AmEx Offered $300 Statement Credits or 30,000 Points to Retain The Platinum Card

The Platinum Card from American Express has been the go-to card for many people when it comes to flight bookings. Since the card offers 5 points per dollar on flights booked directly with the airlines, and also 5x points on prepaid flights and hotels purchased directly through AmEx Travel. This, and many other perks that the card offers makes the platinum card worth the $550 annual fee in my opinion.

But with the travel restrictions and lockdown going on, I did a reality check after seeing the $550 renewal fee charge on my account. With a short call, I was offered $300 statement credits or 30,000 points if I spend $2,000 within the next 3 months. While the $300 is generous enough for me, but I opted for the latter offer. Based on my calculations, 30,000 Membership Reward Points is more valuable than a $300 statement credits.

With just 40,500 Amex points transferred to Singapore Airlines, you could be flying in the new SingaporeAir First Class Suites from Hong Kong to Singapore or vice-versa. The cash price of this flight is approximately $2,000.

The terms of the offer stated that “once the offer is accepted, you’ll have to leave your platinum card account open for the next one year, and it could take up to 12 weeks for the points to be credited into your account.” But the most interesting part was that the 30,000 points was credited into my account 24 hours later without the $2,000 spend requirements. So literally, the offer was kind of like renew the card, and we’ll give you 30,000 points.

It was a win-win situation in my case, as I have no intention of canceling the card at this time. I just called to see what offers (if any) American Express is able to provide. Due to COVID-19, the spending patterns of cardholders have been greatly affected, and it is uncertain as to when things would get back to normal.

This $300 statement credits or 30,000 points offer is in addition to other benefits that American Express recently introduced.

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$20 monthly statement credits when you use your platinum card to pay for select U.S. streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, etc. (From May 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020). That’s up to $160 in total.

$20 monthly statement credits when you use your platinum card to pay for wireless telephone services directly with the U.S. service providers. (From May 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020). That’s up to $160 in total.

$200 AmEx Travel Credits when you renew your platinum card between April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020. While the details of this is not too clear at the time of this post, but according to the representative from the retention department, you can earn this $200 when you make eligible purchases with AmEx Travel. This is another great perk, especially when used to make a Fine Hotels and Resorts booking like the Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas which gave us even more benefits and value for the money.

CONCLUSION:

I must say this was generous of American Express by going the extra mile trying to retain its’ cardholders. Since many platinum cardholders won’t be able to utilize majority of the travel perks for the foreseeable future due to the current travel-restrictions, these retention offers and additional benefits kind of make up for the other benefits that are not usable at the moment. Depositing the 30,000 points within 24 hours was also another great touch from American Express, since we didn’t have to wait for up to 8 to 12 weeks for the points to arrive in our account. While not everyone would be able to take advantage of all these perks, I think it’s still a win-win at the end of the day.

Averagely, Amex Membership Reward point is valued at 2 cents per point. Therefore, this 30,000 retention points already covers the $550 annual fee, and the $160 wireless telephone statement credits is a plus. The $160 streaming credits would be another bonus assuming we use it too.

Have you received an offer from American Express recently? Let us know what the offer was. If your renewal date is approaching and you didn’t receive any email from AmEx, it won’t hurt to pick up the phone and ask to be transferred to the retention department.

Kayode

Nigeria-born, California-based.

Kayode currently holds higher status on multiple airlines and hotel programs. He has visited 4 continents, 30 countries, and 35 of the 50 US states.

He began his adventure journey after selling his first cellphone ever, and used the money to apply for his first passport. He said to himself, “I’d rather have a passport than a cellphone”. And since then, he has been globetrotting.