300,000 Membership Reward Points (worth $1500)
$450 travel credit
$500 cash back
Total benefits: $1000
New card member only, min income $100k
To apply for The Platinum Card you need to:
Have an annual income of $100,000 or more
Have no history of bad debt or payment default
Be aged 18 years or over
Be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or hold a long term visa
Referrer: 40,000 Reward Points
Referee gets 200,000 MR points. Referrer gets 150,000 MR points.
Usually it's good if you travel a lot for work etc. but -$1450 annual fee doesn't justify the offers and perks they have right now. For example: AMEX lounge is still closed at SYD & Melb airport. I have had this and explorer before but I've closed it.
It hurts more when you compare it to the USA equivalent… the Aus AMEX Platinum is just a faint shadow of that variant. For $695 annual fee you get:
Easy to use
Use when travelling
Other more specific credits
Whereas the $1,450 p.a. fee Aussie variant gets $450 travel credit (barely more than the $400 you get on the $400 p.a. AMEX Explorer) and a small handful of very specific perks that only benefit you when spending more money than most people would (e.g. Fine Hotels program, Hotel Elite status, savings on First & Business class).
300k points makes it free first year pretty much
I agree with you as an ongoing proposition however
I agree that the US card does offer better value for a long term holder however you did neglect to mention that the Australian equivalent does offer for example,
The retail value of these perks alone is well over $1000.
And perhaps most importantly you also missed that $695USD is approx $960 AUD which is actually $10 MORE than this card after taking the cashback into account….
It’s only worth $1000 for those prepared to pay that amount. Most OzB are not travelling and wouldn’t get much use from lounge access, much less be prepared to part with hard earned for it. The free Accor night though is pretty decent. If you can snare the Sofitel in Darling Harbour this will save you upwards of $400.
@Lunarboogie: Why the assumption that people are not travelling? I just took 4 flights and all were completely packed as were the airports.
I agree if you are not planning any travel in the next 12 months then don't apply for this Premium card which is primarily aimed at people who travel.
I think it's pretty much the best offer you can get on a Platinum…
Basically paying $950 for the benefits and bonus points (I will personally most likely cancel after a year)
So 950 - 450 travel credit brings it down to $500
Then $500 takeaway a free hotel stay due to the Accor Plus (these hotels can actually be valued at over $500 a night)
Then other various benefits such as free lounge access (Virgin and Priority Pass), Amex cashbacks, Some amazing hotel stay perks and top of the line insurances….
Then you still have 300k reward points which you can use to fly you anywhere in the world business class (or even first class) on all sorts of airlines at an extremely minimal cost. You are not locked into Qantas or Velocity Points like most over cards and that flexibility is priceless when trying to book Premium Cabin Reward Flights.
The way I look at it is that if a $200 business/first class ticket to Europe deal appeared on Ozbargain everyone would be all over it - this card gives you that plus more.
Cant afford annual fee
I think that's the point. The annual fee is difficult to stomach unless you're a big spender.
I suppose you can't apply for this then downgrade to the Platinum Edge can you?
Yeah, it's good if you qualify but this is a charge card, not credit card.
If there's a practical difference (i.e. if you carry a balance and don't pay your credit card in full) you're doing it wrong.
Can you add a supp card that duplicates primary card benefits?
Namely the priority pass..
Yes they offered for me to add an additional card holder and the companion card gets a priority pass too
Be aware that the free companion card the Platinum Reserve only gets the Basic Priority Pass Card Membership which gives 2 complimentary airport lounge visits each year.
Yes, you can nominate one additional cardholder then gets unlimited priority pass of their own
If anyone is interested in the math for gift cards:
$1,050 of profit after meeting spend requirements
+ $1,550 Coles gift cards
+ $450 travel credit extra bonus
+ $500 credit extra bonus
- $1,450 annual fee
$1,000 x 1, $500 x 1, $50 x 1 in Coles gift cards, $1,550 total, with 1,250 points remaining.
Singapore Airlines - 150k miles
Even more when we consider business class return flights with singapore is $3,000+ or 128k miles.
124k miles.
*maths
Thanks op
Looks like the same deal with a referral link, and assume the referrer gets something as well.
Great card despite the big annual fee, especially now travel is coming back. This deal is about as good as it gets for the Platinum - if anyone is interested in a further reduced annual fee send me a PM.
Further reduced than this deal?
This is a great card for first year. After 1 year, it is crap. You would have to justify $1,450 in annual fee ($450 in travel credit).
There are few things that bug me:
Amex Lifestyle hotline has long wait time. I can't book a restaurant for AMEX Platinum seats without waiting 30mins on phone line.
Fine Hotel & Resort selection is very limited in Australia.
Travel benefit: most of them are closed so can't use them
Hotel Reward Status: It is okay. Not great. You mainly use free reward night with Accor Plus and discount on foods. Maybe some nights with Marriot and Hilton for free upgrade.
Car: Too expensive compared to other SIXT and Alamos.
Others benefits are okay
Totally agree that the current bonuses/discount make it fantastic but after 1 year it doesn't really offer the same value….
Part of the reason I chose this card is because of the fact that with 18 months wait between AMEX's (which seems like about 18 years for a card churner!) I might as well get the best one available!\
The service from AMEX also blows the other banks out of the water…..
e.g. AMEX card instantly approved and shows up a day later via courier.
Just adding my two cents here. In general its very hard to justify the annual fee of this card. For my partner and I it ended up working out since I travel for business quite often and AmEx not only allows business charges on their credit/charge cards, but they also offer what's called an "Additional Card" (a card under your same name but with A/C at the end and different numbers) which allows me to easily distinguish between personal and business expenses.
All in all, yes $1450 is hard to stomach but for us it means we have just one card for all our personal and business expenses and they all earn at one of the highest point rates available in Australia.
Hope it helps someone.
Cheers
Dam. Signed up last week to the 250k offer lol. Always the way.
I can't see a reference to the 18 month gap on this card, anyone know if this is separate to normal amex credit cards?
I can only see 250k with that link, am i missing anything?
Also how is this appears in your credit score since there is no limit?
Try using incognito mode
The annual fee is definitely hard to justify on an ongoing basis but I would have thought that everyone here cancel/churn their cards either when the sign up benefits are received or after 11 months? The most important thing is the current net benefits, and then, if you spend enough, you might look at the earn rates.
Looks like it has reverted back to 250k for today.
I'm still seeing 300k.
Use incognito
I did. It was 300k for me yesterday, if anything. Used a different computer and a different internet connection and incognito and it’s still back to 250k. May be it’s just me…
Weird. I didn't use incognito, just clicked into the link above and it still says 300 for me.
Bargainers who know amex, is this a good offer?