Should I Keep the Premier Rewards Gold Card and the Platinum?

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First, note that there’s a big difference between whether or not you should sign-up for both of these cards and whether or not you should keep both. If you can catch the Platinum Card at a 75K or 100K bonus, then it’s usually a great option worth applying for to obtain the bonus. However, it’s another question altogether of whether or not you should keep the Platinum Card when you have the Premier Rewards Gold Card. This article will focus on that question in light of the new bonus categories offered by the Platinum Card.

The new bonus categories on the Platinum Card

Before the Platinum Card offered no bonus categories but it now offers:

  • 5X on airfare purchases made directly with the airline
  • 1.5X on purchases of $5,000 or more.
  • 1X on all other purchases

While the bonus categories of the Platinum are a step in the right direction, for many, the additions are very underwhelming.

And just as a refresher the Premier Rewards Gold Card offers

  • 3X on Airline Tickets (4X through the Amex Portal)
  • 2X on Dining
  • 2X Groceries
  • 2X Gas
  • 1X on all other purchases

*For the sake of this article, I’ll assume you’re earning at least around 5,300 Membership Rewards (worth about $95) a year from dining, groceries, gas, and other purchases to justify keeping the Premier Rewards Gold Card, so that the focus is solely on whether or not to keep the additional Platinum Card.  

Do you value the benefits?

Even though the Platinum Card now offers some bonus category spending, it’s still a card that’s all about the benefits. Thus, a quick and easy way to figure out if you should hold on to the Platinum Card is to determine if the benefits are worth it to you.

Here are the primary benefits of the Platinum Card.

Lounge access

For the most part, the lounge access comes in three different forms:

  • Priority Pass – Access to over 850 airport lounges worldwide. No guests are allowed with this membership, however.
  • Centurion lounges (and free entry for up to two guests or immediate family members) – These are some of the nicest lounges in the U.S., but they are only in certain select airports.
  • Delta SkyClub lounges (when you fly with them)

Hotel status

Just for holding an American Express Platinum Card you’re given

  • Gold status at SPG (which grants you Gold with Marriott/Ritz-Carlton)
  • Gold status with Hilton HHonors

With status, you’re able to take advantage of benefits like complimentary breakfasts, room up-grades, late check-out, and faster point earning potential. Obviously the more you travel the more you’ll get out of having status, but even if you only travel a handful amount of times a year, these perks can still bring you some good value.

Additional perks

The key question here is do you value these benefits?

I think most travelers would agree they value having lounge access and hotel status but that’s the easy part. The hard part is trying to figure out how much you value having those benefits.

The Priority Pass membership is worth $399 a year and each Centurion lounge visit is $50 per person and a SkyClub entry fee is about $30 at a reduced fee. Just adding those figures up you’d see that the Platinum Card is a bargain on price alone but the question is are you going to get your money’s worth? Remember, with the $200 airline credit factored in, you’re essentially paying $250 for these benefits.

So an easy way to determine if you should keep the Platinum based on its benefits is to try to determine if you’re getting $250 of value out of the benefits. For the sake of this article, I’ll present three separate examples of people who you might identify with.

Person A

This person is a frequent flyer who flies close to once a month and makes between 10 to 20 visits to airline lounges a year and stays in hotels for close to 20 or more nights a year. This person is in a perfect position to receive more than enough value from the Platinum Card. (The question then becomes whether or not to choose the Platinum Card over other cards.)

Person B

This person got the Platinum Card for it’s sign-up bonus but only travels a couple of times a year. Lounge access is not a big factor since they don’t have lounges at their home airport and hotel status isn’t a big deal either since they like to travel in hostels, Airbnb, etc. This is another easy call since this person should obviously not keep the Platinum for its benefits.

Person C

This person takes about 3 to 5 trips a year and enjoys lounge access on those trips. They also stay in Marriott, SPG, and Hilton properties on occasion and enjoy the perks of status. This is the situation I’d venture to guess a lot of people fall into. In this case, it’d be easy to argue that you’re getting close to a couple of hundred bucks in value from the Platinum and should maybe hold on to it, but you’d still have make your own judgment call.

Factoring in the new 5X category

Now that the benefits are factored into the decision, it’s time to think about how the new 5X bonus category rate factors in. The Premier Rewards Gold Card already offers 3X on airfare and 4X on airfare when purchased through the portal, so the increased benefit margin in this case is limited. 

Person A 

Person A already is getting more than $250 worth of value from the benefits, so the 5X on airfare is just a cherry on top that makes them feel better about their decision to keep the Platinum Card. There’s no need to do any kind of number analysis here.  

Person B 

Person B essentially values the benefits at next to nothing because they don’t ever use them and only got the Platinum Card for the sign-up bonus. That means that the 5X on airfare would have to earn them enough value to cancel out the $250 annual fee AND make up for lost earnings that Person B could have earned by purchasing airfare with the Premier Rewards Gold card. 

The math…

The point of adding the Platinum into the mix is to earn more overall value so that means you’ll need to find the spending threshold where the value earned from the Platinum will be more than the value foregone from the Premier Rewards Gold Card, after factoring the additional $250 you’ll be paying for this additional earning potential. 

I’m not a mathematician so feel free to check my math here but I believe that spending point is at about $6,945. 

Spending $6,945 will net you the following:

  • Platinum Card at 5X = 34,725 Membership Rewards = At 1.8 cents per point that’s $625 in value. 
  • Premier Rewards Gold Card at 3X = 20,835 Membership Rewards = At 1.8 cents per point that’s $375 in value. 

So that’s a $250 difference.

This means that if you wipe out the value from all other Platinum Card benefits, the Platinum Card will bring you more value than the Premier Rewards Gold Card if you are spending $6,945 or more on airfare. But note, that’s with 3X factored in. If I were to factor in the 4X rate, the spend needed would be closer to $14,000!

I really believe that most people who do not take advantage of lounge access and hotel perks are not going to be spending around $7,000 or more a year on airfare, so I think it would be extremely anomalous for it to be worth it for someone like Person B to hold on to the Platinum Card and the Premier Rewards Gold Card. 

Person C 

Person C falls somewhere in the middle, so it’s hard to make a determination based on numbers. If you visit a Centurion lounge 3 to 4 of times a year, that’s close to $150 to $200 worth of value there. Add in a couple of complimentary upgrades and breakfasts due to hotel status along with car rental perks and I think it’s easy to see that you could recoup close to $250.

However, you have to think about if you would have normally visited those lounges and paid for those lounge entry fees. If you’re the type of person who normally would not have paid for lounge access, then it’s hard to say that the Platinum Card is bringing you value or savings, since you wouldn’t have spent that money anyway. 

Regardless of how you feel about that, if you think that you’d be spending a couple of thousands bucks in airfare that could help sway your decision to keep the Platinum since the increased earnings from the Platinum Card are essentially offsetting the $250 that you’re paying. However, if you were planning on earning 4X with the Premier Rewards Gold Card, the increased value from the additional 1X will be minimal. 

In the end, for someone like Person C, it’s very much a judgment call that only that person can make but thinking about the frequency and a combination of the objective and subjective value of receiving hotel benefits and perks, complimentary lounge access, and potential earnings from 4X or 5X on airfare, will be key to making an informed decision. 

Factoring in other cards

So for some, it’s actually pretty easy to determine if its worth getting the Premier Rewards Gold Card and the Platinum Card and for others it’s more of a judgment call. But where things really start to get complex is when you introduce other cards into the mix like the Sapphire Reserve or Citi Prestige. Then, it becomes a lot more complicated on which benefits card(s) you should keep and how those fit into the overall plans of you award travel. I’ll save that article for later, but for now the take-a-way is that it can definitely be worth it to hold on to the Premier Rewards Gold Card and the Platinum Card, depending on your circumstances. 

 

Should You Apply for The Premier Rewards Gold Card 65,000 Offer?

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American Express is getting creative with its latest offer for the Premier Rewards Gold Card. The new (targeted) offer is for 40,000 Membership Rewards for $2,000 spend and an additional 25,000 Membership Rewards when you spend $2,000 between July 15th and October 15th of 2017. Here’s what you should know about this offer.

You’ll need to pay the annual fee

This offer requires you to hold on to the card for at least one year. Recall, the $195 annual fee is waived the first year but if you’re trying to obtain this bonus you’ll have to hold on to the card for over a year and will thus be hit with the $195 annual fee.

American Express is changing its refund policy for annual fees so that they will no longer allow for prorated refunds. According to the terms set to be put in effect, you should still be able to get a refund if you canceled  “within 30 days of the Closing Date of the billing statement on which that fee appears.” 

Thus, if you applied for this offer next month (assuming it’s still available), I’d venture to guess that you would have time to meet the $2,000 spend in July of 2017 and still cancel within 30 days of the closing date of the billing statement that will have your $195 fee. That should also be enough time for your additional 25,000 Membership Rewards to hit. Personally, I like the Premier Rewards Gold Card enough not to cancel it but for those who are adverse to paying annual fees, this might be an option.

Compare this offer to other offers

The standard Premier Rewards Gold Card offer is for 25,000 Membership Rewards but there are targeted offers for 50,000 Membership Rewards that you can often get to show up with Google Chrome Incognito. The best offer which I took advantage of was for 50,000 Membership Rewards for $1,000 worth of spend. There’s also a 75,000 offer but that is extremely targeted and unless you’re okay with potentially waiting years for it to pop up, I don’t think you should consider it.

Thus, the new sign-up bonus offers 15,000 more Membership Rewards than the best reasonably obtainable offer but requires you to pay the annual fee of $195.

Retention offers factored in

With an offer like this you’ve got to factor in retention offers. The standard retention offers for the Premier Rewards Gold card are usually these two options:

  • $50 statement credit plus an additional $50 when you spend $500
  • 2,500 Membership Rewards plus an additional 5,000 when you spend $1,000

You can get retention offers for much more but those higher offers are typically given to more established customers with higher spend put on their credit card.

So let’s say you jumped on the 50,000 Membership Reward offer for spending $1,000 and then a year later you gained an additional 7,500 Membership Rewards with a retention offer.

That means your earning would be 57,500 Membership Rewards for $2,000 worth of spend and you’d be paying the $195 annual fee.

The way that this new 65,000 offer is designed, it seems like it might be difficult to get a retention offer after the first year because American Express will already be granting an additional 25,000 Membership Rewards for $2,000 spend. It seems odd that they might offer a retention offer in addition to the second part of the bonus (that mirrors some previous retention offers) but you never know.

Let’s assume that you won’t get a retention offer and your earnings with the new offer would be 65,000 Membership Rewards for $4,000 worth of spend and you’d be paying the $195 annual fee.

So that comes down to 57,500 Membership Rewards for $2,000 worth of spend vs 65,000 Membership Rewards for $4,000 worth of spend. Of course, this assumes you are offered a retention offer with the 50,000 offer and not given one for the 65,000 offer so the result could be quite different.

Final word

Assuming things do work out this way, I’m not sure that the additional 7,500 points are that much better to warrant waiting a full year to obtain them. I don’t think the new offer is a bad offer at all, it’s just not so good that I’d be telling everyone to jump on it ASAP.

Review of the American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card

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The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card is often regarded as one of the top premium travel credit cards. It earns good rates on different bonus categories like dining and groceries, can offer some valuable sign-up bonuses, and comes with some superior benefits, such as exceptional purchase protection. Here’s my review of the American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card and why it’s one of the top travel cards to get in 2016.

AMEX LOGO

Charge card vs Credit Card

The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card is a “charge card,” which means that it must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. The benefit to a charge card is that you’re not restricted to a credit limit and so you have a little more flexibility — you just need to be able to keep yourself in check to make sure you’ll pay off your balance in full each month.

Premier Rewards Gold Card 3d

American Express will often offer you the opportunity to “pay over time,” however. This essentially turns your charge card into a hybrid credit/charge card and allows you to carry a balance. Typically, American Express will monitor your spending habits for approximately one year and then offer you this option (though sometimes it comes sooner).

In addition to being able to carry a balance, there are two benefits to the pay over time option. One, American Express does not conduct a hard pull on your credit when they check your eligibility. They run a soft-check in conjunction with their own internal credit check system. Second, American Express will usually offer you some kind of incentive and reward you with Membership Rewards for opting into pay over time.

Transfer Partners

American Express cards earn you Membership Rewards. They are generally considered one of more valuable reward currencies and these points can be transferred to several different airline and hotel partners. Below is a list of the eligible travel partners.

Airlines

singapore-airlines-logo2
  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways (250 points = 200 Avios)
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Hawaiin Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America (200 points = 100 Elevate points)
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors (1,000 points = 1,500 HHonors points)
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) (1,000 points = 333 Starpoints)

There are a few things to keep in mind about Membership Rewards:

  • Bonus transfers are occasionally offered allowing you to transfer your points to partners for higher ratios. Check this thread for a history of these transfer bonuses. 
  • Your Membership Rewards cannot be freely transferred between you and any friend or family members
  • They don’t expire as long as you remain a cardholder

Redeeming Points

If you don’t decide to transfer your Membership Rewards to other travel partners you can always utilize them for travel redemptions or purchases.

Membership Rewards can be redeemed for between .5 and 1.0 cent per point for gift cards and only .6 per point for a statement credit/charge. If you go through Amex Travel you can redeem at 1.0 cent per point on air fare but only up  to .7 cent per point on hotels. Aside from maybe using them for air fare to earn or maintain elite status, I personally do not think these are good redemption rates. However, depending on the circumstances (no availability with travel partners), it might make sense for you to redeem your points through the Amex travel portal.

Sign-up Bonus

There are several different sign-up offers for the American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card that appear for this card. Here are the main offers:

  • 25,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card.  This is the current main public offer.
  • 50,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card. Good offer but not as good as the one below.
  • 50,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $1,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card. This is the offer you want to seek out!
  • 75,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $3,000 within the first 90 days of opening your card. This is an extremely targeted and pretty rare offer that you may not want to waste your time waiting around for. 

The 50,000 Membership Rewards offer can often be found via Google Chrome Incognito. Simply get on the American Express website and try refreshing your browser and see if the offer comes up. If it doesn’t come up, try it at your work computer, a friend’s house, etc. It should eventually pop up, although some report never having any luck with finding the offer.

One bonus per lifetime

You need to know that American Express has a once per lifetime rule for receiving sign-up offers for its cards. So that’s why you want to make sure that you receive the best offer. There are some exceptions to this and you can read more about them in the American Express application rules article. 

Bonus Category Earning 

The Premier Rewards Gold Card earns some pretty great rates on different categories.

Amex PRG bonus categories
  • 3X on Airline Tickets (4X through the Amex Portal)
  • 2X on Dining, Groceries, and Gas
  • 1X on all other purchases

Although I love the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, I think for the average consumer who makes frequent trips to the gas station and grocery store, the Premier Rewards Gold Card will earn them more points. Also, if you fly frequently for business travel and are allowed reimbursements, booking your flights through the Amex travel portal can earn you a whopping 4X on your air fare, which can add up ridiculously quick.

Amex Offers

Amex Offers is one of the most underrated aspects of any American Express card. It’s basically a set of constantly updated promotional offers that are available to all Amex cardholders. Some of these offers will essentially provide you with free money, often giving you back $5-$15 off purchases at department stores or random online retailers, though some offer more significant savings on hotels and airfare. If you used consistently and effectively, you can easily save yourself $100-200 a year on items you would’ve likely purchased anyway.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

  • The Premier Rewards Gold Card has no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

  • $195, waived the first year

This annual fee, which is $100 higher than the Sapphire Preferred® and Citi Thankyou® Premier, makes some people shy away from the card. However, when you consider the $100 airline credit, the annual fee is effectively cut back down to $95.

 

Purchase protection

The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card has some of the best purchase protection on the market since it updated its terms to protect purchased up to $10,000 per claim. That’s much higher than other similar cards and is one reason I like to put large purchases on my Premier Rewards Gold Card. Here are some of the highlights of the protections:

  • Covers your new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
  • Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of five years or less.
  • You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $300 per item, $1,000 per year.

Travel protection

  • Car rental coverage is excess
  • Travel accident insurance of no more than $250,000 (death, dismemberment, etc.)
  • Will pay a benefit for the Replacement Cost, up to $500, for each Covered Person on a Covered Trip for Loss of checked Baggage.

Final Word

Overall, the American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card is a great option if you’re looking for a card with a reasonable annual fee that has superior earning potential and a solid sign-up bonus that can help you be on your way to valuable travel redemptions as quickly as you can. 

The Citi Premier vs The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card

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The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card and the Citi Thankyou Premier are two of the best travel rewards credit cards available right now. They both offer great earning potential through bonus category spending and pretty good sign-up bonuses as well. Here’s a comparison of the two cards that will give you a better idea of which card is better for you. 

Charge card vs Credit Card

Don’t forget that the Citi Thankyou Premier is a credit card and the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Cards is a “charge card.” A charge card must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. The benefit to a charge card is that you’re not restricted to a credit limit and so you have a little more flexibility — you just need to be able to keep yourself in check to make sure you’ll pay off your balance in full each month.

Transfer Partners

Citi Thankyou Transfer Partners

citi-logo

Airlines

  • Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
  • EVA Air
  • Eithad Guest
  • Flying Blue (Air France, KLM)
  • Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
  • Virgin America Elevate (1,000 pts = 500 Elevate points)
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

  • Hilton HHonors (1,000 pts = 1,500 HHonors Bonus Points )

American Express Membership Rewards Transfer Partners

Airlines

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways (250 points = 200 Avios)
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Hawaiin Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America (200 points = 100 Elevate points)
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors (1,000 points = 1,500 HHonors points)
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) (1,000 points = 333 Starpoints)

I’d probably give a slight edge to American Express for having more hotel partners and for having domestic airline partners like Delta, Virgin America, JetBlue, etc. You can still use some of Citi’s Thankyou partners to book on domestic airlines by booking through alliance partners but it just makes things a little bit more complicated (although a little extra legwork can often save you some miles).

One way that they differ is that Citi allows you to transfer your points to other people – a benefit that makes booking way less of a headache in a lot of scenarios. The only issue with Citi’s transfer policy is that once you transfer the points they expire within 90 days, so make sure you have a plan. Unfortunately, American Express does not offer this benefit.

Just like American Express, Citi sometimes offers temporary specials that offer bonus transfer rates to certain partners. Sometimes these rates will give you great deals like 50% more points when you transfer, so always be on the lookout for them.

It’s important to note that several of these partners are members of both programs like Flying Blue (Air France/KLM), KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines, Virgin, and Hilton HHonors. This makes it really easy to accumulate enough points for business and first class tickets on these airlines.

Point Redemption

You can redeem Citi Thankyou points for gift cards, statement credits, and for travel. Gift cards are redeemed at a value of 1.0 cents per point while statement credits redeem for .7 cents per point. With the Premier you can also redeem points for 1.25 cents per point through the Citi ThankYou Travel Center. The deal gets even sweeter if you have the Citi Prestige because you’re able to redeem points at 1.33 cents per point for any airline and 1.6 cents per point on American Airlines.

Membership Rewards can be redeemed for between .5 and 1.0 cents per point for gift cards and only .6 per point for a statement credit/charge. If you go through Amex Travel you can redeem at 1.0 cent per point on air fare but only up  to .7 cent per point on hotels.

I think Citi definitely wins this category with its much better redemption rates for flights and statement credits, although I pretty much always advise against travelers using points for statement credits and usually don’t recommend redeeming points through these portals. 

Tip: Sometimes these travel portals offer decent deals but other times you can find much cheaper rates by going through online travel agencies (Expedia, Booking, etc.) or by booking directly through the hotel. 

Sign-up Bonus

Citi Thankyou Premier

Citi Thankyou Premier

  • 40K to 50K (currently 40K) when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months
Screen Shot 2016-01-13 at 8.22.49 AM

Premier Rewards Gold Card

  • 25K to 75K when you spend $1,000-3,000. The 75K offer is highly targeted and rare and the 50K offer, while also targeted, is far more common to receive.

This comparison is a bit close and really hinges on when you catch the bonus. I think the 50K Membership Rewards for spending $1,000 in 3 months is one of the best sign-up bonuses that I’ve come across, so I would say that’s the winner. However, the standard public offer is 25K and compared to the lowest offer of the Premier (40K) that falls short. Most people value Membership Reward points more than Citi Thankyou Points but even with that in mind, I still say the winner is the Premier since the standard public offer is at least 40K versus 25K.

Tip: Try using Incognito/Private browsing windows on the American Express website to get the 50K offer to appear for you.

Bonus category earning potential

Citi Thankyou Premier

  • 3X on Travel (this covers an extremely broad range of expenses).
  • 3X on Gas
  • 2X on Entertainment (This includes movie theaters, some sport events, museums, tourist attractions, amusement parks, and more)
  • 2X on Dining

Premier Rewards Gold Card

  • 3X on Airline Tickets (4X through the Amex Portal)
  • 2X on Dining, Groceries, and Gas
  • $100 Airline credit for fees and incidentals
Citi Premier Bonus Categories

This is a tough comparison because the Premier Rewards Gold Card offers 2X on groceries, a category that many people probably spend a lot on. At the same time, the Premier offers 3X on the following items: airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, travel agencies, gas stations, commuter transportation, taxi/limousines, passenger railways, cruise lines, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, campgrounds and trailer parks, time shares, bus lines, motor home/RV Rental and boat rentals and also offers 2x on entertainment.

That’s a long and valuable list for 3x earning opportunities. Thus, while I like that the the Premier Rewards Gold Card is valuable for those who shop a lot at grocery stores, I think the Premier is the better point earner for the average traveller. (I’d just rely on another card like the Premier Rewards Gold Card or Everyday Preferred so that I’d earn a bonus rate on supermarkets.)

Personally, I use both of these cards so I didn’t have to choose just one and I think it would be a good idea to think about getting both if you are interested in earning both Membership Rewards and Citi Thankyou Points.

Tip: “Amex Offers,” which gives American Express cardholders exclusive discounts and rebates for quality stores, can also add a lot of value to the Premier Rewards Gold Card. On average, I probably save at least a couple of hundred dollars per year by using these offers, so it’s definitely something to factor into your consideration.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

Citi Thankyou Premier

  • $95 waived the first year

Premier Rewards Gold Card

  • $195, waived the first year

The Premier Rewards Gold Card’s annual fee is essentially reduced to $95 if you can make good use of the $100 annual airline credit. Still, it’s nice to not have to jump through hoops to get the annual fee down to $95. Thus, I’d give Citi a slight edge for the annual fee.   

Final Verdict 

I think the winner is the Citi Thankyou Premier, although I wouldn’t recommend on holding out on the Premier Rewards Gold Card. Again, I’m a big fan of building up points for the big three (Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thankyou Points, and Membership Rewards). Thus, I think it’s good to get on board with at least one good rewards-earning card from each program. Both the Citi Thankyou Premier and the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card fit that bill. 

The American Express Platinum vs The Premier Rewards Gold Card

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A lot of people seem to ask which AMEX card is best for them: The American Express Platinum or the Premier Rewards Gold Card (PRG). Both are great cards that I enjoy using but for very different purposes. This article will show you the important differences between the cards that will make your decision easier when applying for these cards. Ultimately, you will see that the  Platinum is all about the travel benefits while the PRG is all about earning Membership Rewards (and a little about the benefits).

Both are charge cards

First, don’t forget that both of these two cards are “charge cards.”

A charge card must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. Sometimes, after you’ve used a charge card for about a year, Amex will then offer you the option of carrying a balance (this usually comes with a MR bonus as well). However, you cannot initially carry a balance on a charge card like you can on a credit card.

Transfer Partners

Both cards earn Membership Rewards that transfer to travel partners. There’s no difference here but just for a refresher, here are the transfer partners of Membership Rewards.

Airlines

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue Air France/KLM
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Hawaiin Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest)

Sign-up Bonus

AMEX PRG

  • 25K to 75K when you spend $1,000-$3,000 in the first 3 months
Screen Shot 2016-01-13 at 8.22.49 AM

In my opinion you should hold out on the PRG until you can get the 50K offer. It’s different for everyone but pretty much every other time I check credit cards on the Amex website, I am invited to apply for the “special offer” of 50,000 points. Some people hold out for the 75K offer but that is known to be an extremely rare offer that could leave you waiting months and months and possibly even years to see (if ever).

AMEX Platinum

  • 40K to 100K when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months.
Amex Platinum Card

The 40K offer is the standard offer available to the public. The 100K offer comes around in three forms and there’s no guarantee that you will ever get it. The three forms it comes in are:

  • 1) Targeted mailings (if you’re already an Amex cardholder your chances of getting this offer in the mail are slim to none).
  • 2) Pre-approval links: Some sites (including the Amex site) that allow you to view your pre-approved credit card offers will show this offer.
  •  3) Incongnito/Private browser windows sometimes show this offer (rare)

Tip: When applying for bonuses with Amex cards always remember that bonuses for personal cards are only given once a lifetime (although not 100% enforced). The main exception I see with this are reports of others being approved for the same card a second time and receiving the difference between their first bonus and the later bonus. For example, if you applied for the Platinum for the 40K offer your first go around and the 100K offer for your second, Amex would grant you a total of 60K additional points for your second bonus.

Bonus Points Potential

The PRG puts the Platinum to shame in terms of bonus earning potential.

AMEX PRG

  • 3X on Airline Tickets (4X through the Amex Portal)
  • 2X on Dining
  • 2X Groceries
  • 2X Gas
  • 1X on all other purchases

AMEX Platinum

  • 1X on all purchases (*crickets*, I know)

This is the first key difference between the cards: the Premier Rewards Card is primarily for earning points to transfer to travel partners. In my opinion, it is one of the best earning travel cards along with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Citi Thankyou Premier.

A quick aside: If you are highly concerned with earning a lot of MRs through bonus category spending I would definitely consider the Amex Everyday Preferred. Under the average consumer’s spending habits, more points can be earned with this card than the PRG.

Amex EveryDay Preferred

Benefits

AMEX PRG

Outside of the $100 airline statement credit and no foreign transaction fees, there aren’t really any more benefits that come with the PRG.

AMEX Platinum

Benefits is where the Platinum really proves its worth.

Priority Pass

Here’s a breakdown of my favorite benefits of the Platinum, but in a nutshell this card confers a host of benefits to you making it worth it including:

  • Priority Pass airport lounge access (worth $400 per year)
  • Centurion Lounge Access
  • $200 annual airline credit (essentially reducing the annual fee to $250)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check (a Godsend that’s good for 5 years!)
  • Add up to 3 authorized users for only $175 per year (for all 3)
  • Gold status with Hilton and Starwood
  • Free Boingo Wifi subscription (worth $120 per year)
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts

These benefits easily pay for the value of the card and much, much more when considered in conjunction with the sign-up bonus.

However, the key question is whether the benefits are useful to you. Answering this question is the simplest way to decide if you even wan’t anything to do with the Platinum.

If you only travel about 2 times a year domestically and don’t really care for lounge access or other perks like hotel status, the Platinum is really only useful to you for the sign-up bonus (and in that case maybe you want to wait around for the 100K offer). On the other hand, if you travel frequently (especially internationally) and/or highly value comfort and convenience when you travel then the Platinum is definitely worth to consider.

If you fall somewhere in between then it’s a little less clear-cut for you. If you find yourself in this group don’t knock the benefits without trying them. For example, if you’ve never spent time in an airport lounge you could always pay for a day pass to a lounge like the Centurion or similar and see if that’s something you’d value having access to each time you visit the airport. I think a lot of people will realize if the “lounge life” is worth it to them after just a visit or two and will be able to more accurately gauge how much they really value lounge access. 

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

AMEX PRG

  • $195, waived the first year (more like $95/year with airline credit)

AMEX Platinum

  • $450, not waived (more like $250/year with airline credit)

A lot of people have an instant  “yikes” reaction to annual fees like this and almost immediately discount the card. But don’t do that because the Platinum can be worth so much more than $450 (and as you’ll see the annual fee is more like $250 per year).

You can read about getting the Priority Pass with the Amex Platinum here, where I talk about why I think the benefits of the Platinum more than pay for themselves. The Platinum is not for everybody but for many people, the $450 is more than worth it for this card.

Downgrading

Because these are both charge cards you can only “downgrade” or “product change” them to other Amex charge cards without incurring a hardpull. Unfortunately, there’s really no charge cards that are worth to downgrade to. You can read some about the Green Card and the standard Gold Card in my article, Which American Express Card is best for you?, but you’ll see that’s it’s not worth it to product change to those cards if you’re still interested in earning significant rewards.

If you ever decide to cancel the Platinum or the PRG then I recommend applying for the Amex Everyday if you are still carrying a balance of MRs. It has no annual fee and earns a decent amount of points via bonus spending, but most importantly, it will preserve your MRs while you decide how to best use them.

Amex EveryDay

Tip: Don’t let the customer service reps from Amex confuse you by using the term “product change” — if you change from a charge card to a credit card there will almost always be a hard pull on your credit regardless of how the rep “phrases” it.

The Verdict

As is often the case the answer to this is “it depends.” Again, it’s all about whether your goals are to earn the most MRs or to obtain all of the travel benefits and/or a hefty sign-up bonus.

Don’t rule out applying for both of these cards, either. As already mentioned, it’s absolutely possible to be approved for both the Platinum and the PRG at the same time. That means that if you caught it at the right time you could earn 150-175K of MRs for spending about $4,000 in 3 months. An outstanding gain.

Tip: Keep it nice and slow when applying for Amex cards. If you quickly obtain 4 or more approvals within the span of a couple of months there’s a good possibility you might be financial reviewed. It’s not a death sentence by any means but it’s something that can often result in reduced credit limits (rarely closure) for those who misrepresented their income so it’s best avoided. So just pace yourself with these applications.

Gold Premier Rewards vs Platinum

 

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs AMEX Premier Rewards Gold Card: The Best Travel Card?

Two of the best travel rewards credit cards out available right now have to be the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card. I’ve got both of them and figured I’d give my own personal take on these cards.

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Transfer Partners

Membership Rewards

The Premier Rewards Gold Card will earn you Membership Rewards that can be transferred to a variety of travel partners listed below: 

Airlines

Membership Rewards Airline Partners
Membership Rewards Airline Partners
Membership Rewards Airline Partners
Membership Rewards Airline Partners

These partners do not have all have the same transfer ratios as you can see below:

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways (250 points = 200 Avios)
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Hawaiin Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America (200 points = 100 Elevate points)
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

Membership Rewards Hotels

  • Best Western Rewards
  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors (1,000 points = 1,500 HHonors points)
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) (1,000 points = 333 Starpoints)

There are a few things to keep in mind about Membership Rewards:

  • Bonus transfers are occasionally offered allowing you to transfer your points to partners for higher ratios. Check this thread for a history of these transfer bonuses.
  • Your Membership Rewards cannot be freely transferred between you and any friend or family members but you can transfer them to authorizes users’ rewards accounts. 
  • They don’t expire as long as you remain a cardholder

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

Chase Ultimate Rewards

The Sapphire Preferred earns “Ultimate Rewards” that can all be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to a variety of travel partners listed below.

Airlines

  • British Airways Executive Club
  • Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
  • Korean Air SKYPASS
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
  • United MileagePlus
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

  • Hyatt Gold Passport
  • IHG® Rewards Club
  • Marriott Rewards
  • The Ritz-Carlton Rewards

Which reward program is better? 

Both programs have their strengths and weaknesses and lots could be written in a comparison between the two but here’s a brief look at some of the key highlights of the travel partners.

Membership Rewards

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards

Two partners overlap each program:

A lot of people seem to favor Ultimate Rewards over Membership Rewards and value them a little higher. Aside from hotel partners, though, I’d put Membership Rewards right up there with Ultimate Rewards and argue that the winner would just depend on one’s personal circumstances. 

Sign-up Bonus

Example of a targeted offer.

The standard sign up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred ranges from 40K to 50K, with an additional 5K for adding an authorized user. The sign-up bonus for the Premier Rewards Gold Card can range from 25K to 75K. The spend requirement for the Sapphire Preferred is typically higher at $4,000 while the Premier Rewards Gold Card’s spend requirement can fluctuate from $1,000 to $3,000. 

I think I’d give the nod to the Sapphire Preferred since it seems like the standard offer is usually higher than the standard offer from the Premier Rewards Gold Card (the offers above 25K are usually targeted and the 75K offer is a highly targeted offer that is very rare).

Bonus category earning potential 

Which card earns better bonus category earnings will obviously depend on your personal spending habits.

The cards earn the following rates: 

Chase Sapphire Preferred

  • 2X on Travel (This covers a broad range of expenses from tolls, parking, bus fairs, train tickets, and of course, air line tickets)
  • 2X on Dining worldwide

Premier Rewards Gold

  • 3X on Airline Tickets (4X through the Amex Portal)
  • 2X on Dining (at US restaurants), Groceries, and Gas
  • $100 Airline credit for incidentals

If you spend a lot on airfare, groceries, and gas, it’s possible that the Premier Rewards Gold Card will be the better earner for you. However, the travel category on the Sapphire Preferred is very broad so it all depends on how you spend most of your money. 

Bonus Point Potential with Additional Chase Cards

One of the major reasons I prefer the Sapphire Preferred over the Premier Rewards Gold Card is that you can supplement your earning with great no annual fee cards. 

  • The Chase Freedom has no annual fee and rotating 5X bonus categories for things like gas, restaurants, Amazon, and other stores.
  • The Chase Freedom Unlimited has no annual fee and it earns 1.5X on every single purchase. 
  • The Chase Ink+ (which can be downgraded to the Ink Cash with no annual fee) has 5X bonus categories on things like phone lines, cable, internet, and office supplies. The Ink+ also has 2X on gas and hotels.

Thus, the bonus earning potential with the combo of the Sapphire, the Freedoms, and the Ink cards  are truly tremendous and if you go with the Ink Cash, it essentially transforms the Sapphire Preferred into a super card with a $95 annual fee that blows the Premier Rewards Gold Card out of the water from a bonus points standpoint.

You can combine the Premier Rewards Gold Card with the no fee Amex EveryDay and earn 2X at supermarkets up to $6K per year (in addition to a 20% monthly bonus), but you can’t put together the same type of no annual fee combination like you can with Chase cards. 

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both cards have no foreign transaction fees which is really nice if you have travel abroad a lot because those foreign transaction fees can add up pretty quickly.

Purchase Protection

The purchase protection on both are pretty similar but the Premier Rewards Gold Card definitely edges out the Sapphire Preferred with its purchase protection up to $10,000! Here’s a breakdown of some of the highlights of the purchase protection plans of the cards. (Note: the list below is not comprehensive, to read up on all of the benefits, check the links below.)

Sapphire Preferred

  • Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.
  • Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.
  • If a card purchase you made in the U.S. is advertised for less in print or online within 90 days, you can be reimbursed the difference up to $500 per item, $2,500 per year.
  • You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $500 per item, $1,000 per year.

Premier Rewards Gold

  • Covers your new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
  • Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of five years or less.
  • You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $300 per item, $1,000 per year.

Travel Protection

Again, there are many similarities in the benefits for travel protection between these cards but I think I’d give the nod to Sapphire Preferred for the reason they offer primary rental car insurance and seem to offer better coverage for lost luggage and delays in travel. The below list is once again not comprehensive and only includes more info on CSP as Chase has a much more convenient way to access the terms of its protections.

Sapphire Preferred

  • Car rental coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.
  • When you pay for your air, bus, train or cruise transportation with your card, you are eligible to receive accidental death or dismemberment coverage of up to $500,000.
  • If you or your immediate family members’ checked or carry-on bags are damaged or lost by the carrier, you’re covered up to $3,000 per passenger.
  • If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.
  • If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket.

Premier Rewards Gold

  • Car rental coverage is excess
  • Travel accident insurance of no more than $250,000 (death, dismemberment, etc.)
  • Will pay a benefit for the Replacement Cost, up to $500, for each Covered Person on a Covered Trip for Loss of checked Baggage.

Annual Fee

The annual fee for the Sapphire Preferred is $95 while the annual fee for the Premier Rewards Gold Card is $195, both are waived for the first year.

Obviously paying an extra $95 sounds like less of a bargain but remember that the Premier Rewards Gold Card has the annual $100 airline statement credit, which essentially reduces the fee to $95. And actually, the statement resets after the beginning of the year so if you time it right, you can actually get $200 in airline credit before your annual fee hits. 

Customer Service

Amex has great customer service but the customer service for the Chase Sapphire Preferred is pretty outstanding as well. For example, when you call in for the Premier Rewards Gold Card you have enter in your credit card info and go through the motions to speak with someone but for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, a live representative picks up the phone almost always immediately when you call. As for receiving your card or a replacement, both providers will overnight your cards so that’s always nice. I’m not sure one beats out the other for customer service, but I do really like both in this regard.

Appearance

It’s a little silly to value a credit card based on how it looks but I don’t think there’s anything wrong in taking a little pride in how your cards look. The Premier Rewards Gold Card is a sparkly gold card with the signature American Express signage. It look prestigious and it’s one of my favorite to pull out of my wallet. However, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is on another level in my opinion. The card is made of metal and has a heavy feel to it that other instantly recognize and often comment on. The card even reads on the back, “Contains Metal DO NOT SHRED.”

It has a pretty dark blue design with embossed numbers on the back. There’s also no indication of Visa on the front of the card, which sometimes results in a couple of seconds of confusion/intrigue for cashiers when you hand them your card. So while the PRG is nice and sparkly, the Sapphire wins out on prestige appearance due to its metal composition and sleek design.

The Verdict

I think that for me the better card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. However, if I didn’t have the Ink and the Freedom cards, then it wouldn’t be so clear. Still, I value Membership Rewards a lot so I think there’s plenty of value in the Premier Rewards Gold Card and that’s why I hold both of these cards.