points sign-up bonus) can be found here.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 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 February 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

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.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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 Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Membership Rewards, American Express Platinum card

Comments (53)

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

  • CrowTravel says:
    4 Jan4 January 06:09

    My Platinum renews this week – if I were to cancel in February (whilst it is still permitted) for the pro-rata refund, and have already availed of the restaurant credit(s) and the Harvey Nichols credit, does Amex just swallow that or do they reverse or pro rate the statement credits accordingly?

  • Nate says:
    4 Jan4 January 06:34

    I am always surprised about HfP’s coverage of the Platinum card, specifically about the travel insurance. You do not mention that that it excludes all pre-existing conditions and there is no opportunity to have these covered complementary or to purchase an upgrade for cover. This is a significant drawback and negative difference when compared to other comparable insurance products (in fact almost all cover pre-existing in some form or another, including complimentary cover on other cards). I am starting to wonder whether HfP gloss over this significant detail because of some tie-up with Amex.

    • Rob says:
      4 Jan4 January 08:03

      It doesn’t exclude all pre existing conditions – there is a long list of what is ok on the website. Even then you’re covered as long as it’s not linked to that condition.

      Give me 10 years and I might have one of them and my view may change. As far as I can remember I’ve had 2 sick days in 30 years of work and both for flu.

      • JDB says:
        4 Jan4 January 08:19

        @Rob – the permitted list includes things like ingrown toenails or verrucas; it’s quite ridiculous. I too have virtually never taken a day off work for illness, but I do have high blood pressure as does 25% of the adult population. The policy also excludes those on statins which would exclude a further large % of the population. It’s a serious weakness of the policy that very ordinary but totally controllable long term conditions are excluded without the possibility of buying them out. It costs Amex (and HfP) a lot of Plat card applications. HSBC Premier allows both and Nationwide charges a nominal additional fee. It’s something Amex ought to fix.

        • Mikeact says:
          4 Jan4 January 08:23

          Absolutely, totally ridiculous….and look at the age restriction.

      • Nate says:
        4 Jan4 January 08:49

        As others have said, it’s a pretty ridiculous list. Take blood pressure for example, anything that can be linked back to that (for example stroke, cardiac) is not covered and Amex say so. It doesn’t appear consistent or competitive with other policies. It is benefit that should be flagged in a review that is of poor/limited value. While you might not personally have been sick or needed to see a doctor, it’s a pretty flippant response to what is a reasonable call out about a poor feature that is restrictive and would seemingly render the policy less valuable for a chunk of people. Given this article seems to be promoting it as a positive, I’d hope you’d at least be able to provide a more balanced view.

        • Rob says:
          4 Jan4 January 09:09

          Our average reader is a 35-year old – it’s not a concern to them. No different to the fact that 80% of our readers live in London so we don’t mark down the Harvey Nichols benefit because for most of our readers it’s just down the road and they buy luxury goods.

          • Nate says:
            4 Jan4 January 09:19

            It’s a huge assumption that a 35 yo doesn’t have a preexisting that would be excluded. In any event, the average will see readers of older and younger. The fact is it excludes a lot of preexisting and common conditions. It is just disappointing that your article talks about a pro point that insurance is available for up to a 70yo (you go so far as to even refer to your mum as having it up to 70) but neglects to say there are significant restrictions for common preexisting conditions that might render the insurance of lesser value. Someone who is looking for a policy as they get to 70 would likely have preexisting coverage as a key requirement! I’m guessing you cannot or don’t want to criticize Amex, which is fine, but it’s hardly a balanced review if you’re saying this is great you can get it to you 70 but neglect to say it might not be useful because of a significant restriction that is not consistent with the majority of policies on the market.

          • JDB says:
            4 Jan4 January 09:33

            @Rob – you absolutely don’t need to be over 35 to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or many other basic excluded conditions. For many it’s a genetic pre-disposition.

            As above, Amex is needlessly placing itself at a competitive disadvantage by excluding over a third of the adult population. Someone with a controlled/monitored condition is actually a much lower underwriting risk.

            Amex is in fact creating a vicious circle for itself – because the cardholder base is so low, Amex/underwriters apparently suffer quite bad claims experience yet the base could be so much bigger if they fixed the product.

            Amex seems to prefer to spend huge sums of money creating a SUB/retention dependency rather than spending some money addressing the shortcomings of the product.

          • Mikeact says:
            4 Jan4 January 15:34

            The Harvey Nicks benefit is hardly comparable to the Insurance offering.
            Still, it’s good to know that 80% of readers with an average age of 35yrs are probably not affected by the Insurance limitations ….shame if you’re in the 20% and over 35yrs+.

          • Vahan says:
            4 Jan4 January 16:10

            UK’s average age is 40.7 and yet health conditions are taken seriously when talking about health insurance.

        • ianM says:
          4 Jan4 January 09:32

          +1
          There should be a health warning on this insurance, unless you’re in HfP’s 35 year old target market!

      • Caps44 says:
        4 Jan4 January 09:10

        Just to add, it’s the only insurance that allows postponements, meaning you are unwell and have to move the cheap holiday you booked a year ago by a week which now costs double. Most just let you cancel and get the money back. We had to postpone our trip last year by 5 days due to our son being unwell. Incredibly useful!!!

      • dougzz99 says:
        4 Jan4 January 09:26

        Most of my sick days have been caused by insufficient holiday days available.

  • Qrfan says:
    4 Jan4 January 07:03

    I can’t see a mention here as to amex offers. My previous gold cards have had far superior number and quality of amex offers than any of my other cards, including platinum. If you keep tabs on them they can be a significant benefit. I don’t understand why amex do this considering the fee on the platinum card, but the gold card certainly has an edge here.

    • HertsSam says:
      4 Jan4 January 07:15

      My impression gained from comments on HfP is the offers are based on your spend on your card. The more you spend, the more offers you get.
      Would you agree with that statement based on your spending patterns on each card?

      • Qrfan says:
        4 Jan4 January 07:19

        No. I spend far more on the ba cards and get far fewer and worse offers. I’m not the only person to have noticed either. Friends have commented after upgrading to the platinum card, and I’m sure Rob has previously mentioned it too.

      • Rob says:
        4 Jan4 January 08:02

        No.

    • BBbetter says:
      4 Jan4 January 07:47

      Yes, the gold card receives more or sometimes better offers.
      We can only guess why. Amex might be trying to get the customer to hold the card beyond first year which is free.

    • JDB says:
      4 Jan4 January 07:52

      I agree. I get far more offers on Gold (and always the more generous variant if it is on other cards) than my own BAPP or my wife’s BAPP or her Plat which has the least/weakest.

      Much though I think the Plat is a poor card for me and seemingly most people, since they are offering the £1000 SUB I would get a Plat card (and keep it at least for two years) if they didn’t force me to trade in the Gold to get it. Yes, I could reapply for the Gold but that’s quite inconvenient.

  • chelseafifi says:
    4 Jan4 January 08:51

    Holiday insurance “ Some benefits require you to pay for your trip with an American Express card “
    Does this include Hotel deposits? Is there a summary of when you need to use an Amex and can it be any Amex?

    • Rob says:
      4 Jan4 January 09:07

      Any personal Amex in your name is OK. The insurance documentation can be downloaded from the application website.

      Serious medical coverage etc does not require Amex payment. It’s generally just little stuff like compensation if your suitcase is delayed (which Amex would refuse to pay anyway until you had legally exhausted all options with your airline).

    • JDB says:
      4 Jan4 January 09:43

      You do need to read the policy to get the correct answer for this and note the difference between the three defined terms – “card” , “card account” and “account”. They ought to make this a whole lot clearer.

      • Rob says:
        4 Jan4 January 10:06

        You should see the Business Plat policy. The 2-page summary at the front is 100% wrong (it says you need to pay with the card to get certain coverage) which is a total lie – it is cut and pasted from the personal Plat document. Unless you read the full document you wouldn’t know this.

        • JDB says:
          4 Jan4 January 10:40

          @Rob – yes, I have read both policies. They are both very badly worded, unnecessarily complicated and confusingly laid out; way behind competitors. As you say, also both IPIDs are inconsistent with the full policy terms.

          I often raise this in the hope that someone from Amex might read the comments or you might have some influence!

      • chelseafifi says:
        4 Jan4 January 14:16

        Thank you, so looking at the policy wording, I won’t be covered for accommodation that needs to be paid before the trip, unless paid for in full on an Amex, this definitely isn’t “little stuff” not covered. So for example part of my Cape Town trip next month I have 2n Safari to be paid in advance in ZAR and later in the year a family trip to Ikos which I’ve paid 1/3rd deposit in EUR. Just for these 2 part trips, using my Chase card currently gives me 1% back (c£65) V Amex 3% charge (£195). I’m going to need an additional policy now.

  • holland says:
    4 Jan4 January 08:54

    I’m still on a gold charge card. Double points on foreign spend is a significant advantage of gold over platinum for anyone travelling on expenses.

    My biggest wish with Amex is that they’d let me access foreign offers while travelling. “$100 off $400 at Bergdorf Goodman” would more than cover the fx fee. Amex told me this is only possible with a USD card.

  • Bob says:
    4 Jan4 January 09:07

    The Deliveroo credit is a myth unless you live in an area where it operates. Little prospect of any chance in my part of Somerset. I shall weigh that up at the end of my first year as to whether to renew. Rather have more PP passes and scrap Deliveroo benefit

    • Axel says:
      4 Jan4 January 10:02

      No Subways in Somerset? Ive done deliveroo selfpickups with them, for a cheap lump of carbs.

  • Callum says:
    4 Jan4 January 09:07

    Is it just me who thinks that the Gold is by far the better card for actually spending money on?

    I understand why people hold the Platinum card (if my circumstances were different I’d hold it) but the fact it’s a credit card feels like an afterthought.

    • dougzz99 says:
      4 Jan4 January 09:30

      No, it’s everyone. The Platinum card is useless for spend. The Gold is good with +1MR for forex and +1MR for airlines, and the extra MR at each £5K to £25K. The BAPP is good for BA spend and now offers BAEC TP at £15K, £20K and £25K.

  • Winston says:
    4 Jan4 January 09:39

    I am a Gold card holder, and have racked up about 40,100 points. I have been contemplating getting the Platinum, but I think I wouldn’t be eligible as my salary is not £35,000.

    • Rob says:
      4 Jan4 January 09:39

      Correct, unfortunately.

    • Jonathan says:
      4 Jan4 January 12:55

      This was highlighted by me yesterday, about BAPP’s income criteria being rather steep for one on an income that’s marginally below the threshold, it was mentioned that to the FCA, Amex need to be careful that people aren’t getting hold of a card that’s got a high income criteria compared to their income

      Particularly frustrating for us HfP readers that wouldn’t be eligible for either BAPP or Plat since they’re the only cards where you can hold an Amex then be eligible for a SUB

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