Another reason I love my AMEX Platinum Card

There is no doubt that the AMEX Platinum offers an array of invaluable benefits although does come with a price and has an annual fee of $450 so isn't for everyone. When I first got into this crazy game a year ago I was researching which card I wanted to apply for first and I ended up picking the AMEX Platinum and here are a few reasons why.

The main reason was mostly for the benefits as it doesn't have any bonus spending categories so you're just going to be earning 1 Membership Rewards point per dollar. Here are just a few benefits that the card offers:

• Airport club access (Centurion lounges, Priority Pass, Delta Sky Clubs on Delta flights)
• Hilton HHonors Gold status
• SPG Gold status
• Fee credit for TSA Precheck or Global Entry
• $200 annual airline credit (must choose one airline per year)
• Boingo American Express Preferred Plan
• Car rental privileges (Avis Preferred, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, National Car Rental Emerald Club Executive)
• Access to Fine Hotels and Resorts (more on this in a later post)
• No foreign transaction fees
• Premium roadside assistance
• PRIMARY car rental loss and damage insurance
• Purchase protection
• Extended warranty
• Baggage insurance
• Travel accident insurance

There are many more benefits not listed here and I just wanted to highlight the main ones. Another benefit that I utilize frequently and has saved me a ton of money are the AMEX offers which aren't specific for the Platinum card but that is the only AMEX card I have at this time.

These are basically like coupons that you can add to your card either via their app or through their website and provide a statement credit once you use your AMEX card for that offer. I find that the credit appears relatively quickly within a couple days of purchase and they seem to have some pretty decent offers that I actually will use.

One of their recent offers was for $100 back when you spend $500 or more on Norwegian Cruise Line. This worked out perfectly because I already had a cruise booked for next week but had to add an additional family member to my room at the last minute so used my AMEX Platinum to pay for the additional charge which just exceeded $500 so saved an easy $100. Normally I wouldn't advise using this card for travel purchases since there are many other choices such as the Sapphire Preferred that earn more points and provide better travel protection/insurance.

Bottom Line

While I love my AMEX Platinum for many reasons, one of the most frequently used benefits I find myself taking advantage of are their AMEX Offers. I have already saved tons of money on purchases I would have made anyways and most recently was able to take advantage of a $100 offer that couldn't have come at a better time. And if you have multiple AMEX cards there is a way to register for the same offer on all of them leading to even more savings. Another trick is if you have a Twitter account and an IFTTT account then you can sign up for a recipe to automatically registers you for new AMEX offers as they become available. Just a warning, I find that this doesn't always work.