What's the point of having multiple AMEX charge cards?

[Anonymous]

I was just curious after noticing some people having more than 1 amex charge cards (i.e Amex Gold and Amex Plat) in their signature. What's the point of paying multiple annual fees for pretty much the same benefits? Am I missing something here?

[wasCB14]

Platinum for perks and airfare/prepaid hotels, PRG for gas/grocery/dining rewards.

Some chase bonuses. Others like merchant-specific spend offers. There are also various credits.

Of course, it can take a fair amount of spend for this approach to make sense...

[Anonymous]

Oh I see. But basically these are the big spenders then. Otherwise not sure if it would make sense right?

[jamesdwi]

having two makes sense for some at least for a short period of time.  Keep the AMEX PRG  as your daily card, get a Platinum card when your work says you need to travel a lot the next year the signing bonus covers the annual fee for the first year lately and you get all the perks for  free, at the end of the year  cancel the card. 

or when AMEX gives you a 100,000 point singing bonus, it can make sense to pocket the $300 or so extra dollars by chaning a few payments to the card. 

Unless you travel it rarely makes sense to have multiple charge cards long term. Of course a few years ago before they stopped back dating, and they had the Zync card and/or the Senior green, it was pretty easy to justify a second card with a starting date that matched your membership year.  $35 a year for a card back dated to 84...  i know some around here would gladly pay $195 to have a second card that was that old. 

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Oh I see. But basically these are the big spenders then. Otherwise not sure if it would make sense right?

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Some are big spenders. Others buy discounted gift cards at grocery stores.

I think a lot of the people shopping at Whole Foods for a family of 8 have switched to the Chase Amazon Prime card. There are other high-end grocery stores, of course.

Spending tens of thousands on gas would be unusual for someone without some corporate or fleet card.

Someone would have to really want to avoid Chase or URs for PRG's 2x on dining to make more sense than CSR's 3x on dining.

[Shadowfactor]

I’m heavily invested in the Amex Ecosystem.

While the cards do overlap in some areas, they aren’t really all that similar (PRG/Platinum).

The Platinum is a benefits card. It’s simply not meant for everyday use. It gives much better rewards then any other card on the market for airfare. Being able to access a wider selection of Lounges then PP offers is the key reason I have it. The smaller airports I fly through 85% of the time don’t have PP lounges but do have Delta Lounges.
When I am at MIA, the centurion lounge is much nicer then PP lounges as well IMO.

The PRG covers all the categories I spend in on a daily basis. It’s a everyday card. While it has a airline credit just like platinum. I spend over $300 in baggage fees a year or I simply buy a GC and use it on my flight.

The only other benefit I really use that both cards share is Roadside as I don’t have AAA. But I don’t factor that into the platinum AF. I consider that a benefit of my PRG when evaluating AF’s

While they do share some shopping and warranty protections. I don’t think of the platinum as a shopping card so those are really irreverent to me. I do value them slightly on the PRG though.

[Anonymous]

Some people don’t pay the fees..I’m military so I have everyone of them..why the $200 airline credit you can turn into gift cards and the Uber credit which aggregates.  When you get a lot per year free from them, you keep all the cards! Oh and all the Welcome Bonuses I have gotten too! And today, we got the Luxury Card w Welcome Bonus even though we have the Ritz Card during the 3 day grace period.

[simplynoir]

For me the PRG is strictly a churning card I got for the bonus so unless they wow me with a rentention offer once the AF is due next year I just plan to close it. The two Platinums I use to seperate expenses though should be noted I don't pay the AF on the biz card my boss does.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for the answers. Does help satisfy my curiousity.