AMEX Platinum?

[Anonymous]

Hello all, new guy here!

I guess some quick backgrond about me. I currently have 4 credit cards:

AMEX Blue Cash Preferred ($34,500 limit)

Capital One Quicksilver ($10,500 limit)

Barclay Apple Rewards Visa ($8500 limit, got for 0% financing on MacBook) 

Chase Freedom ($24,000).

The Capital One at a straight 1.5% is my everyday card, and I like it for its simplicity. AMEX Blue Cash Preferred is for groceries and gas. Chase Freedom is for if any of the rotating categories sound good (restaurants!), and the Barclay I really just use every once in a while to keep open. I pay for everything with credit, and pay in full at the end of the month. I don't spent a ton, but around $4,000 or so per month.

My credit is pretty solid, though I have one red mark from 2012 from a late payment. Still, it's pretty good and while I don't have anything recent directly from a bureau, I'm seeing:

Credit Karma: 744

Capital One's Credit Monitoring: 801

AMEX Fico Score: 725

CreditCard.com: 745

I take some of those, like Capital One's, with a grain of salt. Some of the scores dipped recenly several points due, I think, to a high balance on my Capital One card, as we were traveling internationally and racked up some $$. Copenhagen's expensive!

Anywho, I am interested in the AMEX Platinum Card. One reason is that my wife travels internationally for work regularly, and I'd like her to have the benefit of more frequent lounge access, Centurion Lounge access (she flies out of SFO), any possible upgrades at hotel rooms, Starwood/Hilton status, free Boingo hotspots, etc etc etc etc. I don't travel much any more, but a lot of this I could take advantage of when I do travel.

Ideally I'd get it for me and her, as well as add my brother and his wife. I trust them both explicitly, not to mention he makes at least 5 times as money $$ as I do, but I know they could help cut the cost overall by adding them as authorized users and they'd benefit from most the travel benefits as well.

Question 1: So as I said, I'm currently using my AMEX Blue Cash Preferred for gas and groceries. I'm not putting much on it, probably $500 or so per month, but it has a pretty enormous CLE at $34,500, which I obviously don't want to lose. But I also don't want to get the Platinum card and have two cards with annual fees. Would I be able to downgrade to Blue Cash Everday, which has no annual fee, and keep my credit limit of $34,500? 

Question 2: How do "membership rewards points" work? I've always shied away from points or miles as they were confusing, as a 1.5% cash back was just was simpler. Can these points be converted to cash? Or do they have to be spent on something through an online store of theirs, or something else? What, for example, is 50,000 points worth, or how is it best utilized? I just got an invitation in the mail as well, with a signup bonus of 50,000 points.

Question 3: If I'm sent an offer for this card in the mail, do I have a decent chance at getting it? I routinely get targeted for higher end cards, so they must like my profile to some degree I would assume.

Totally annecdotal, but I went on a trip to Park City last year with two friends. It was a trip I had won through a very large company, and we stayed  at Montage Deer Valley. If anyone knows, it's very, very high end. It's not too expensive in summer, but in winter, good luck. The company that paid for everything put the room on their AMEX Platinum. Not sure if it was luck of the draw, if it was the credit card, or some other factor, but we were all upgraded from $300 rooms to $2,000 a night residence rooms. Each of us. They had made mention of the card, errantly thinking I was the card holder (which I wasn't), but it was pretty cool.

Cost wise though, I think it would be pretty cost effective. We'd definitely get $200 back in travel, knocking the $450 to $250 each year. I could probably get my brother to kick us $100 for adding them as an AU each year, bringing it to $150. That alone seems like a no brainer. However, I don't want to lose that $34,500 BCP CLI (which, by the way, I never had to verify my income for. woot.).

Sorry for the long intro/story, but figured I'd finally join and ask.

[Anonymous]

1) Yes. It shouldn't affect your BCP limit and downgrading to the non-AF version should be easy.

2) You can redeem them for cash or gift cards, which is usually worth 1 cent per point. You can also transfer them to a travel partner's rewards program and redeem them at higher values for free hotel nights or plane tickets, often 1.5-2cents, sometimes much higher.

3) Sure, but Platinum isn't that hard to get either. If they gave you a 30k CL on a revolver then they are probably okay with giving you a charge card as well.

One caveat: there is a 100k point signup bonus out there for this card. You may want to see if you can get the offer incognito or over the phone, if you don't have the mailer. Much better than the public 40k offer.

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello all, new guy here!

I guess some quick backgrond about me. I currently have 4 credit cards:

AMEX Blue Cash Preferred ($34,500 limit)

Capital One Quicksilver ($10,500 limit)

Barclay Apple Rewards Visa ($8500 limit, got for 0% financing on MacBook) 

Chase Freedom ($24,000).

The Capital One at a straight 1.5% is my everyday card, and I like it for its simplicity. AMEX Blue Cash Preferred is for groceries and gas. Chase Freedom is for if any of the rotating categories sound good (restaurants!), and the Barclay I really just use every once in a while to keep open. I pay for everything with credit, and pay in full at the end of the month. I don't spent a ton, but around $4,000 or so per month.

My credit is pretty solid, though I have one red mark from 2012 from a late payment. Still, it's pretty good and while I don't have anything recent directly from a bureau, I'm seeing:

Credit Karma: 744

Capital One's Credit Monitoring: 801

AMEX Fico Score: 725

CreditCard.com: 745

I take some of those, like Capital One's, with a grain of salt. Some of the scores dipped recenly several points due, I think, to a high balance on my Capital One card, as we were traveling internationally and racked up some $$. Copenhagen's expensive!

Anywho, I am interested in the AMEX Platinum Card. One reason is that my wife travels internationally for work regularly, and I'd like her to have the benefit of more frequent lounge access, Centurion Lounge access (she flies out of SFO), any possible upgrades at hotel rooms, Starwood/Hilton status, free Boingo hotspots, etc etc etc etc. I don't travel much any more, but a lot of this I could take advantage of when I do travel.

Ideally I'd get it for me and her, as well as add my brother and his wife. I trust them both explicitly, not to mention he makes at least 5 times as money $$ as I do, but I know they could help cut the cost overall by adding them as authorized users and they'd benefit from most the travel benefits as well.

Question 1: So as I said, I'm currently using my AMEX Blue Cash Preferred for gas and groceries. I'm not putting much on it, probably $500 or so per month, but it has a pretty enormous CLE at $34,500, which I obviously don't want to lose. But I also don't want to get the Platinum card and have two cards with annual fees. Would I be able to downgrade to Blue Cash Everday, which has no annual fee, and keep my credit limit of $34,500? 

Question 2: How do "membership rewards points" work? I've always shied away from points or miles as they were confusing, as a 1.5% cash back was just was simpler. Can these points be converted to cash? Or do they have to be spent on something through an online store of theirs, or something else? What, for example, is 50,000 points worth, or how is it best utilized? I just got an invitation in the mail as well, with a signup bonus of 50,000 points.

Question 3: If I'm sent an offer for this card in the mail, do I have a decent chance at getting it? I routinely get targeted for higher end cards, so they must like my profile to some degree I would assume.

Totally annecdotal, but I went on a trip to Park City last year with two friends. It was a trip I had won through a very large company, and we stayed  at Montage Deer Valley. If anyone knows, it's very, very high end. It's not too expensive in summer, but in winter, good luck. The company that paid for everything put the room on their AMEX Platinum. Not sure if it was luck of the draw, if it was the credit card, or some other factor, but we were all upgraded from $300 rooms to $2,000 a night residence rooms. Each of us. They had made mention of the card, errantly thinking I was the card holder (which I wasn't), but it was pretty cool.

Cost wise though, I think it would be pretty cost effective. We'd definitely get $200 back in travel, knocking the $450 to $250 each year. I could probably get my brother to kick us $100 for adding them as an AU each year, bringing it to $150. That alone seems like a no brainer. However, I don't want to lose that $34,500 BCP CLI (which, by the way, I never had to verify my income for. woot.).

Sorry for the long intro/story, but figured I'd finally join and ask.

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Question 1: yes you should be able to downgrade from BCP to BCE.

Question 2: if you're like me and not comfortable with membership rewards points, IMHO the platinum card is not for you... my platinum card is the biggest waste of money, because I don't like using 'reward points', I like cash. And I don't want to use up the brain cells necessary to study up and learn about them.

Question 3: it's very easy to get, you're overqualified. I got it when my score was around 650

[sillykitty1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Anywho, I am interested in the AMEX Platinum Card. One reason is that my wife travels internationally for work regularly, and I'd like her to have the benefit of more frequent lounge access, Centurion Lounge access (she flies out of SFO), any possible upgrades at hotel rooms, Starwood/Hilton status, free Boingo hotspots, etc etc etc etc. I don't travel much any more, but a lot of this I could take advantage of when I do travel.  I travel for work as well ... ouple of things ... Make sure the Centurion Lounge is located convenient to her usual gates SFO.  If it's at a distant terminal, she isn't likely to use it.  If it is, then Centurion Lounges are really, really nice.  Boingo Hotspots, not sure these are of much value, at least IME.  Checkout Priority Pass lounges to see if they are actually usefull for her travel pattern.  Does she fly Delta, I think Delta Club access is a big perk if that's the carrier you're flying.

Ideally I'd get it for me and her, as well as add my brother and his wife. I trust them both explicitly, not to mention he makes at least 5 times as money $$ as I do, but I know they could help cut the cost overall by adding them as authorized users and they'd benefit from most the travel benefits as well.  AU's are an additional $175 each

Question 1: So as I said, I'm currently using my AMEX Blue Cash Preferred for gas and groceries. I'm not putting much on it, probably $500 or so per month, but it has a pretty enormous CLE at $34,500, which I obviously don't want to lose. But I also don't want to get the Platinum card and have two cards with annual fees. Would I be able to downgrade to Blue Cash Everday, which has no annual fee, and keep my credit limit of $34,500? 

Question 2: How do "membership rewards points" work? I've always shied away from points or miles as they were confusing, as a 1.5% cash back was just was simpler. Can these points be converted to cash? Or do they have to be spent on something through an online store of theirs, or something else? What, for example, is 50,000 points worth, or how is it best utilized? I just got an invitation in the mail as well, with a signup bonus of 50,000 points.  Amex Platinum is not a good rewards card, it's a perks card.  I only use my Plat for items I want the purchase protection on.  Get this card for perks, and don't run $'s through it for the MR's.

Question 3: If I'm sent an offer for this card in the mail, do I have a decent chance at getting it? I routinely get targeted for higher end cards, so they must like my profile to some degree I would assume.

Totally annecdotal, but I went on a trip to Park City last year with two friends. It was a trip I had won through a very large company, and we stayed  at Montage Deer Valley. If anyone knows, it's very, very high end. It's not too expensive in summer, but in winter, good luck. The company that paid for everything put the room on their AMEX Platinum. Not sure if it was luck of the draw, if it was the credit card, or some other factor, but we were all upgraded from $300 rooms to $2,000 a night residence rooms. Each of us. They had made mention of the card, errantly thinking I was the card holder (which I wasn't), but it was pretty cool.

Cost wise though, I think it would be pretty cost effective. We'd definitely get $200 back in travel, knocking the $450 to $250 each year. I could probably get my brother to kick us $100 for adding them as an AU each year, bringing it to $150. That alone seems like a no brainer. However, I don't want to lose that $34,500 BCP CLI (which, by the way, I never had to verify my income for. woot.).

Sorry for the long intro/story, but figured I'd finally join and ask.

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[Anonymous]

South Jamacia...you are telling me you got the AMEX Plantium Card with a score of "650"???? 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

South Jamacia...you are telling me you got the AMEX Plantium Card with a score of "650"???? 

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All the charge cards (probably) have the same underwriting, i.e. Plat card is no harder to get than the green, just has a higher AF

[Berk]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

South Jamacia...you are telling me you got the AMEX Plantium Card with a score of "650"???? 

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All the charge cards (probably) have the same underwriting, i.e. Plat card is no harder to get than the green, just has a higher AF

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Yep. Just look at all the threads regarding trying to get out of the AF or how to cancel the cards after the first year becuase the holder can't afford the AF. Or won't really use the card for anything and found out that it really doesn't look that cool in their wallet after all...

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

South Jamacia...you are telling me you got the AMEX Plantium Card with a score of "650"???? 

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You would be instapproved for any AMEX with your profile.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think authorized users get the Platiinum lounge perks, or the SPG / Hilton status.

My opinion, the attempt to budget the AF is amusing. With the Platinum you either value the benefits, or just pass on getting the card.

[Open123]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

South Jamacia...you are telling me you got the AMEX Plantium Card with a score of "650"???? 

---

You would be instapproved for any AMEX with your profile.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think authorized users get the Platiinum lounge perks, or the SPG / Hilton status.

My opinion, the attempt to budget the AF is amusing. With the Platinum you either value the benefits, or just pass on getting the card.

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AU gets the Lounge perks. 

However, with overcrowding potentially being an issue, I suspect Amex may re-examine this policy in the future.  At SFO, the crowding has gotten to a point where the Lounge has begun placing "reserved" signs for their Centurion holders.  Personally, I'd rather see access available only to the Basic cardmember, if only to maintain the integrity and experience of the Lounge.

[Anonymous]

I've had a platinum for 10 years with a 620 so you are fine in terms of credit score