Should I accept it???

[KingJaffeJo]

Soooo....Ive burned Amex in the past. It was over 12 yrs ago. Haven't tried to get back in with them since. Well just for fun after getting my credit back up to the 800's I tried to apply for the platinum card with no credit pull on their website despite people saying that once you burn them it's almost impossible to get back in with them. After putting in my info it says that I was approved! I just had to accept the offer. Once I accept, then the hard credit pull would take place. Well I withdrew my application after it was accepted because I noticed it was only for 80k worth of pts and I REALLY just wanted to see if I would get denied or not since it wasn't a ding on my credit. After I withdrew and went back to the page again, the 80k offer jumped to 125k reward pts.

My wife has the gold card and she had gotten offers for the platinum upgrade previously. We are looking to travel more this year and going forward so my question is should I jump on this offer or just have her upgrade her gold card? We mainly use the gold for grocery shopping and eating out. 

BTW....we have no travel rewards card at the moment. I just got an email to upgrade my QS to either a venture card or Venture one card. I was going to upgrade and hopefully PC to a venture X after abt 6 months if possible. 

Thoughts?

[MarkintheHV]

If you are interested in the lounge access portion of the card, make sure you understand that it is not free for your wife if she is with you.  It used to be that as long as they were with you, you could get them into the lounge for no charge.  Also, reading on Flyertalk and seeing for myself in Atlanta, there are huge lines to get into the lounges.....that perk is no longer worth it to me.  I am actually going to downgrade my platinum to gold once my annual fee comes due.  The credit card companies (i.e. Amex) have oversold the lounge access benefit, and now the lounges are overcrowded.  The Delta lounges used to be a nice quiet place to relax in between flights, but now, its loud and noisy.

There are some other benefits that are attractive, but, not worth the $695 annual fee unless I can get into the lounges without having to wait 30-45 minutes.

[Mdowning30]

The Venture X would probably be better for the both of you as it will cost half as much if that matters.

[KingJaffeJo]

Sheesh!! 30-45 min wait to get in the lounges now? I haven't been in a lounge in abt 8yrs. I had the United card back then and loved it! Didnt know that it wasn't free for her any longer. Last I checked it was free for up to 2 guests and $50 for each additional guest. This was just on NerdWallet today. I haven't seen any changes on any other sites either. We are looking to do more international travel with my 2 yr old so I figured that this would be perfect. But if they are overcrowded...then hmmm.

[KingJaffeJo]

The only problem with that is that the Venture X wouldn't be obtainable for almost 6+months. I was only approved for the venture one or venture upgrade without a hard pull. At this point I don't want to apply for Venture X as they might deny me for some crazy reason and then I'll have a ding on my report. 

[Hex]

It depends on if the AF is worth the benefits for you. It nice that they increased the SUB offer for you. 

[Janneman]

In my opinion, if OP or his wife does want to get Amex Platinum card then they should opt for the offer of 150k points which they can very easily get referral from many people, including by myself if this site allows it. Once either of you get approved for this card with 150k points then other should get a referral from the one who would get approved first..This way both of you can easily get tons of MR points...OP's wife should not go for upgrade because they offer very few MR points during upgrade....and OP shouldn't get 125k offer when 150k offer is widely available everywhere...

Further, AF is not really worth the benefits in 93% of cases (reported in USA newspaper) especially after one year (after obtaining SUB)...This card is definitely not for you if you don't travel often. I got this card and I have and still ripping off its all its benefits...I have already got more than $3k worth of benefits...So, its AF is worth to me....but its not for you then you can cancel or downgrade or get some good retention offer...I have no intention to cancel or downgrade this card...I love this card very much and use it all the time....I already got more than 500k MR points on my this card while card is opened only 6 months ago..... 

[KingJaffeJo]

We are definitely looking to travel more for sure. I thought the 125k offer was good since I originally started out with 80k in pts. 

How can I go abt getting the 150k in pts offer? If I could get that I'd definitely do it.

I wouldnt have us both get the card simply because of yearly fee. We definitely wouldnt spend that much in order to get the benefits on both cards.

[OmarGB9]

So Venture X is obviously more affordable, but also doesn't give you as many perks, and there aren't nearly as many Capital One lounges as Centurion lounges. That said, you also wouldn't be able to get it from a PC unless it's offered to you, which could take months or years, if they offer it at all. You'd be better off just applying for a new account. Plus if you apply for a new card, you could qualify for the SUB.

Amex Platinum is definitely for heavy travelers. I got one to try it out, but I'll likely downgrade to Gold my second year. I don't travel nearly enough, although all the different credits are nice.

ETA: @Janneman, referrals are NOT allowed on MyFICO. 

[KingJaffeJo]

Is there any downside to trying it and then downgrading later on if its not for me?