Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire American Express Platinum Card: $685 annual fee

Active duty military and their spouses can get the AMEX Platinum Card with no annual fee. My son is an Air Force pilot and he has one, and uses it for everything - collects a ton of points and enjoys all the benefits with none of the annual cost. Highly recommended for any military member who can qualify.

Fair enough. I just draw the line at paying to borrow, regardless of the perks.

They still take cash and debit? Lol

Not AMEX, but I had a Visa through United. The "expensive" one, I believe $495 a year. I used it to pay everything, the perks from United lunges, priority boarding and double air-miles offset the annual fee and paid for several travels.
So even thought $685 may seem like much, depending on usage and how you observe the benefits, it may be beneficial for some.

Having a credit card doesn't mean you need to pay minimum and accrue late fees. Just like having insurance doesn't mean you need to wreck you car so you don't pay the insurer's in vain

There are a lot of cash back benefits to some of these cards that reduce the $685 to near nothing if you travel a lot and have certain purchasing patterns. I don't like the American Express Platinum Card for our travel and spending patterns. We use the Chase Sapphire Reserve which has been $450 before they credit back the first $300 (net $150 annual fee) of travel spending which is easy to do. They recently raised it to $550 before the credit. All our other purchases go on this card and it builds points at a dramatic rate which we redeem for airline tickets.

We have had the card for the last several years and it has saved us way more than the $150 (or $250 now). We are generally able to purchase somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000 annually in plane tickets with the points so there is that savings there. No more cost of travel insurance which automatically comes with the card. Free lounge access if we want to use it. Purchase protection that I have used a couple of times. All in all I can count on getting several thousand per year back on this card for the $250 fee.

There is a big difference in buying plane tickets with points vs using miles. The airlines shaft you with blackout dates for the miles redemptions, but points appear as outright purchases so no blackout dates. These cards aren't good for people that don't travel a lot in most cases, but they are fantastic if you do travel a lot. I think the Chase suite of cards and their point transfer/redemptions are at the top of the heap for now.

I've seen a 4 person night out with prospects cost upwards of 7k for that night - companies don't want their people walking around with 7k in cash. CC is much easier to tie to a GL code in the accounting software too.

I think it’s hard for some to conceptualize flying more than once every 4 or 5 years versus somebody that is basically flying daily.

Did You Expense the Lap Dances?!

Nope - but I know a guy who did so twice. Helps that the CC bill comes up as a steak house and not a titty bar. Got caught tho - apparently someone in accounting was familiar with that specific establishment being a "steak house". He still works there tho.

Hah! That's awesome lol

I’m pretty sure you’re not their target customer. I’m not either, but obviously there is a class of people that use them or they wouldn’t exist. I suspect those people know more about managing money than you or me.

Got the AMEX platinum card. Wife and I are planning to do a bunch of traveling over the next few years. Already saved the amount of the annual fee in airline tickets easy. Lots of other perks with it too. My brother has had one for years and he flys a lot both domestically and internationally. No problems with the platinum card here.

Like so many other things, whether it is worth it varies upon the individual's circumstances. If you use a card once a week for gas, probably not. If you travel / entertain / etc often, it could be a bargain.

P.S. Has anyone else noticed that those seem to be the least knowledgeable on something are usually the most opinionated?

No. You are not.

I carried an amex for years. The benefit when booking travel and cars was worth the $400-$500 per year. You see there, I was paying and receiving something for it.

Get out of your own little world and realize that your world-view is not all encompassing. What makes sense for the way you live and do business isn't the same for me and my way isn't the same for a sales guy in the air 3-4 days a week, year-round.

I dropped the amex because one of the main benefits I appreciated was rental car insurance it provided. Found a different card that does that and I don't fly hardly at all any more. Hence the benefits I would be receiving from amex are no longer there.

Yes.

AMEX is not a credit card. You are not borrowing beyond 1 month's time. You have to pay it off every month. I am sure they have changed and there are options now, but it was always a card that had to be paid in full monthly.

They have options for 'carrying balances' now.

I thought that was the case. I believe it is still designed to not carry balances but the option is there.

There are potentially a lot of benefits. If you fly business class or above, your wife flies free. That alone pays for it big time. Can pay for extra luggage, pays to enroll in TSR Pre, Global Pass and accumulates redeemable points. If you travel, it can be beneficial.

I have one.

No offense meant. There are 2 buttons below every post. Quote and Reply. If you truly want to answer the guy that you're responding to, you might try using one of those buttons.

Troll aszholes do this a lot to try to slide their bulshit through without a response.