[Rumor – Update] American Express To Increase Personal Platinum Annual Fee & Add Benefits

Update 7/1/21: Confirmed

Update 6/30/21: See American Express Platinum Annual Fee Increases July 1 to $695, Should You Signup Now?

Update 6/13/21: Some chat representatives have mentioned the following benefits:

  • $179 Clear credit
  • $200 Travel Credit
  • $300 Equinox credit
  • Digital entertainment credit (most likely $240 as discussed below)
  • Global Dining Access by Resy (possibly with $100 temp credit as discussed below)
  • Premium Private Jet Program
  • The Global Lounge Collection
  • 5x MR on Air and prepaid hotels (up to $500,000 per calendar year)

Hat tip to reversesprawl

Update 6/11/21: Another report based on conversation with an Amex chat who referenced a $240 entertainment credit. Seems like this might be coming soon, one report suggests the changes will go live on July 1st.

Update 4/7/21: Given the recent confirmation regarding the Centurion lounge changes I feel more comfortable sharing the rest of this rumor from work4amex:

  • $695 annual fee
  • $300 equinox credit
  • $240 entertainment credit, $20 monthly (magazine/news subscriptions, video streaming services and audio/music streaming services)
  • $200 credit for prepaid hotel bookings
  • Annual CLEAR membership will replace TSA Precheck, but Global Entry seems like it’ll stay
  • $100 temp Resy credit

Original post: According to FT user ThroughTheGrapevine, American Express plans to increase the annual fee on the personal Platinum card in Q3 2021 for new accounts and existing accounts will have the current fee apply until January 2022. The fee is rumored to be increasing to $695, but it’s possible a $745 or $795 price point could apply as well. The aim is for benefits to shift from travel to lifestyle.

Earlier this year American Express sent out a survey regarding possible changes to the business card and a new annual fee of $695 so I wouldn’t be surprised if this annual fee increase does happen but I have no idea how reliable this poster is. An increased annual fee would also make it easier to introduce a new mid level card (AmEx Optio).

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Nil
Nil (@guest_1214805)
July 1, 2021 01:28

what kind of horse-shit is this? Only valid for Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, and The New York Times subs? come on

Adam
Adam (@guest_1214778)
July 1, 2021 00:54
Victor
Victor (@guest_1214491)
June 30, 2021 17:00

Oh yeah, Amex is so considerate as always, they help me decide to close them all. Thanks for nothing!!!

Ethan
Ethan (@guest_1214580)
June 30, 2021 19:07

Cry more, little bitch. Some of us find these new perks more than valuable enough to offset the increased annual fee. For those of us grandfathered in temporarily on the old $550 AF, even better.

Victor
Victor (@guest_1214419)
June 30, 2021 15:38

Looks like the Amex terms on at least one PDF now show a $695 annual fee (first noted on Reddit):

https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/en-us/company/legal/cardmember-agreements/Adhoc-July-1-2021/cps-charge/platinum-card-07-01-2021.pdf

CC Promo Offers
CC Promo Offers (@guest_1213154)
June 28, 2021 04:35

Almost July 1 shouldn’t they announce these benefits by now

Biggie881
Biggie881 (@guest_1213210)
June 28, 2021 11:00

probably will announce day of since they have ~30 days in each month to begin using the second half of 2021 revamped benefits.

David
David (@guest_1213807)
June 29, 2021 14:20

Still waiting myself… 🙂

Jack
Jack (@guest_1206637)
June 15, 2021 07:19

$10 quarterly credit for Blockbusters in Anchorage, please. I’m sure they’ll add some kind of drop ship candy or popcorn, for all us the Platinum holders, eager to push the value over $695.

Vic
Vic (@guest_1206618)
June 15, 2021 04:36

Equinox credit is truly the stupidest credit card benefit I’ve seen. I’d take $50 gym credit over $300 Equinox credit any day.

Ethan
Ethan (@guest_1214589)
June 30, 2021 19:10

Some of us (i.e., the demo that Amex is actually targeting for Platinum sign-ups) are Equinox members already. If this credit can be applied against the monthly membership dues, then it’s as good as cash to me.

Katherine215
Katherine215 (@guest_1214642)
June 30, 2021 20:32

What demo is that exactly? I live in a major city and have 4 locations no where near my house. Who would drive 30 minutes or more to go to a gym? I don’t care how rich you are, time is worth more than going to an overpriced gym. I can easily afford the membership fee, it’s just a stupid, limited benefit

H XU
H XU (@guest_1206424)
June 14, 2021 18:27

if the $200 airline incident credit is replaced by travel credit, would it reset after July 1st so we can take another $200 credit for this year?

H XU
H XU (@guest_1206278)
June 14, 2021 14:47

then new $200 travel credit would conflict with $200 airline fee credit

Grant Patten
Grant Patten (@guest_1206266)
June 14, 2021 14:24

This seems like a slap-in-the-face to Amex clients who don’t live in MAJOR metropolitan areas. Charlotte, for example:
– Has no equinox (-$300)
– Does not have Clear at the airport ($179)
– Does not have any resy restaurants north of downtown ($100)

All the value that comes with the added benefits are for people who live in NY, DC, or LA.

thxultra
thxultra (@guest_1206395)
June 14, 2021 17:21

You will still get the entertainment credit so probably still worth the fee if you can use that. The only one of these that I’m interested in is the Clear membership. I have no use for Equinox and the resy one I hear may be temporary.

Anna
Anna (@guest_1206647)
June 15, 2021 08:05

Agreed 100% with your assessment. There is one resy restaurant in driving distance for me, but it’s still 45 minutes away. The only way it will be potentially a “keeper” for me is if they keep both the airline credit and travel credit ($400) and I could use some of the entertainment credit (but all of my streaming services have currently been prepaid for at least then next 6 months). The Equinox credit I cannot use, nor does my airport use Clear. All of those are wasted benefits.

thxultra
thxultra (@guest_1206717)
June 15, 2021 10:06

The other problem with all these “perks” is they come with different hoops you have to jump through to use them. The Travel credit you can only use for certain charges, the Uber one expires every month etc. I do really like the fine hotels benefit but getting hard to justify the card just for that. I like the centurion lounges but those are also useless if I can’t even bring my spouse. I’m not going to put $75k a year on this card only to get 1x points either just to be able to bring a guest. Once again more hoops to jump through…