American Express (Amex) Platinum review

Can rewards justify the huge £650 fee on this top end Amex card?

I love a good reward or cashback card. Using one on my everyday spending is simply the easiest way to make money. And when these cards are free, it’s even better.

But the American Express Platinum card isn’t free. It’s really, really expensive. So expensive you’d need to spend £13,000 in a year to earn enough points to cover the annual fee.

So is it one to avoid? Well the other perks might actually make it worth considering, especially if you nab a boosted welcome bonus. Here’s my America Express Platinum review.

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What is the Amex Platinum card?

The American Express Platinum is the premium credit card on offer from Amex. It comes with perks like travel insurance and money back on meals out – these are detailed further down the article.

You need to have a minimum income of £35,000 a year to apply for the card.

The card itself is metal. Though it’s not a reason to get one, I was surprised that I really liked it!

American Express Platinum fee

As I’ve already mentioned, you’re looking at a huge £650 annual fee. That is paid upfront, so you need to factor in that cost at the start – and it doesn’t count towards any welcome bonus thresholds.

For the moment, the fee is refunded pro-rata if you don’t keep it for the full year. However, American Express have said this will change at some point. So I’d go into this expecting to pay the full amount.

How much can you earn from spending?

The Amex Platinum earns Amex Membership Reward Points. You’ll get 1 point for every £1 you spend. Amex Reward Points convert in a few ways, including:

• 1 point = 1 airline point (eg Avios or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club)
• 1 point = 0.5p if swapped for a gift card (eg Amazon) or Nectar points
• 1 point = 0.45p if used as statement credit or spending direct with retailers (eg Argos)

Points will hit your account pretty fast, so you won’t have to wait a year to use them like cashback earned on the Amex Cashback credit cards.

If you close your card down and don’t have an alternative Amex Membership card you’ll lose the points you’ve earned. The way to avoid this is to either transfer points first, or to open up another Amex Rewards card such as the free American Express Rewards card. This will keep the points active.

American Express Platinum welcome bonus

Who can get a welcome bonus?

The signup bonus for the Amex Platinum is open to any new cardholders, or existing ones who haven’t had any Amex card that earns Membership Reward points in the last 24 months.

This means this card might earn you able to get a second American Express bonus as long as you’ve not had the following in the last two years:

• Amex Preferred Rewards Gold
• Amex Rewards
• Amex Platinum
• Amex Green

But you’re good to go if you’ve had cards including:

• Amex Nectar
• Amex Cashback and Amex Cashback Everyday
• BA Amex and BA Amex Premium Plus

Standard sign up offer

The usual bonus is 50,000 points for a £6,000 spend over three months. This is worth £250 in Nectar points or a gift card, with another £30 on top from the £6,000 spend. You have to spend at least £6,000 to trigger the bonus. A penny less and won’t get it. Getting a supplementary card for your partner can make it easier to reach this figure.

OFFER	BONUS	ADDITIONAL POINTS EARNED ON QUALIFYING SPEND	TOTAL POINTS	VALUE AS NECTAR POINTS
Spend £6,000 in three months	50,000	6000	56,000	£280

In addition, if you apply via a cashback site, there’s the chance to get another £100 back, meaning you’re up £380

Since the fee is £650, you’re effectively only paying £270 for the card and other perks in year one (and then the full amount for subsequent years).

Boosted sign up offers

A couple of times a year the welcome bonus is boosted – and I think these are worth waiting for. We’ve got a separate American Express Platinum deals page just for when this happens, which has full analysis of the offer.

At the time of writing, there’s a promo running until 27 May 2025. There are 80,000 Amex Reward points available.

However you’ll need to spend a huge £10,000 in six months to get the bonus. Make sure you can afford this and don’t buy extras you don’t need just to hit the threshold.

The boosted points are worth £400 in Nectar points or a gift card. And factor in the extra 10,000 points you’ll earn from that £10k spend and that’s another £50, totalling £450.

OFFER	BONUS	ADDITIONAL POINTS EARNED ON QUALIFYING SPEND	TOTAL POINTS	VALUE AS NECTAR POINTS
Spend £10,000 in six months	80,000	10,000	90,000	£450

Go via a cashback site and you’ll get another £100 on top, giving you free money worth £550. That means you’re really paying £100 for the other card perks.

Amex Platinum benefits

There are a few extras that come with the Platinum worth factoring into your sums. Here are the core benefits.

Annual travel insurance

You get worldwide travel insurance for you, any supplementary cardholder and dependent children. Trips can last 90 days, or a full year for children under 25. Car hire insurance is also covered.

This is a decent benefit if you do travel a lot – except for one major flaw. You have to book your holiday and travel with the Platinum card for anything other than the basic medical cover.

Great if you can do this, but as anyone who has already had an Amex knows, not all retailers will accept the card. So our trip to New York a few years ago was covered, but I was told a weekend in Rome booked somewhere that didn’t take Amex wasn’t (though I’ve seen some information saying it could have been – it’s not massively clear).

Airport lounge access

You’ll get a Priority Pass for access to a number of worldwide lounges, and access to more on top with the Platinum card itself. There’s also entry to the Eurostar lounge in London and Paris.

This was a nice little bonus for some peace and quiet, but the food was pretty poor in both London and New York so not something I’d want to pay for.

Other travel benefits

Hertz and Avis status

As a Platinum cardholder you can activate premium membership status at a couple of hire car companies. This will give you a discount and an upgrade. Sounds good. But when I looked I was able to pay less for the same level car by shopping around.

Hotel extras

Book via Amex for a Fine Hotels & Resorts stay and you’ll get a room upgrade (if available), early check-in, late checkout and free breakfast. However you do need to book direct with Amex, so you might find a cheaper option elsewhere.

Amex Platinum free credit

Alongside the usual Amex offers, there are some specific to the Platinum card. The ones I think you might actually use are:

Up to £400 dining credit

You can activate offers to earn £100 credit on UK dining and another £100 on overseas dining every six months. This is due to run until the end of 2025, but it could be extended.

Though you could get the full £400 every year, the foreign restaurant list and locations are limited – so you might struggle. I’d value this at £200, and if you are able to get more that’s a bonus. Here’s my full analysis.

£50 Harvey Nicholls credit

Until the end of June 2025 you’ll get £50 credit when you shop at Harvey Nicholls (including its restaurants). If you spend less than £50 you’ll only get what you spent back. If you spend more, the most you’ll get is £50.

This used to run twice a year, and there’s always a chance it’ll be extended. But right now I’d only bank on one set of £50.

How does it compare?

If you’re looking for a card for the bulk of your spending (outside of the welcome bonus) then you can match the 0.5% without paying a fee. In fact you can beat it. Here are the best free cards (read more here).

Card	Equivalent rate	Annual Fee
Chase Bank debit card (Mastercard)	1% cash (£15 monthly cap) on groceries, transport and fuel	£0
Nectar American Express credit card	1% (2 Nectar per £1)	£0 (£30 in year two)
Barclaycard Avios (Mastercard)	0.5% (1 Avios per £1)	£0
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card	0.5% – 0.75% (1 Amex Membership per £1)	£0 (£195 in year two)

Should you get the Amex Platinum?

American Express Platinum summary