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Today has seen the Business Platinum Card® from American Express relaunched with, what Amex says are new benefits in top business spending categories, differentiated services, and travel perks. It has also been re-launched alongside news that the card’s annual fee is increasing to $695 next year so anyone who already holds the Business Platinum card should take a close look at these changes to see how they affect the value they get from the card.
The Business Platinum Card From American Express
What’s New & What’s Not
Annual Fee
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express will continue to charge an annual fee of $595 (rates & fees) for applications received before 13 January 2022. For applications on or after 13 January 2022, the Business Platinum Card’s annual fee will increase to $695 (in line with the consumer version of this card) and the same fee will apply to existing holders of the Business Platinum Card whose annual fees come due after 13 January 2022.
New Welcome Offer
The standard publicly available welcome bonus on the refreshed Business Platinum Card® from American Express has been increased. Successful new applicants can now earn 120,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points after they spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after opening their new account.
Earning Rates
Up until now, the Business Platinum Card® from American Express has offered the following earning rates which continue to remain in place (terms apply):
- 5 points/dollar on prepaid travel booked via amextravel.com
- 1.5 points/dollar on eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (up to a limit of 1 million additional points per year)
- 1 point/dollar on all other eligible purchases
As of today, the Business Platinum Card also offers 1.5 points/dollar on purchases in the following business categories (terms apply):
- Construction material and hardware suppliers
- Electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
- Shipping providers
The new earn rate for spending in these three categories is available on up to $2m of spending in a calendar year.
Key Benefits (terms apply & enrollment may be required)
The Dell credit has been raised to $400 with a $200 credit available in the first 6 months and a second $200 credit available in the second 6 months of the year.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express now offers a credit of $90/quarter ($360/year) on all Indeed hiring and recruiting products and services.
Cardholders are now given a $150 annual statement credit for select purchases made with Adobe. These purchases include Adobe Creative Cloud and Acrobat Pro DC with e-sign.
The Business Platinum card now offers cardholders a $10/month credit for purchases made directly from any US wireless telephone provider for a total of $120/year.
As far as all the other key benefits of the Business Platinum Card go, they haven’t changed and include the following:
- A 35% points rebate when a Business Platinum cardholder uses the Pay with Points feature for all or part of an eligible flight (up to a limit of 500,000 points back per calendar year).
- $200 airline fee credit
- Up to $100 credit every 4 years towards Global Entry membership or up to $85 credit towards membership of the TSA PreCheck program.
- An annual credit of up to $179 to cover the cost of CLEAR® membership
- Cell phone protection
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold status
- Hilton Honors Gold status
- Access to Amex Centurion lounges worldwide
- Access to Delta Sky Club lounges when flying with Delta
- Priority Pass Select membership
- Trip delay cover
- No foreign transaction fees.
Quick Summary
In return for a $100 increase in annual fee, the Business Platinum Card® from American Express now offers 1.5 points per dollar on up to $2m of spending in select categories as well as an increased statement credit for Dell purchases and new statement credits for spending with Indeed (up to $90/quarter), Adobe (up to $150/year), and US wireless phone providers (up to $10/month).
What do you think of the changes to the Business Platinum Card? Good, bad, or ugly?
