Amex Platinum. Just too much money

[Anonymous]

In terms of benefits it just about covers the annual fee for me. 

I got the Gold card when the first year was free. When the year's up, I'll cancel it. I can't justify the $250 annual fee when my TD Cash gives me 3% on restaurants.

[KJinNC]

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@redpat wrote:

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@KJinNC wrote:

A coworker is leaving for a job at another company, and a group of us met for a happy hour last night to celebrate that. One of my buddies paid for his drinks with a business Amex platinum card for his personal sideline business that had nothing to do with the event. I scratched my head at that one.

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I think he is taking that event as a business one.......  = 50% deduction.

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While that is possible, it would be ... trying to think of a nice way to say it ... an inaccurate way of recording the expense.

His side business (which is what the card is for) has nothing to do with anyone who was present (he is a music promoter for independent artists - this gathering was a bunch of corporate employees at a technology and consulting Fortune 50 company).

Many of us have corporate Amex green cards from the Fortune 50, which we did not use because it wasn't an official company activity, it was friends having beer and saying goodbye.

[wasCB14]

Re: Happy hour

It could be he's a tax cheat, hoping the IRS won't investigate it too closely.

Or maybe he is meeting minimum/retention spend on the card, and will note it as a personal expense.

Or maybe he prefers Amex if a card with better rewards has an overzealous fraud department. A declined charge can be inconvenient and mean a delay in a busy bar.

[Anonymous]

Looks like Amex shut down the Airline Gift Card with the Annual $200 airline credit. That would make it pretty hard for me to justify it. I have been getting the Amex Platinum Amerprise version the last 2 years which was free for the first year but they cut that out.  I thought about getting the regular Amex Platinum with the 75k sign  up bonus as that would give me $400 in airline gift cards the first year but since they cut it out that doesn't really give me much benefit. 

Centurian Lounges are nice.  But I get that benefit a couple of times a year. I could just go to an airport restaurant for less money. 

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Looks like Amex shut down the Airline Gift Card with the Annual $200 airline credit. That would make it pretty hard for me to justify it. I have been getting the Amex Platinum Amerprise version the last 2 years which was free for the first year but they cut that out.  I thought about getting the regular Amex Platinum with the 75k sign  up bonus as that would give me $400 in airline gift cards the first year but since they cut it out that doesn't really give me much benefit. 

Centurian Lounges are nice.  But I get that benefit a couple of times a year. I could just go to an airport restaurant for less money. 

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I recently got my Platinum after finding a note in a thread about the corporate discount.  The $150 AF credit will work nicely to keep the AF reasonable, and the Uber credits have worked out well.