Morgan Stanley has sent out an e-mail to Morgan Stanley Access Investing informing them that in early 2026 this account will be closed. This seems to be affecting all account holders, even if you have $5,000+ in the account (this was a previous work around for the CashPlus accounts that were closed). Many readers have these accounts as a work around to get and keep the Morgan Stanley Platinum card.
Full e-mail as follows:
We thank you for the opportunity to serve your financial needs and are committed to keeping you informed about matters affecting your account(s) and the solutions available to you.
What you need to know:
Because you have assets invested in a Morgan Stanley Access Investing® account, we are notifying you that effective early 2026, Morgan Stanley will no longer support this product. See below alternatives that may serve your investing needs:
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If you have another Morgan Stanley relationship (e.g., brokerage, Virtual Advisor or E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley account), you may be able to transfer the assets from your Morgan Stanley Access Investing account into one of those existing accounts.
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If you wish to maintain an automated investment account, you may transfer the assets in your Access Investing account to a Core Portfolios account available on etrade.com. Please visit etrade.com/what-we-offer/our-
accounts/core-portfolios for more information about the product. -
If you do not have another existing Morgan Stanley relationship, please visit morganstanley.com/what-we-do/
wealth-management to review the available investment solutions. -
You may also transfer the assets to another financial institution or liquidate and close your Access Investing account. Tax consequences may apply.
I have the AI and CP accounts and have qualified for both the CP fee waiver and AMEX engagement bonus. They called me and offered to set up or exchange my AI into either a UMA “Pathways” account with an 0.85% AUM and $1k minimum or a self-directed AAA account with a $150 annual fee and a $25k minimum with the minimum waived for some unspecified period. The question I have–and this would be worth a followup article–is whether the Pathways account qualifies as a Morgan Stanley Investment Relationship for the purpose of getting the CP fee waiver. If so, and if the Pathways account is indeed available to the general public as has been stated elsewhere, then they have opened the door again for people to two-step their way into getting the free MS AMEX Plat.
1) Open a Pathways account with $1k (even less than the old Access program)
2) Open a CP account and mee the $25K balance and $5k deposit requirement
3) Apply for the MS AMEX Plat.
You should then be getting the CP fee waiver and the engagement bonus after a year (if not sooner–the 1-year delay was specific to Access account holders)
This seems unbelievable and I’m guessing there’s some snag somewhere.
I m not sure about the names of the products. But a rep just called me and said the same thing about eligible investment account options.
0.85% fee and assets (that is around $213/year on $25k) for advisor managed account or $150/year for self-directed account.
He said that this investment account with $25k in it, is eligible to waive the PlatCashPlus checking fee (before that it was not possible, the $25k needed to be in a worthless deposit account).
So the snag is that you have $25k tied up in Morgan Stanley just to have their Platinum card.
If you are okay with that and want to keep that Plat card anyway because as it provides value for you, then this is better than it was before. Because you get the CashPlus engagement bonus and the $25k can earn some money. Thus financial better, unless the $25k are making you more money somewhere else.
The Investment account fee is more than offset because of the getting teh Engagement bonus (money to pay the card AF).
I would be highly suspect of what the rep said re: investment account w/ $25k waiving the $55/mo Platinum CashPlus fee. Their public docs directly contradict this, if you can get it in writing then you should absolutely go for it.
Good point. I am waiting until there is more clarity on what they actually change and when it takes effect. The rep definitely was not that familiar with what has what requirement.
I actually considered closing the MS Plat at the renewal later this year. Lets see what they do with their coupon book and AF.
Things like Uber, Clear and Airline credit are mostly forced spending for me. Entertainment has some use, Lounge very little. Rest is useless to me, never was able to effectively use it the years.
Looks like the terms of the engagement bonus for Morgan Stanley Amex Platinum Engagement bonus now only requires Platinum cashplus account. See the below PDF from MS and there is no mention of requiring investment account to quality for Engagement bonus. This is my understanding. Hopefully others can confirm.
advisor.morganstanley.com/edward.roberts/documents/field/e/ed/edward-roberts/CashPlus_Accounts_Brochure.pdf
From the T&C
“Platinum CashPlus clients are eligible for the Annual Engagement Bonus (the “Bonus”) if they 1) are the Basic Card Member (primary account holder) of either the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or the Platinum Card® from International Dollar Card issued by American Express (the “Cards”); or 2) spend at least $100,000 during the calendar year across Morgan Stanley Debit Cards associated with Platinum CashPlus Accounts in their Account-Linked Group (“ALG”), (the “Debit Card Use Threshold”).
Basic Card Members who apply for, and are approved for, the Cards will be eligible to receive a Bonus of $695. Clients who qualify for the Bonus by meeting the Debit Card Use Threshold are eligible to receive the $695 Bonus, which is typically paid in January of the following calendar year.”
AFAIK, the engagement bonus only ever required having the CashPlus account and an open MS Plat. To waive the $55 monthly fee, you needed the $25K in the account along with another MS investment account. People routinely mix up the two separate topics.
For both Premier and Platinum CashPlus accounts, a Social Security direct deposit of any amount fulfills the monthly deposit criteria to avoid the monthly fee or the account fulfills the criteria below.
So this means every boomer gets a free Platinum card?
Only with Platinum CashPlus.
SS deposit only fulfills the deposit requirement, they would still be holding $25k in an account earning 0% interest. At current risk-free rates it’d be more profitable to just chuck it into a HYSA and pay the plat fee themselves.
So the free MS Platinum will be gone?
Morgan Stanley has had it with us poors
MS Says: “We thank you for the opportunity to serve your financial needs.”
MS Means: “What are you wearing? You look poor.”
Every corporation is pressured to become more profitable/efficient, without replacing the board/CEO with AI. How else do you do this?
damn, Any no fee alternatives to Access Investing account?
Literally any broker?
If you mean for the MS Platinum card.. no. I hope E*Trade accounts become eligible; they are currently eligible only for the MS BCP.
yes I mean for the MS Platinum. If there aren’t any no-fee options, then I will just cancel all my MS accounts and MS Platinum
Reading FT there have been reports that the Premier Savings account is actually a AAA brokerage account, and if you keep $25,000 in Premier Savings you won’t get the $150/mo fee for the AAA account. On top of that it’s a relatively competitive interest rate to other HYSA (currently 4%), so theoretically if you were already keeping a $25k emergency fund somewhere you could instead move it to MS and keep your relationship with MS / continue qualifying for the MS Amex Plat. Huge disclaimer though that the $25k does not count towards the Platinum CashPlus account or the engagement bonus, this strategy is only for people who want to keep their MS Platinum cards over the Vanilla Plat for the free AU and/or 1cpp cashout (that were previously doing this via grandfathered Access Investing).
But there’s some big caveats. Seems like moving money in/out of the Premier Savings can only be done by calling an advisor. And you may have trouble opening the account in the first place, as it seems it can only be opened by calling in, and advisors will probably find you a waste of time because they’re not compensated for such low accounts.
Personally this all seems like a PITA and I’m planning to wait it out and see if any other options appear. If the Platinum AF increases with no real increase in credits, it’s probably a close-out angle.
so with this Premier Savings/AAA account, you have to keep an additional $25K at Morgan Stanley on top of the $25K in the CashPlus account?
This desperately needs a datapoint but I believe you could open a Premier Savings account without having any CashPlus account whatsoever.
A small gamble you could take here – Platinum Cashplus currently requires you to hold $25k to avoid the fee and they pay no interest on it, so at current risk-free rates it’s clearly not worth it. However, after the upcoming Plat refresh increases the AF and supposing that federal interest rates lower in the coming months, it may actually become profitable.
But even with all this info you should just wait a bit and see. They haven’t even set a final closure date for 2026 and we’ll likely have some months of leeway, it’s entirely possible they update terms and allow an etrade account to qualify and it’s then a simple matter of moving your access investing account over.
Yeah I’m going to wait til the end of the year to decide. That’s when my annual fee for the Platinum card is up. But so far, it’s not looking very good for me keeping my Morgan stanley accounts.
Just an update to anyone who reads this – there are reports of phone advisors also offering moving access investments over to a “Pathways” account which to my understanding is a managed fund that has a 0.85% annual fee and a minimum investment of $1000. This is likely the best way forward for people who do not have a CashPlus account, are fine with paying the annual fee, and just wanted the MS Plat for the free AU over the vanilla platinum.
Further updates and datapoints can be found on flyertalk, just search “Morgan Stanley Amex Platinum” and go to the end of the thread.
Alex, I am one of those who applied for AAA brokerage account, after receiving the email informing me that the access investing account will terminate early next year. During my account opening, I asked the agent how I can get the fee waived for AAA. I was told that if I dont put any equities, bonds, into the account, my fees are waived. I transferred money in the account, and called back to convert it to the Premier Savings — the entire portfolio in the AAA account. I am hoping the agent is correct because nothing in their fee disclosure states any fee waiver, in the way the agent I spoke to said. In fact in the fee disclosure it states:
“The annual account fee for Active Assets Accounts (AAA) will be charged on a go-forward basis and will be charged on the following dates: (a) on or
about the 10th business day following a 90 calendar day grace period after opening your AAA, regardless of account balance; (b) for subsequent years,
if your account is funded, annual account fees will be charged on or about the 10th business day of the month after your account anniversary date. Your
annual account fee will be automatically debited from the AAA. Accounts that close prior to the end of the grace period will not be charged. A reduced
fee will be assessed to those who enroll in eDelivery – for all documents pertaining to every account within the ALG.”
Probably won’t keep the CashPlus account and MS Platinum open even if they do allow us to continue receiving an engagement bonus without opening any other MS accounts. Less to think about from an fees/accounting/tax standpoint.
Totally agree with you. Fortunately, I was just in the process of closing down these accounts as well
Unlike others, I actually really like the MS CashPlus account for its services and ease of use (in addition to the AMEX Plat), and I use it as my main account. Sucks that I’ll now be charged the monthly fee without the Access Investing account attached. Are there other cash management services recommended?
Looks lke the E*Trade Max-Rate Checking is meant to be the MS CashPlus successor – worldwide ATM/debit refunds and 3% APY, unfortunately it doesn’t help maintain an MS investing relationship nor include the annual Amex Platinum engagement bonus. us.etrade.com/bank/max-rate-checking
It’s worked fine for me as well, just no need to keep given the cost relative to other options.
If we don’t care about a free platinum then Fidelity CMA is great because it offers free checks, free wires, free ATM withdrawals and funds will be automatically liquidated from SPAXX and higher earning MMFs. Pretty easy to have funds earn 4%, 4.29% automatically with the ease of liquidation just like any checking account funds.
It doesn’t specifically mention what will happen with the engagement bonus for Platinum card, sounds like we need to figure out an alternative?
They have been systematically finding ways to shut down all the below 50k account holders. They actually closed my account because I chose to pay the $55 monthly fee over keeping funds in their no interest cash plus account as the interest I received was more than the $55 fee
Watch Active Assets be discontinued next. Family member had Employee stock plan transferred from Morgan Stanley to ETrade
*Access Direct