How Much Is Amex Annual Fee

Canadian Platinum Lounge Benefit

On top of the 100,000 Membership Rewards points you can earn with your Amex Platinum Card , you also receive a Priority Pass Prestige membership, which holds a value of $429 USD per year. Priority Pass gains you access to 1,200+ airport lounges around the world without paying a dime.

Every Priority Pass lounge offers free food , free drinks , and many also offer additional complimentary amenities like nap rooms, showers, libraries, printers, and games rooms.

My Priority Pass is definitely the American Express Platinum benefit I use the most, and its completely changed the way that I travel. These days, I really cant imagine flying without stopping into an airport lounge first.

Here are some of the places you can use your Canadian Platinum lounge benefit in Canada:

The 24-hour SkyTeam Lounge in Vancouver :

The National Bank Lounge in Montreal :

Toronto has a whopping seven Priority Pass loungesplus the American Express Lounge at Pearsonand youll be able to access all of them for free.

With the Platinum Card, youre stepping up your travel game in a big way.

Is The Amex Platinum Card Right For You

Rideshare users

If you regularly use Uber, Lyft or other rideshare services, the Amex Platinum card may be an ideal premium credit card. As mentioned, you can not only enjoy VIP status, but you’ll also earn up to $200 in annual Uber credits which are redeemable for rides and eats. Assuming an average ride cost of $10, the reward translates to up to 20 free rides each year.

Frequent flyers

Do you travel frequently every year? If you select a qualifying airline, you can receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when you charge fees for your checked bag and more to your Platinum Card® Account.

The American Express benefits for renting cars also come in handy when traveling around the world, while its Premium Global Assist Hotline can help travelers get the medical, legal, or baggage assistance they need.

Loyal Marriott and Hilton customers

Frequent travelers that choose to stay at Marriott or Hilton establishments can gain significantly with the Amex Platinum card. As a Platinum Card Member you are eligible to enroll in complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status.

Gold Status makes it easier and less expensive to get upgrades, welcome gifts, late check-out, early check-in, complimentary breakfast, free Wi-Fi and other hotel perks. It is an entirely free benefit of the Amex Platinum, while it can offer hundreds of dollars in value to individuals who often stay at Marriott or Hilton hotels.

Over the limit for Chase?

Gold Vs Platinum Amex Card: An Overview

Lets face it, theres a secret pleasure attached to American Express precious metal cards, whether Gold or Platinum. Whether it’s from decades of tv brand advertising or simply because you know your boss carries one, you have decided to join the club because membership has its privileges. You can imagine your restaurant server or local merchant taking notice when you hand over the iconic card brand with the metallic sheen. Perhaps the status buzz comes from the cards being charge rather than credit, which means the bill is paid off in full at the end of the month. The subtle message it conveys is: I can afford to spend freely on everything I want and need and not go into long-term debt to pay for it.

But when it comes time to choose a premium Amex card, how do the gold and platinum cards compare? The American Express Gold card carries a $250 annual fee while the Platinum card has an eye-popping $550 annual fee, as of June 2020.

Over 10 years of use, the Platinum will cost you an additional $5,500, and a side-by-side comparison confirms that the Platinum card is basically a Gold card with some attractive add-ons. As a result, it’s best to make your decision based on whether you will value and use the additional features year in and year out. If so, the Platinum card may well be worth the higher annual fee.

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The Biggest Bonus Ever

One big reason travelers give this card a hard look and justify the Amex Platinum annual fee is because of a massive welcome bonus. Keeping the card for the long haul is one thing, but the welcome offer alone can be enough to justify opening the card for at least one year.

And now could be the best time to apply in years if youre looking to stash up points, as the Amex Platinum Card is offering its biggest welcome bonuses ever.

You may be eligible for up to a 150,000-point welcome bonusafter spending $6,000 within six months. That massive bonus is available via the CardMatch tool, and its highly targeted. Otherwise, you can get at least a 100,000-point welcome bonus for spending $6,000 within the first six months.

Thrifty Tip: Not getting a bigger offer through CardMatch? You can get a 125,000-point bonus by applying for the Platinum Card through Resy!

That is unbeatable. And its a big part of the reason why many travelers justify the $695 Amex Platinum annual fee. At least in the first year.

But theres much more to consider than just a big bonus with this card especially once youve already earned those points. So lets dive into some benefits and buckle up, because there are a lot of them

Cancel Your Credit Card

If youâre juggling multiple credit cards with annual fees or youâre looking to switch to another credit card provider, another course of action to consider is cancelling your card altogether. While cancelling your credit card can result in a temporary ding to your credit score, it can have a positive impact on your finances in the long-term.

Before closing a card though, youâll want to make sure of a few things.

First, if itâs a rewards credit card, ensure you donât lose out on any points or cash back youâve accumulated on the card and aim to redeem them before shutting down your account. Second, donât close your account until youâve completely cleared off your balance. Closing a credit card with a balance doesnât magically make what you owe disappear, and you could get stuck owing more interest and hurting your credit score. If you canât quite clear off your balance but still want to close your card, you could consider setting up a balance transfer to move what you owe to another credit card that you plan on keeping.

Finally, youâll want to cancel any recurring bills charged to your card â so review your statements carefully to spot automatic payments that you might have forgotten about.

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Earn 5x Points Per Dollar On Airfare

So long as you book directly with the airline or through the American Express travel portal at amextravel.com, youll earn 5x points for every dollar you spend.

Buy a $200 ticket? Thats another 1,000 Amex points straight to your account. Its an unbeatable return, and theres no cap on how many points you can earn at the 5x rate. This is why we say its the best card for booking airfare.

Global Lounge Collection Access

If you’re a frequent traveler, you’d be wise to take advantage of all of the lounge benefits that come with the card. Cardholders get access to several different lounge programs, including:

• Priority Pass lounges. Enrollment required.

On its own, the Priority Pass membership starts at $299 and goes up to $429 . That doesn’t even include the additional value you can get from the access to the card’s other lounge network partners. Terms apply.

Your value here will vary depending on how much and where you travel.

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Amex Gold Card Highlights

• Welcome offer: 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases within six months of card membership
• Rewards rate: 4X points on restaurants, Uber Eats and U.S. supermarket purchases 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines or via American Express Travel 2X points on rental cars booked through American Express Travel 1X points on all other purchases
• Annual fee: $250
• Regular APR: 16.74 percent to 23.74 percent

How Much Is The Citi Premiermiles Cards Annual Fee

The Citi PremierMiles Card has an annual fee of S$192.60 for the principal cardholder, and no fee for supplementary cards. The first years fee is waived for the principal cardholder, and there is a perpetual waiver for all supplementary cards.

Paying the annual fee gets you 10,000 miles in return, which means buying miles at ~1.93 cents each. Depending on how much you value a mile, the card could potentially pay for itself. That said, its certainly possible to buy miles at a lower threshold, as well see below.

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Annual Credit Card Fee What Is It And 5 Ways To Avoid It

If youâre shopping for a rewards credit card , odds are youâre familiar with what an annual fee is and have put considerable thought into how to avoid paying it.

In the list of potential fees credit card holders have to account for â from interest to balance transfer fees â an annual fee is arguably the most straight forward and is defined as an automated bill that is charged every year in exchange for possessing a card. Annual fees are not universal to all cards and tend to accompany cards that offer premium rewards or perks.

Below, we run through some basics about annual credit card fees and offer five strategies to help you get out of paying this fee on your card.

Can You Add Authorized Users To The Amex Platinum Card

If you want your authorized users to receive select card benefits, including airport lounge access, a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit, and hotel/rental car elite status, you can add up to three Platinum authorized users at a cost of $175 total. Any additional authorized users after that cost $175 each .

Read more: There are actually 2 personal Amex Gold cards but only one of them offers bonus rewards on dining

However, if you don’t need these benefits for your additional cardholders, you can add up to 99 Gold authorized users at no cost. Authorized user Gold cards are not the same as the standalone Amex Gold Card in addition, these cardholders will not receive airport lounge access or elite status, but they are eligible for their own TSA PreCheck or Global Entry application fee credit.

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Amex Platinum Travel Insurance

The Platinum Card also comes with an impressive American Express travel insurance policy. Heres what the policy includes:

Every American Express card also comes with two other insurance benefits:

Fraud protection, global emergency card replacement and 24/7 express customer service are included with every American Express card, too.

Open An Amex Membership Rewards Card With No Annual Fee First

If avoiding an annual fee altogether is your goal, a couple of Amex Membership Rewards cards have no annual fee:

• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
• Amex EveryDay® Credit Card

You could first open one of these cards to preserve your Amex Membership Rewards points, then cancel the annual fee card youre looking to get rid of. Double check to make sure the new card is linked to the same Membership Rewards account before you cancel.

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$200 Annual Uber Credit

With this card, you get up to $200 in credits toward Uber rides split up across all 12 months of the year. You get up to $15 every month except for December, when you get up to $35 to round out the year. Its a use-it-or-lose-it benefit, so make sure to use them up each month!

During the pandemic, I wasnt Ubering often so I treated myself to Uber Eats instead. It was a great way to get takeout from my favorite local restaurants! Now, Im using this credit to Uber to the airport. Is takeout and rides to the airport this something I would be spending money on anyway? Most likely.

Its fairly easy to chalk this benefit up to $200 in savings if not a bit more, depending on how much youre using Uber Eats.

American Expresss Cardholder Revenue

One of the main reasons the entire business model stays viable is that American Express has tens of millions of cardholders who dont understand how it works, demonstrating this by failing to pay their bills on time. As with all credit cards, outstanding balances tend to generate massive interest and late fees, which spells larger revenues for the issuing company. We wont explain the basics of how credit cards work right here, but the late payers make it easy for the rest of us to ride free. With 68.9 million American Express cardholders charging about $870.7 billion in 2020, thats a lot of revolving credit.

Theres more to American Express strategy than just collecting interest from tardy customers. For one thing, the company is unusual among credit card issuers in that it charges cardholders just for the privilege of possessing many of its cards. Annual fees can reach up to $550 for American Express publicly available cards and $5,000 for its legendary, but very real, invitation-only Centurion card, which also has a one-time initiation fee of $10,000. The company does offer several free co-branded and entry-level cards.

American Express also generates revenue from other fees, including member delinquency fees and foreign currency conversions.

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Which Amex Platinum Benefits Require Activation

Not all Platinum Card benefits are automatic several require you to activate or enroll before you can start using them. These include:

• Choosing an airline for the annual incidental fee credit
• Adding your card to your Uber account to receive your monthly Uber Cash
• Enrolling for the Saks credit
• Registering for Marriott and Hilton Gold status and rental car elite status
• Enrolling for the digital entertainment credit
• Signing up for Equinox through Amex

Does The Amex Platinum Have A Limit

No, the American Express Platinum Card does not a preset credit limit, though that doesnt mean cardholders are granted unlimited purchasing powerit simply means that every cardholder has a different limit. You can find the credit limit on your Platinum Card from within your American Express account.

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Best Travel Rewards Amex

American Express is generally one of the best credit card processors for travellers, and the most globetrotter-friendly card they offer might be the Scotiabank Gold American Express® card. It helps cardholders earn points quickly on their most common expenses, and then enjoy them on future adventures. Youll receive 5X Scene+ points for every $1 CAD spent on eligible groceries, dining, and entertainment 3X Scene+ points for every $1 CAD you spend at eligible gas stations, on daily transit, and on streaming services then 1 point per $1 on everything else. The points can be spent with superior flexibility.

For a limited time, New Cardholders can earn up to 45,000 bonus Scene+ points in your first year . Terms and conditions apply.

There are few other Canadian credit cards that offer the same level of travel benefits for this price point$120 per yearas the card includes access to airport lounges worldwide, and a solid travel insurance package. If you dont want to bend to the stricter limitations on point redemption and travel choices that define other cards, you should give the Scotiabank Gold American Express® card a close look.

Main Features

You can learn more about the card by reading our complete Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card Review.

$179 Annual Credit For Clear

As of July 2021, Platinum cardholders now get a $179 annual credit for CLEAR, the privately run security program that allows you to cut to the front of the security line at a growing number of U.S. airports for domestic travel.

Its the first credit card that will cover the entire cost of CLEAR. Just pay for your membership with your Platinum Card and the credit should kick in automatically.

You can easily lower the cost of CLEAR to just $119 by being a Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus member or down to $109 with airline status or a co-branded credit card. That leaves some extra money on the table with this new credit and you can put it to good use through CLEARs Family Plan.

CLEAR allows members to add adults to their accounts for just another $60 per year. If you sign up at $119 or $109 a year, you can use this new credit to sign up yourself and a spouse, friend, or family member for nothing additional out of pocket. And considering children under 18 can accompany you through the CLEAR lane for free, this credit is enough to get a full family CLEAR access.

Read our guide to maximizing the new CLEAR credit on the Amex Platinum Card!

I already have TSA PreCheck so hadnt purchased CLEAR previously, so Im excited to give it a try.

But would I have purchased this nearly $200-per-year membership when I already have PreCheck without this card? Probably not. So to me, its not worth that full dollar amount.

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$200 Airline Fee Credit

Select one airline from a list of choices at the beginning of the year and get $200 back in the form of statement credits for eligible purchases with that airline. The credit is not activated for tickets or upgrades, and is best used for baggage fees, seat selection fees or in-flight food and beverage purchases. Terms apply.