Recent changes to the German Platinum Card and the U.S. Platinum Card have prompted me to wonder if we’ll see anything happen on the Canadian Platinum Card this year. Just like in Canada, the card in those other markets is synonymous for offering benefits and perks rather than being a card for points earning and those other countries are seeing the benefits offered being expanded. Here in Canada we haven’t really seen that outside of having the NEXUS benefit added. So while the Platinum Card is still considered the best Ultra Premium Card in Canada perhaps it is time for it to follow in the footsteps of its namesake in other countries.
Annual credits galore
The U.S. Platinum Card from American Express was recently revamped and had annual spending credits expanded well beyond just travel. The card now has credits for Walmart, streaming services, airline fees and more. The annual fee was increased but those new credits can easily pay for that increase and more.
Likewise we now see the German Platinum Card from American Express being revamped this month with some new additional annual credits. The two new benefits are a 150 EUR annual restaurant credit and a 120 EUR annual credit for streaming services. This is on top of an annual 200 EUR credit for online travel purchases, 200 EUR annual credit to use on Sixt car rentals and a 90EUR annual online shopping credit. With the new credits that were just added the German Platinum Card monthly fee was boosted to 60 EUR from 55 EUR. That’s an additional 60 EUR per year for 270 EUR in new useful annual credits. That’s a pretty good trade off! In total the card receives 760 EUR in credits and only costs 720EUR per year! I do want to note though that the German card’s earn rate is a flat 1 point per EUR on all purchases with no accelerators like the Canadian or US cards.
If you are from Germany and reading this you can even support Rewards Canada by applying for the German Platinum Card via our global site – it has a new increased welcome bonus as well of 55,000 points from the standard 30,000 points
Dining credits have become ever more popular and are now standard on Platinum Cards in France, Germany, the UK, New Zealand, Singapore and more. Seeing how the Canadian Platinum Card is dining focused (3x points + exclusive dining events) you would think our card is due for an annual dining credit as well. Hopefully it is something we’ll see soon.
Wrapping it up
I know we had some great offers over the past couple of years for statement credits on groceries etc. on the Platinum Card but I feel the card is due for some additional standard annual credits like we are seeing in other countries! Over the past few months Amex has been sending out surveys to existing Platinum Card members with different iterations of benefits, annual fees, etc. so that may mean we’ll see the card have a revamp sooner than later – and hopefully with some meaningful annual credits like the cards from abroad have!
Click here to learn more about The Platinum Card from American Express
What you would like to see be added to the Platinum Card? How would you change it and would you be willing to pay a higher annual fee for it? Let us know in the comment section below!