• long running

AmEx Platinum Charge: 275,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Pts via Referral, $450 Travel Credit, $5000 Spend, $1450 Annual Fee @AmEx

1180

Mod: Random referral links with 275,000 points

Seems like this top tier AMEX card has further increase bonus point if joining via referral link

This converts to 135k frequent flyer points with most airline partners incl Qantas and Virgin.

A few pro-tip and personal experience using this card:

  • Each primary card can apply max 4 additional cards, all 5 cards can bring up to 2 guests to airport lounge, so potentially 15 people getting into airport lounge with just 1 card (eg. AMEX centurion lounge, Plaza Premium lounge etc.)
  • $200 Local and $200 Global dinning credit is per calendar year, meaning with a 12 months card period you could spend up to $800 dining credits over 2 years
  • If your accor plus membership is renewed just before you cancel the card, your accor plus membership will remain active until the next membership renewal
  • This is a charge card, not a credit card (you have to pay the full balance in each statement period). Thus, it not count towards your credit limit or affect apply other loans or credit cards.

This card delivers many lifestyle and travel benefits, including:

  • a $450 Travel Credit each year
  • complimentary Accor Plus membership valued at $395 p.a.
  • up to $400 back each calendar year until 31 Dec 2024 when you dine at a curated collection of over 1,400 restaurants
  • up to $84 cashback on Amazon Prime membership
  • elite status with major hotel loyalty programs including Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and others
  • access to the American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts program, which provides complimentary benefits at over 1,300 five-star properties worldwide valued at an average of $800 for a two-night stay
  • earn 2.25 Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on everyday purchases
  • transfer points to 10 airline partners, including both Qantas and Virgin Australia
  • access to over 1,400 airport lounges in more than 140 countries, including Virgin Australia lounges, American Express lounges, Priority Pass, Plaza Premium and more
    top-notch travel insurance cover
  • The Australian and Wall Street Journal digital subscriptions
  • smartphone screen insurance, with up to $500 available twice a year for screen repairs (with a 10% excess)
  • up to 4 free Additional Cards for family members - they can enjoy some the card benefits in their own right, like elite hotel status, travel insurance, and one Priority Pass membership.

Annual fee: $1,450

To be eligible for the bonus points, you must not have held a card issued by Amex Australia in the last 18 months.

Referral Links

Business Explorer Card: random (1)

Referrer: 40,000 Reward Points

Centurion Personal Charge Card: random (7)

Referee gets 200,000 MR points. Referrer gets 150,000 MR points.

Related Stores

American Express
American Express

Comments

  • +1

    It is 275000 a while but yes it is still great if anyone want to join.

  • -3

    Anyone know if you can get the bonus points if you already hold an AMEX credit card? I know for other AMEX CCs it is a no but wondering if charge card is any different?

    • I believe the rule is the same, to be eligible for the welcome bonus you cant hold any AMEX card in the past 18 months :(

      • -1

        Damm..Cancelled an amex card last year in june. So will have to pass.

  • Will this stack with the 20,000 bonus Qantas points offer?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/829318

    If you were to transfer the bonus points to Qantas?

  • what's the minimum income for this card?

    • +1

      It used to be 100k but seems like they have removed the hurdle

      • will 80k get me past the hurdle?

        i'm locum, lenders usually want 6mths payslip. my current set of 6mths payslip will average out to 80k…

        • +1

          I have a friend earn around 70k and got approved
          seems the current approval process is very easy and straight forward

          • +2

            @littlesoldier: impressive. thank you for the info.

            i'll reply once i discuss with my mortgage broker on wednesday..

  • MR point to Qantas not 1:1?

    • +15

      its 2:1 (but you earn 2.25MR per $1 spend)

      Here are the current conversion rate

      Air New Zealand
      200 Membership Rewards points = 1 Airpoints Dollar™

      Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Asia Mile

      Emirates Emirates Skywards
      3 Membership Rewards points = 1 Skywards mile

      Etihad Airways Etihad Guest
      2 Membership Reward points = 1 Etihad Guest mile

      Hawaiian Airlines
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 HawaiianMiles

      Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airlines
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Enrich mile

      Qantas Point
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Qantas point

      Qatar Airways Privilege Club
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Avios

      Singapore KrisFlyer
      3 Membership Rewards points = 1 KrisFlyer mile

      Thai Royal Orchid Plus
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Royal Orchid Plus mile

      Velocity Velocity
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Velocity Point

      Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Virgin point

      Hilton Honors
      2 Membership Rewards points = 1 Honors point

      Marriott Bonvoy®
      3 Membership Rewards points = 2 Marriott Points

      • You are the best!

      • +1

        for such a high annual fee and those conversion rates - churning other cards is more cost effective / or easier to get approval to get those cards

        The redemption rates are pretty much samey samey to those of westpac/anz/nab/citi rewards

        • I guess the only benefit of MR is to convert to non Qantas or Velocity FF program. People usually find it hard to get reward seat on Qantas/Velocity.

          I generally find it is too expensive to justify.

      • Can you convert Amex MR to Accor Live Limitless points ?

      • Ahoy.. amex website says 1:1 for etihad guest miles.

        Amex to quantas also says 1:1.

        Am i missing something or has changed?

        https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/rewards/membership-rew…

  • Can salary sacrifice Amex membership fee?

    • Salary sacrifice means it will need to be deducted via pretax ie your employer.

      • i'm presuming you are working for a hospital / aged care / non-profit.

        i think you can upload your entire cc statement and claim against the living expenses ($9010 or $15900) component of salary packaging.. i dont recall having a separate category for cc annual fees in salary packaging.. check with your salpack provider?

  • -1

    This is targeted at best
    It’s such a minuscule amount of people that have the 275k referral offer.

    • Yeah people need to be aware that it's targeted - so cycling through the links is required.

      Not sure how it works though, my wife's referral is 275k, but I just checked mine and it's only 200k.

    • -1

      You don't need a referral. I was looking at this on Friday and had a direct link with 275k. Actually commented here

    • -1

      Yep, it's still targeted. can help if anyone needs

    • Over two dozen referral links here on OzBargin with the 275,000 bonus points offer - really easy to get as long as you select the right referral link..!

      • can save you time

  • +3

    Isn’t anyone worried about the $1450 annual fee? Ie the points isn’t worth it for this high annual fee?

    • +3

      This isnt one you get the bonus and cancel, only worthwhile if you keep it all year and take advantage of the benefits.

    • +1

      If you actually use all the benefits the card gives you, it's close to breaking even, and amex plat is basically the highest earning card for the average person.

    • +3

      Yeah. IMO the appeal of this deal for the Platinum card at this moment in time is diminished with the current AMEX parallel offers including:

      • The 100k Velocity Points with the AMEX Velocity Platinum, and
      • The 100-140k QFF Points with the AMEX Qantas Ultimate (bundling a 120k QFF + 20k first time Qantas promotion).

      That being said, the benefits can theoretically be made back despite the high Annual Fee if one has high AMEX spend for flexible MR, or if someone can make the most of the travel benefits.

    • +7

      For me I applied this card in the first place because of its benefit rather than the bonus (I actually didnt even have any welcome bonus when getting this card due to holding another AMEX card)

      with the $1450 annual fee, what I value are
      - $450 travel credit that can be used in hotels or flights (via amex travel)
      - $400 dining credit ($800 if you use over 2 calendar years)
      - $399 Accor plus membership (I am paying this already prior getting this card, so for me its a spending I am going to pay anyway)
      - $78 Amazon Prime membership
      - approx $400 (unlimited airport lounge access that can bring my whole family in, including kids)

      In short, most of the benefits are related to travel so might not be worth if you dont travel much
      I normally go overseas twice a year and still no regret in having this card

      • Hi, For the lounge, is there many options for travel with 2 adults and 2 young kids?

        • With this platinum charge, there are many choice for 2 adults and 2 kids

          This card itself can already access many lounges including all VA Lounges in Australia, and many international lounges

          Besides, each primary card can apply up to 2 priority pass membership, which each can bring 1 guest, wish should be enough to cover 4 people if you want to access lounge by priority pass instead of the Amex chard itself
          (Eg. Some longes only accept priority pass access, but not the Amex platinum charge)

          You can download the lounge buddy app and check which airport lounge accept Amex platinum charge and which accept priority pass

        • The Citi Prestige gives unlimited Priority Pass lounge access for less than half the annual fee of the Amex card. Plus loads of other benefits.

          $10k spend to get the 275k points.

          • @gadgetguy: Does that allow kids? It only allows 1 guest pretty sure

        • +1

          Plenty, make sure you get the additional card for the second adult though. I got this card speicifcally because my Virgin Gold expired and we were going on a trip to Europe/UK. Had the entire family in Priority Pass lounges except for 1 airport (the only available lounge was in a different terminal in Portugal).

          Saved us a lot of money on feeding us and the kids over 8 airport stops on the trip. Used the AMEX travel credit and got good hotel benefits on the trip as well. Been well worth it for us.

      • What's your experience with the Accor Plus membership so far? What's the main benefits?

        • Depends on your usage, in my opinion its great

          Some of the benefits:

          • 1 free night valued up to $450 (however its pretty hard to book for 5 stars hotel, for 4 stars or lower is way easier)

          • up to 50% off dining in Accor hotel restaurant (50% off for 2, 33% off for 3, 25% off for 4). in some restaurants they don't count kids as headcount if they order kids meal

          • Red hot room offer up to 50% off hotel booking

          • 10% off RRP hotel bookings with Accor hotels (some find its cheaper to book from third party website like trip.com / hotels.com / whatif / agoda / booking.com, but I do find booking via Accor website with accor plus is cheaper in most cases)

          • bonus 20nights status nights per calendar year, meaning that only need 10 extra nights to get into gold tier (gold has free room upgrade, early checkin, late checkout)

    • -8

      Anyone able to afford $1450 a year will probably also travel business class. Therefore, flight benefits are not required. Amex travel prices are often marked up so $450 travel credit in reality is less.

      • I use the $450 on hotels instead of flights. If you can rack up enough points then you’ll end up using points for upgrades or full business class tickets.

    • the value of the points alone is more than the fee for the first year

  • +1

    $1450 af is like my entire annual fees for the past 6 years

    • +3

      The bonus points offset it entirely, particularly if you convert to Avios.

  • If I already have mortgages (mix of PPOR and investment property) close to the levels of max borrowing capacity as assessed by banks, what are the chances of AMEX issuing this card if I have good credit score, payment history with other credit cards etc.. I always pay full credit card due before due date.

    • I can't represent the bank but since this is a charge card
      It should not affect borrowing power (credit report will show this card as $1 on credit limit)

      • +1

        My bank counted it as not having a credit card/$0 limit when I recently organise my home loan, on the basis of it being a charge card.

        • -1

          I think it's not about the mortgage bank but AMEX.

          I have repayments already over my borrowing capacity as I moved into an investment property (high rental income is gone). Would AMEX give me a charge card?

          • @FatTofu: AMEX only ask about your income for this card

          • @FatTofu: The question you should be asking yourself is whether you should try to get yourself one, and quite frankly if your repayments are above your borrowing capacity then perhaps you shouldn’t expose yourself to further credit!

            • @SolitaryMan: But this is not a credit card? I've got a credit card that I intend to close (6k limit) after getting this charge card, so that I would actually be better off on the credit exposure side?

              • @FatTofu: You can still get yourself into trouble, even within the space of a month!

              • @FatTofu: From a bank lending point of view, yes, it will look better. We were asked to close a credit card that had a $30k limit as part of a recent mortgage application, so we just kept another with a $15k limit and have the AMEX platinum instead, the banks don't count it as a charge card, but could really get into a lot more trouble, it will allow for huge transactions (depends on your income/spending history how much this is).

    • I think there’s a good prospect Amex would accept this, subject to your occupation and level of income. If you’ve got that much debt & can show you have a history of servicing it okay then that should work in your favour. It’s not like you’re suddenly incurring any more expenses except their $1,450 annual fee. When I applied 6 years ago they asked no questions and approved it instantly.

    • I’m in a similar situation, max out on borrowing capacity but my income is definitely over 100k. Credit rating is excellent and I got it declined. Im not sure if it’s the borrowing capacity or to do with the fact I just opened a credit card with another bank a month before applying with amex.

      • Did you put in your debt and repayments info when applying for this card?

        • No I didn’t. There’s no field to enter this information but the credit report will show that

          • @Walnuts: Does credit report show your debt levels/repayments or only that you had a credit card opened a month ago?

            • @FatTofu: Credit report showed debt level and when was the last time I got my credit card. And no I didn’t enter my debt details. They only asked for my income

          • @Walnuts: I see the 1st step in application is a credit check, and then 2nd step is to put your income and finances. Do they even ask about expenses or just income?

        • -1

          I just got declined 5 mins ago and came here to look for comments.
          The Amex staff called me to ask about my mortgage repayment amount and my monthly expenses. I had to crack up a figure in my head for him and complained why this was not on the application and he said I didn't put any expenses in my application. I thought I missed it - but surely reading here show that the application for this card is really simple - some identification and then just income - I think if your annual income below a certain threshold, some one will call you to ask for more details. Between me and my partner we earned $260k and our credit score on Creditsavvy and Clearscore are above 800 but yeah got declined.

          • @lloydXC: have you churned any cards lately? They are clamping down on churners, my wife got approved on a sub $50k income without any calls but she had no credit card applications where as i head a history.

  • what happen to the $200 porters voucher?

    • +2

      Got ported out.

    • I got it after the 5th click.
      Thanks Scott

      "Scott has referred you for The American Express® Platinum Card.
      Apply through this page and you can earn 275,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points (usually 200,000) when you’re approved and spend $5,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months. This is a personalised offer which may be withdrawn or changed at any time. T&Cs apply. New Card Members only."

      • think that was me, you're welcome :)

    • +1

      No need referral now. Just go to Amex website and it is showing 275,000 bonus pts to me.

      But always nice to give someone bonus points by signing up with their referral.

  • Anyone know if Amex offers pro-rata refunds?

  • +6

    Warning for this card - if you spend too much on this card (more than AMEX expects), then they might instantly cancel your card and sic the debt collectors on you.
    https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads…

    • That thread mentions a different card (Amex Qantas) and the other one mentioned on the 1st page is platinum business, both different cards from the one posted by OP.

      Furthermore, the platinum business card was closed due to mass buying gift cards.

      • If you look closer, there are a few different stories, including generic AMEX platinums.

        • All of which seem to have been for a very valid reason, but it’s still a very small number.

  • +2

    Was rejected for this last week - from reading comments on other Amex deals they don't like churners (which I am) and will auto reject you

    Income $150k

    • By churners you meant you had AMEX in the past 18 months?

      • No as in other card providers

        Its been 2 years since my last Amex.

    • +1

      I am a serial churner as I had 9 credit cards churned over the last year but I wasn't rejected for this. I guess it could also depend on the household income as I had to put in wife's income too?

      • I did have to disclose that too - she's on less but still $250k roughly HHI

        Only one credit card ($2k) and one mortgage ($300k) open on credit file

        I have however found last year I started hitting a wall after a decade of churning - suddenly started getting rejections so took a 6m break in 2023 and then scored 2 approvals - but then 2 rejections again more recently (one being this amex)

        Guess I'm taking a break once more

        • Did you apply for another credit card not long ago before applying amex? Also was the other rejection ANZ?

    • Yep serial churner here too. Income 150k (far higher than when I last held an AMEX) yet I now get rejected from AMEX. Oh well.

    • How long did you wait for rejection email?

    • I've had almost a dozen cards over the last ~30 months and had no issues getting this card. It's more than just income…

  • I have a work amex card. I'm not qualified for the bonus?

    • +6

      You're still eligible, just went through this myself.

  • No reward for loyalty for someone who has been with AMEX for more than 10 years! Porting out and back in means I have to spend all my rewards point now and 18 months wait which is annoying.

    • Yes because the KPI for these companies is generally number of new customers. Employee bonuses are based on how many new customers they can sign up to. They don't care about existing customers as research generally shows existing customers are either lazy or too scared to switch and happy to pay the 'loyalty tax'

  • Hey guys, I currently have the Qantas Ultimate so I am obviously not eligible for the bonus offer on this. However, has anyone with a Credit Card been offered any deals to the charge cards in regards to annual fee or points? I assume not

    • From my understanding Amex has never offer upgrade offer from credit card to charge card as they are different line of product. Amex does have a lower tier charge “gold” charge card but it’s under the business line.

    • I've recently fished around for Amex retention/upgrade deals and I got no where when i contacted them, think I've had my Explorer card 6/7 years now (thats not very ozbargain like, but i really do like that card)

  • anddddd just signed up for the 120 QFF one on last week's deal…….

    • Is that the $450 annual fee? If the membership points are 2:1 with Qantas points then it sounds like you've done a lot better?

  • Regarding the first point, do you mean that all the 5 card holders can sign up to priority pass?

    • No, each primary can sign up to 2 priority pass memberships only

      However there are many lounges allow direct access using the charge card itself (Primary or additional). This includes Plaza Premium lounge, Amex centurion lounge and more

      You can search which lounge using what access card from the Amex lounge finder: https://global.americanexpress.com/lounge-access/the-platinu…

  • The Citi Prestige card seems a better deal?

    https://www1.citibank.com.au/credit-cards/citi-prestige

    I just passed 18 months since I closed my Amex Explorer so I'm looking for a decent Amex deal but this isn't that attractive.

  • Anyone else having a hard time getting 275k referral? I'm on my 30-50th click through now.

    • +1

      I got on my second try

    • go incognito, and try using mobile hotspot

      • thx worked

      • VPN also works, had success with Perth and Adelaide

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