topic Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it? in Credit Cards

Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

biff-henderson — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 20:02:51 GMT

Just paid the AF on my Gold card. While going through the junk mail/shred pile, I re-noticed the AMEX upgrade to Platinum envelope. Opened it up to feed it into the shredder and noticed it had a SUB -75KMR/6mo $6K. The last upgrade for my Hilton card offered nothig so I assumed the same here. Now I'm wondering if it's worth it for a year, then downgrade back to Gold or Green. I've been in pop-up jail for most of the year, so I expected nothing from Amex..

I have a trip planned for March, and likely in June and August, but that's probably it. Not exactly the ideal client for the Platinum. For his reason I never planned on applying. With the offer it sems like a win. Is there smething obvious I'm missing? Gonna buy some windows and a door soon, as well as tuition, so the $6K shouldn' be an issue, and its better than the public $8K for 80K MR.

Helpful info:

Got the full @$120 credit for Uber cash and Grubhub
didn't really use the 4X for shopping, have 6X on BCP
did by a ciuple plane tickets with it for the travel protections
lots of restauraunt usage

HTH, Thanks for any suggestions and thoughts

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

1LostArk — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 21:19:28 GMT

75k MR barely covers the annual fee. In my opinion that's a hard pass for a personal platinum. Also, you're not maximizing the MR earning potential of the Gold by using the BCP for groceries, so I'd consider canceling the Gold outright. Do the math on how much you'd have to spend for the Gold to outperform your Savor. Do you really value the Gold credits at face value? I'd look at the CSR instead if you want to pick up a SUB.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 21:30:25 GMT

@1LostArk wrote:
75k MR barely covers the annual fee. In my opinion that's a hard pass for a personal platinum. Also, you're not maximizing the MR earning potential of the Gold by using the BCP for groceries, so I'd consider canceling the Gold outright. Do the math on how much you'd have to spend for the Gold to outperform your Savor. Do you really value the Gold credits at face value? I'd look at the CSR instead if you want to pick up a SUB.

Yes, and there is a cost on getting the SUB if you have to spend a lot of it stuff that earns 1x on the Plat (giving up higher rewards on other cards). If you can really use MRs, then the offer is pretty good, but if you just use them to buy gift cards (or worse, cash them out), then it may well not be worth it

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

biff-henderson — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 23:31:43 GMT

I thought about the 1x earning for using the Platinum, but tuition, contractors and windows aren't a catagory, LOL. I would definately use the MR points for travel. I plan on burning up the credits and free nights I have so far from other cards in a couple months, so MR points is hte next best choice. My other major cards are cashback.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

biff-henderson — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 23:39:03 GMT

Unfortunately, I'm over 5/24. So no Chase for me.

I'm pretty certain the AF or the Gold -- which I can't get back will be credited toward the Platinum. So out of pocket would be the difference. Not trivial, but not $700. When I called in to fish for a retention offer, the rep quickly told me I'd gotten my AF back in "value" from both my BCP, and Gold. I was a little shocked by how much. But I agree I'm not as efficient with my card setup as I could be. Also the Savor has been sock drawered in favor of the Amex cards. But I guess its the next best for Restaurants if I made the switch.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

SouthJamaica — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:45:41 GMT

IMHO you should not get deeper into the Amex MR ecosystem, and would be better off extricating yourself from it. Yours is not the type of profile that really gets value from what those charge cards have to offer, and you're just wasting your time trying to use up the 'coupon' credits to partially offset your annual fee. You might as well skip the annual fee altogether, and make money from the rich universe of no-annual-fee cash back cards.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

biff-henderson — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 01:04:16 GMT

Please, go on. I would like to know why you reccomend this.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 04:12:40 GMT

While it's a great upgrade offer, you mentioned you have significant restaurant spend and restaurant and grocery spend is where Gold truly shines. If you're able to make good use of the Membership Rewards, I'd keep Gold and apply for Platinum with a new Welcome Offer if you wanted to try it out for at least a year.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

xenon3030 — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 20:10:15 GMT

Here are some advices:

If you are a frequent traveler, Amex Platinum is worth.
If you want to collect SUB only (possibly as a new card), Amex Platinum is definitely worth.
If you do not like "coupon style" living in a monthly basis, it is not the correct card for you.
For limited travels, there are plenty of good travel cards with AF<$100 (CSP, BOA PR, USBAR (effective AF~$75), etc). There is no need to pay a hefty AF.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

coldworld — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 20:32:03 GMT

Based on what I've read here, sounds like you'd be better served leaning into your cap1 setup with the venture X + Savor.

If you are just churning SUBs, then search the internet for the elevated AMEX plat offer of 120k-150k MR points and go after that.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

elboullee — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 03:52:31 GMT

For someone who says they don't travel much, I'm trying to get my head around the economics of more than $1,600/year in AFs for the VX [$395], Savor [$95], BCP [$95], Gold [$250 - soon to be $300, $350?], and the Plat [$695].

For groceries, one would have to spend ~$18K/year to break even with the $450 in AFs for the Savor, BCP, and Gold vs. just the NAF Savor One.

I get that there are some offsetting credits - the VX, Gold, and Plat in particular, but it seems to me that a VX/Savor/BCP/Gold/Plat setup for someone who deosn't travel much is a razor-thin edge case worthy of Japan's best bladesmiths.

Then again, if you just want the Plat because it is a really cool card or for the flex, and can deal with the AF, then just do it.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

Citylights18 — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:52:57 GMT

I broke into the AMEX ecosystem because I didn't have the credit at the time for better and wanted a 3x Travel card. If the intent is to pay AMEX charge cards off it can help build credit since your balance doesn't register.

I upgraded my Green to Gold for the SUB but then I was faced with clawback when I downgraded back to Green. AMEX normally will claw back an SUB if you've had it for less than a year but I think in an upgrade/downgrade situation its an automatic clawback. I wouldnt mess around with it again and the Platinum is a $695 fee annual card.

Re: Is an upgrade from Amex Gold to Platinum worth it?

34Skyline — Sun, 12 May 2024 01:18:14 GMT

Got a upgrade Amex offer 100k Sub with $6k spend in 6 months but don't know I should take it because I still want my Gold card, Back in Jan 2024 I applied for new platinum card but got that pop up message (pop up Jail), Getting this offer does it mean i'm out of pop up jail and should just go ahead and applied for that 175k offer that i've seen, I still want to keep my gold card