Contents
Introduction
American Express offers a personal & business version of it’s popular Platinum cards (and variations/flavors of the personal card). The public sign up bonuses on both cards are lackluster:
- Personal card: 60,000 points after $5,000 in spend
- Business card: 50,000 points after $10,000 in spend and an extra 25,000 points after an additional$10,000 in spend
Given that you’re only allowed to get the sign up bonus on these cards once per lifetime it’s important to make sure you get the best sign up bonus possible. It’s actually possible to get sign up bonuses of 100,000 on both cards. Let’s see how!
How To Get The Higher Offers
Rather than rehashing the information, I’ll instead link you to our two posts describing how to get these offers.
- Personal card (this comment has also helped lots of people). Bonus is 100,000 points after $5,000 in spend
- Business card (this is a super old method but you can see by the comments that it’s still working). Bonus is 100,000 points after $10,000 in spend
Card Details
Personal Card
- Annual fee of $550 is not waived the first year
- Authorized Platinum cards are $175 for three user (then $175 per Platinum)
- Authorized Gold cards are free
- Full details here
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x points per $1 spent on purchases made with airlines or with American Express Travel
- 5x points per $1 spent on hotel bookings made directly from the American Express travel website
- 1x points on all other purchases
- $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year
- $200 Uber credit ($15 per month and additional $20 in December)
- Lounge access:
- Centurion lounge access
- International American Express lounge access
- Delta SkyClub lounge access
- Priority pass select membership
- Airspace lounge access
- Internet Access:
- Unlimited Boingo internet access
- SPG gold status (this will also give you Marriott Gold status)
- Hilton gold status
- Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓
- No foreign transaction fees
- View these other hidden benefits
- You can only get the sign up bonus on American Express cards once per lifetime.
Business Card
- Annual fee of $450 is not waived the first year
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 5x points per $1 spent on purchases made with airlines or hotels booked directly from AmericanExpress Travel website
- 1.5x points on qualifying purchases of $5,000 or more
- 1x points on all other purchases
- $200 airline incidental credit per calendar year
- Lounge access:
- Centurion lounge access
- International American Express lounge access
- Delta SkyClub lounge access
- Priority pass select membership
- Airspace lounge access
- Internet Access:
- Unlimited Boingo internet access
- SPG gold status (this will also give you Marriott Gold status)
- Hilton gold status
- 35% Airline Bonus when using Pay With Points to book eligible flights
- Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓
- 10 complimentary in flight Gogo passes
- No foreign transaction fees
- View these other hidden benefits
Our Verdict
Both cards come with a large annual fee and for a lot of people even with the $200 in airline credits (based on a calendar year so you could get it in 2017 and 2018 and only pay one annual fee) and Uber credits (personal only) paying that fee doesn’t make sense. Keep in mind the card does come with some significant benefits and I do value the lounge access, but how much you value that is really dependent on how much you travel, where you travel and what your home airport is.
In terms of the actual sign up bonuses 100,000 after $3,000 in spend on the personal (this was a leaked link and lead to accounts being frozen) and 100,000 for the business card (50,000 after $5,000 in spend and 50,000 after an additional $10,000 in spend). There has also been targeted offers of up to 150,000 on the personal and 250,000 on the business cards.
Personally I think these 100,000 offers are as good as it gets for the vast majority of readers and if you’re interested and can get either offer to work for you then they are seriously worth considering. The value of the card is significantly diluted if you hold both at the same time, so I’d just pick one and then get the other after you’ve cancelled the first (assuming there is still a good deal available).
As always if you have questions about American Express cards, you’d do well to read this post first as it likely answers those questions.
