Reply To: Platinum Charge Card or Platinum Credit Card

[JDB]

As above, the principal benefit of the charge card is the additional free supplementary cards. Against that, you obviously have to pay in full each month, which most are probably doing anyway so the key negative is that you have none of the protections of a regulated agreement under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which amongst other things means you don’t have s75 protection.

Amex says that it will effectively replicate that for you (ie trust us) but they have become increasingly hawkish on s75 and in a recent FOS decision, Amex offered no such protection to a charge card holder, although the Ombudsman says his claim might have been successful had he been able to claim under s75. When these things effectively rely on Amex goodwill, beware.

Separately, looking at the many recent decisions vs Amex, it’s astonishing how many petty, totally meritless claims people make! Why not complain about not getting an offer you saved two weeks after the purchase because it wasn’t clear you need to save the offer in advance.

There’s a marginally more sensible one re a £200 airline offer (not specified, but I assume AF/KL) where the offer was for Premium/Business but the cardholder took the first leg in Y and complained on the basis of no Premium on the short haul (although silent about Business) so offer terms impossible to achieve. Mr B lost.