Hello. I have a 10k vet bill coming up because my dog needs surgery. I think it's a good time to get a card to offset some of the expense. I could wipe out a min spend in one day.
I'm looking for suggestions. We like to spend our points on luxury travel and I am SPG gold (which will go away in February). For this reason I was eyeballing the Amex Platinum because you do get gold status in Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz Carlton. However, we don't travel all that much and the fee is $550 ! The airline credit of $200 sounds like it's hard to use as well. Can you use that for upgrading to premium seating?
So, here is what we have:
I'm 5/24, my husband is 4/24
Me:
United MPE
SPG Amex Business
SPG Amex
Chase Freedom
Chase Marriott
Chase Disney
CSP
BArclay Jetblue
BofAmerica visa I never use
Husband:
CSR
CSP
AMEX Every Day Preferred
Barclay Jetblue
SPG Amex Business
Thanks so much!
Good to see you again,
@mefordis! I'm so sorry to read about your dog. I hope he gets good care and better soon!
As you know, it helps us help you if you can include the month and date next to each card so we can get a good 5/24 count for you.
As for the Amex Platinum, as you know, it has a $5k minimum spending requirement (MSR) in 3 months. It seems with your vet bill, you may be able to take care of the MSRs on two cards. But you'll want to first make sure your vet accepts Amex.
So here are my thoughts on the Platinum. The public offer for this card is only 60,000 Membership Rewards (MR) points. Amex has higher and better 75,000 or 100,000 MR points signup offers on the Platinum for the same $5k MSR. Amex signup bonuses are once per lifetime, per card product, so if you go for the 60k MR offer on the Platinum now, you won't be able to close and churn this card again in a few years to get another bonus; and Amex does not match offers, so if you go for the 60k MR offer, that's it, you can't get Amex to match you to the higher and better 75k or 100k MR offers after you’ve been approved. Because of this,
it’s in your best interest to apply for an Amex card only if you can get the highest and best offer. There are tricks to getting targeted for the 75k or 100k MR offer on the Platinum:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/two-new-ways-access-higher-american-express-offers/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/find-increased-targeted-american-express-sign-bonuses/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/cardmatch-offering-people-100000-points-american-express-platinum/
The Platinum 100k MR offer seems to have disappeared again from Cardmatch, and I’ve only been able to pull up the 75k MR offer via incognito mode recently.
I don’t have too much time to go over all of the Platinum card’s benefits, so I’ll touch on the two you mentioned: automatic gold status and the airline fee credit.
The Platinum gives you automatic gold status at Hilton and SPG, which can be status matched to gold at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton. However, Marriott acquired SPG and last month announced plans to further merge the loyalty programs. SPG Gold achieved through the Platinum will still translate to Marriott Gold (and won’t get you bumped up to Platinum Elite under the new program), which will get you upgrades to enhanced rooms but not suites, late checkout at, I believe, 2 p.m., but no breakfast or lounge access. Basically, Gold under the new Marriott/SPG program won’t get you too much.
The $200 airline fee credit is harder to use than the CSR’s travel credit. You have to pick the airline you plan to use the credit on. Then, to qualify for the credit, the charge has to be one that Amex thinks is an airline fee; so eligible fees include: checked baggage fees, itinerary change fees, pet fees, seat assignment fees, in-flight amenities and entertainment. The benefit terms specifically exclude upgrades, so a seat upgrade may or may not work. What does work is buying gift cards on Delta (in $50 increments in different transactions), American (in $100 increments in different transactions), and Southwest (in up to $200 increments) if you’ve selected to use your credit on those airlines. You can use the gift cards to offset the cost of paid flights or sell them on a gift card exchange and get ~85% of the face value back.
The airline fee credit is a calendar year benefit. So you could use up the $200 credit this year if you get the Platinum now, and again after 1/1/19 when the benefit resets and you get another $200 credit to double dip. This is approximately $400 in value, which is a huge part of offsetting the $550 annual fee.
The card also includes $200 worth of Uber credits doled out at $15 each month and $35 in December. If you don’t use one month’s credit, they expire at the end of the month. I don’t know if you use Uber. I usually don’t, so I end up using them for UberEATs, which is a terrible value because UberEATs here charges a $4.99 booking fee and I’ll tip my driver, which eats up that $15 credit quick.
You fly out of EWR, right? If you can fly out of LGA, you can use your Platinum card to access the Centurion Lounge, which is definitely a luxurious step up from typical airport lounges, and gets you complimentary dining and drinks. There are Centurion Lounges domestically at LGA, Philadelphia, Miami, SFO, SEA, Dallas, Houston, and Las Vegas. New Centurion Lounges are set to open at JFK in early 2019, DEN in 2019, and LAX.
Keep in mind that the Platinum is a personal card that will count against the 5/24 rule, and will add another card to your count that will have to drop off if you ever want to get another Chase card under 5/24 again. Amex has a lot of business cards that you can consider that won’t add to your 5/24 count.
I want that AND the personal Plat if I can pull the 100K offer potentially. Would like to use it at the SFO in June after you made it sound so easy. Oh and yes, this is before we have Dh’s CIC and waiting on my 30 day status to change.
Dh's CIC app went from 30 days -> 2 weeks -> 7-10 days
