Credit Cards

American Express Adds More Temporary Benefits to Platinum Card

Last year, when it became clear that travel wasn’t going to be resuming in earnest anytime soon, American Express added some temporary benefits to its premium $550 a year Platinum Card to help bring value to grounded cardholders. This included offering $20 a month in monthly statement credits for wireless service purchases as well as $20 a month in streaming service statement credits. However, these benefits expired at the end of 2020. For 2021 the card company has unveiled a new temporary benefit along with some lucrative Amex Offers.

American Express is now offering consumer Platinum cardholders up to $30 a month in statement credits for purchases made from eligible merchants through PayPal. This perk is currently set to expire at the end of June, meaning that cardholders can earn up to $180 in credits during this six-month promotion. To take advantage of this deal, cardholders will need to add their Platinum card to their PayPay wallet and use it to pay at checkout.

On top of the PayPal perk, American Express also recently unveiled a number of attractive Amex Offers that amount to between 20% to 100% back in the form of statement credits. For example, two current offers from both Best Buy and Home Depot allow cardholders to earn $50 back when they spend at least $50 — and each of these offers can be used twice. Other brands featured in new offers include Instacart (spend $250+ on eligible purchases and get $50 back up to two times), Goldbelly (spend $100+ on eligible purchases and get $50 back up to three times), Samsung (spend $1,000+ on eligible purchases and get $200 back), and many more. All of these offers expire on June 30th, 2021. According to Amex, if cardholders manage to use all of these offers to their max limit, they’d amount to $1,700 in savings.

It’s important to note that all Amex Offers are somewhat targetted, meaning that not all cardholders will see them. Specifically, the terms for these particular offers state that they are available for eligible cardmembers with active accounts as of November 1st, 2020. Not by coincidence, that date is just before the Platinum card introduced an enhanced welcome bonus that not only earns new cardholders 75,000 Membership Rewards points when they spend $5,000 on the card in their first six months but also allows them to earn 10x points on U.S. gas station and U.S. supermarket purchases (up to $15,000 in combined spending across both categories) for their first six months of card membership.

Speaking to Amex’s decision to bring these temporary perks to cardholders, Amex’s EVP of Global Premium Products and Benefits Rachel Stocks said, “Last year we moved quickly to support our Card Members by delivering relevant value and services to help them navigate the uncertainties of the pandemic. As a result, we saw incredible engagement across these offers which drove increased loyalty and lower attrition levels than in 2019 across our Card Member base. As we start a new year, we’re continuing to find ways to elevate our Membership experience by adding new value to help our Card Members and small merchants make the most of their time spent at home, plan for the future, and help small businesses get back to business.”

With Platinum cardholders now taken care of, American Express also teased that it will soon be announcing benefits for their co-branded travel cards, including the Delta SkyMiles, Hilton Honors,  and Marriott Bonvoy products. This line-up of temporary perks is expected to be revealed “in the coming weeks.” In the meantime, the limited-time PayPal credits may give non-cardholders yet another reason to consider the Platinum card in spite of the lack of travel while the addition of some generous Amex Offers gives current cardholders some extra value for their $550 annual fee.

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