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The question and answer were not wholly clear which is why I restated it. It also makes zero sense why Amex would do this.
The question and answer were very clear. Annual Fee £195 (£0 in your first year)
Like others, this year’s fee just posted on my card and last year secured 35,000 MRPs, this year it’s 10,000 for spending £1,000 in 3 months. I noted the dilution of benefits that reduce value by around £150 p.a. this year and also advised that my circumstances have changed and I expect to travel significantly more now … told no other option, but to call back when I was ready to decide.
I also asked about the possibility of spreading the fee over the year (I’m sure I read here previously that was a thing/possibility ?) but the answer was kinda “cool idea, but not an option”. Chat language suggested an offshore agent, don’t know whether to call back and try again, to try to get a UK based agent or whether this is more of consistent policy (as the retention numbers seem to be these days).
Bit of a shame really, I’d have taken the 10k plus monthly fee there and then (just started a new business so cash is king until the invoices start getting paid).
The question and answer were very clear. Annual Fee £195 (£0 in your first year)
Thought this was only for new applications.
Any new application for a Gold card, which includes downgrades and upgrades from other Amex cards.
They might as well give it to you on a downgrade, because there would be nothing to stop you closing the Plat and then applying for Gold.
I’ve probably had 5-6 free years in total.They might as well give it to you on a downgrade
They do!
Just called to see what retention offer they could give me after receiving 50000 points in June last year. That was the first retention offer I’ve ever asked for after 15 years as Plat holder. Annual spend circa £100k on the Plat and BA card. Was told no offer, would you like to cancel?! Surprisingly blunt 🤣🤣🤣
As per Smudgerman above I just called to ask for a retention offer and was given the same 1000 MRP for £1000 spent in the next 3 months.
I have been a cardmember 40 years this Month, 27 on platinum, amex is definitely getting stingy.
25K MRP for £5K spent in three months as well. I put ~2K a month through so I’ll probably go for it.
I get a feeling AMEX are pruning their membership base to only those who will pay the £650 fee. To what end, I’m not sure but with sky high interest rates, restrictive benefits for travel (no option to pay to cover pre-existing minor complaints), overseas conversion fees (they don’t do this on US cards) – they are playing an interesting game.
overseas conversion fees (they don’t do this on US cards)
It’s been mentioned many times but people don’t seem to get it – there is no fee cap in US cards, therefore not comparable.
In addition, there’s no competition here and it subsidises the cost for those who don’t spend much abroad. Otherwise just the interchange fee wouldn’t keep this product sustainable.
Which is why it’s upto the card holder to find out if they get value out of it.overseas conversion fees (they don’t do this on US cards)
It’s been mentioned many times but people don’t seem to get it – there is no fee cap in US cards, therefore not comparable.
In addition, there’s no competition here and it subsidises the cost for those who don’t spend much abroad. Otherwise just the interchange fee wouldn’t keep this product sustainable.
Which is why it’s upto the card holder to find out if they get value out of it.I’m not sure I understand this. Cards like Nationwide, Halifax, Chase Current etc provide cards with no overseas transaction fees. Some charge a small membership fee, others don’t. Amex Platinum charges £650 per year. What are these other cards doing differently within the context of your comment ‘there is no fee cap on US cards’ such that they can provide this service (on the Mastercard / VISA network) and AMEX can’t (on their own network) particularly when non-US Amex cards are used in the US (where they are widely accepted).
Unlike the US, the Platinum doesn’t have many competitors in the UK, beyond a few products available to people who earn £100k plus. They obviously feel it’s worth retaining the charge, and there is no points earning competitor for most of the population to switch to.
It’s hard to say why the 2.99% is there without more data, you would expect more overseas transactions from the savvy if it wasn’t, but would this outweigh the fees lost from those free spenders who don’t bother to do the maths and check the options or just don’t care?
@vzzbuckz – the cards to which you refer offer FX free transactions but not points and are able to do so as part of a bigger package of banking products. Their average user is very different to an Amex customer. Virgin offers some FX free and there’s Curve as well.
The bigger issue for Amex Plat is the poor MR earning rate vs the cheaper gold or BAPP cards.
You also refer to the £650 cost of the Amex Plat for which you get a raft of benefits which are actually very costly for Amex to provide although personally I don’t see any of those benefits as being very useful/valuable to the cardholder. Others disagree!
Polished off the £10k/75k SUP in about 3 months, first time Platinum card holder
Received an offer of 25k points for spending £5k in 3 months after asking
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card
Two offers today :-
Spend £3,000 in six months for 12,000 points.
or
Spend £5,000 in six months for 10,000 points.
Yes, you really did read that correctly. Spend more for less!
The wife got exactly the same offers. Not great, but we use them for the twofer vouchers.
^ Apologies, I’ve just realised my post needs deleting as it does not relate to the platinum card. Can an admin please delete? Thanks.
Yep, £5k in 3 months for 25,000 MP’s for me.
10k for £1k spend in 3 months for me just now. Nothing better available, fairly easy to hit so took it.
I got the same today, but after a lot of pushing – they seemed pretty happy for me to cancel. 10k MR points for £1k spend in 3 months.
Pointed out lounges are overcrowded in the UK, no free prebooking opportunities like last year and HN credit ending (which they denied). Will wait until 1 July and see, and spend next load of dining credit then change I think.
Just accepted the 25k MP for £5k spend in 3 months offer. If you are flexible and convert the 25k MP into Virgin Points then that’s a one way reward business class flight to India + £400 taxes. So it’s probably worth at least £400-500 if you were intending on making that trip which I am. Also if you use Virgin points for other sweet spots like NZ-OZ business rewards or ANA flights to Japan it’s worth a lot more than the £125 they quote.
Adding a data point – 10k bonus for 1k spend in 3 months.
I funnel most of my spending onto my BAPP so it does appear amex is looking at card spend for their retention offers.currybelly very distasteful
then that’s a one way reward business class flight to India
currybelly very distasteful
then that’s a one way reward business class flight to India
Oh, I see how that reads. Gosh absolutely not my intention!!
Platinum
10k bonus for 1k spend in 3 months is the offer available for me.
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