American Express released details today of some upcoming changes to The Platinum Card from American Express and the The Business Platinum Card from American Express. These changes encompass annual fees, earn rates, benefits and insurance coverage. The majority of these changes will take effect on September 26, 2023.
Annual Fee Increases on both cards
Both the consumer and business Platinum Cards will see their annual fee jump up to $799 annually from the current $699 and $399 respectively. This is a $100 increase for the consumer card and a significant $300 increase for the business version.
Both cards will see additional (supplementary cards) fees increase to $250 for Platinum versions. The additional Gold card option will see the fee drop from $50 to $0 for the first two cards on the consumer version and any cards after that will be $50 annually. The Business Platinum can have up to 99 additional Gold Cards, all with no annual fee.
Dining Earn Rate change on consumer Platinum
The consumer Platinum card will see its accelerated earn rate of 3 points per dollar spent on dining drop down to 2 points per dollar. The other earn rates of 2 points per dollar on travel and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases remain the same.
The new dining earn rate will begin on September 26 for new cardmembers as of August 15 and October 26 for existing cardmembers (or those who applied prior to August 15)
The Business Platinum’s 1.25 points per dollar on all spend remains the same.
New benefits
The consumer Platinum card will have an annual $200 dining credit added to its roster of benefits. Here are the details as posted on Amex’s website:
Effective September 26, 2023, Basic Platinum Cardmembers will have access to the $200 CAD Annual Dining Credit. Enrolled Cardmembers will be eligible to receive a statement credit of $200 CAD following a single transaction of $200 CAD or more (including taxes and gratuity) at one of the eligible restaurants listed on our website at go.amex/diningcreditrestaurants at the time of the transaction. Credit is available only once per redemption period. Participating restaurants are subject to change. Spend must be in one transaction. A one-time enrolment is required for the $200 Annual Dining Credit through Amex Offers and Cardmembers will automatically be enrolled for future redemption periods and do not need to re-enroll. Each calendar year is a separate redemption period. In 2023, however, the redemption period will be from September 26, 2023 until December 31, 2023.
The business Platinum card will receive the annual $200 travel credit and once per four years $100 NEXUS credit that is currently seen on the consumer card. It will also receive an annual $120 wireless credit that is broken down as $10/month.
Amex has provided us with further detail on the wireless credit:
- Starting October 1st, Business Platinum Cardmembers can enroll and earn up to $120 in statement credits each year for wireless services charged to their Card. They can spend $10 each month with eligible wireless service providers and get a $10 credit, up to 12 times in a 12-month period, up to a maximum of $120 CAD.
There is also mention of additional member value to which I don’t have the details yet. Amex states up to $200 additional value for the consumer Platinum Card and up to $500 in additional value for the Business Platinum. I will see if I can find out what this ‘additional value’ is.
We received an update from American Express on the additional value:
- Platinum Cardmembers can earn up to $200 or more in additional value with participating partners like Disney+, Holt Renfrew and Lululemon, among others. (I have reached out to them again to clarify as these seem like the current Amex Offers offers)
- August 17 Update: Amex has provided Rewards Canada with clarification on the Platinum Card member extras. These will show up in the Amex Offers platform like the current offers from Disney+, Holt Renfrew and Lululemon but they are and/or will be unique to the Platinum Card. These are/will be available to all Platinum cardmembers and won’t be targeted like many of the general Amex Offers. Amex told me they will “always be committing to at least $200 of value from Member Extras that everyone on the Card will get – it may just be that the merchants change from year to year.”
- Business Platinum Cardmembers can earn up to $500 in annual statement credits with Dell ($200) and Indeed ($300)
All other benefits on both cards will remain the same.
New insurance coverage for Business Platinum
The Business Platinum card will receive Mobile Device Insurance coverage when the changes kick in on September 26, 2023. All other insurance coverage on both cards will remain the same.
Wrapping it up
American Express has released details of upcoming changes to The Platinum Card from American Express and the The Business Platinum Card from American Express. I will be reaching out to Amex to see if we can get more information on some of the items but overall seeing these I’m not too sure what to think about them. The Business Platinum is definitely better with all the additional credits it receives now (that matches the consumer card) but it also sees a big jump in the annual fee. The Platinum Card’s fee jump I’m not too fond of considering the drop in dining earn rate and only the addition of a potentially limited dining credit. It’s early and I’ll come back to this post (or make another post) with more thoughts and details once I have had some more time to consider these changes!
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