I Travel Less. What Should I Do With My Amex Platinum?

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Depending on how long Brad has had his American Express Platinum Card®, he may have gone through multiple updates to the card’s benefits and increases in the annual fee, which now sits at a hefty $895 (see rates and fees). There’s plenty of value available to make the Amex Platinum worth it, but it’s a complicated endeavor. And if you’re not traveling as much, many of the best perks aren’t as useful.

It makes sense that Brad is questioning whether to keep this card. What makes his situation a bit more complicated is that he has an American Express Membership Rewards® balance of around 300,000 points. If he doesn’t have a plan to use those points, he could lose them if he closes the account. For someone in a situation like Brad’s, downgrading an expensive credit card has advantages over closing it.

If you cancel your Amex Platinum Card and don’t have another American Express card that earns Membership Rewards® points, you risk losing all of your hard-earned rewards. Before canceling, you could redeem your rewards to avoid losing them. However, you can sidestep that problem altogether by calling the number on the back of your card and asking to downgrade your account.

You’ll need to have the account open for at least 12 months to be able to downgrade (aka product change), and you can only product change to select Amex cards. The good news is, you can convert your Amex Platinum to a cheaper card that earns more rewards on everyday spending.

Cheaper, more rewarding options

The Amex Platinum’s Achilles heel is that it’s not especially rewarding for everyday spending. You’ll earn:

• 5X points for flights booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel®, up to $500,000 per calendar year
• 5X points on prepaid hotels booked via American Express Travel®
• 2X points on travel purchased through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com. 
• 1X points on other eligible purchases

Compare that to two downgrade options: the American Express® Gold Card and the American Express® Green Card. The Amex Gold earns:

• 4X points at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year (then 1X points)
• 4X points at U.S. supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year (then 1X points)
• 5X points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App
• 3X points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App or purchased directly from airlines
• 2X points on prepaid car rentals booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com
• 1X points on all other eligible purchases

And the American Express® Green Card earns:

• 3X points on travel
• 3X points on transit
• 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.)
• 1X points on other purchases

Unless you spend a significant amount on specific Amex Travel bookings, the Amex Gold and Amex Green are likely to earn you more points. They’re both more rewarding for dining, and the Amex Gold is one of the best options for supermarkets.

On top of the extra rewards, both cards have much lower annual fees and still provide enough benefits to justify the cost. The Amex Gold has a $325 annual fee (see rates and fees) and over $400 in yearly value through credits for Resy, dining, Dunkin’ and more.

The Amex Green has a $150 annual fee (see rates and fees) but fewer perks, which makes sense for someone who isn’t traveling as much. With it, you can receive an annual $209 CLEAR+ membership fee credit (subject to auto-renewal), which helps you speed through security at dozens of airports.

If you decide canceling your Amex Platinum makes the most sense, there are many ways to easily redeem your rewards. The problem is, the simplest redemptions are usually the least valuable. You can pay with points at checkout (with select retailers), redeem for statement credits or cash them out for gift cards — but nearly all of those options net a return of 0.6 cents to 0.85 cents per point. Using points to pay for travel through Amex Travel can return a value of 1 cent per point, but only for flights and Fine Hotels & Resorts bookings.

Amex has an incredible list of transfer partners, and you could easily move all of your Amex points to an airline or hotel you love before canceling your card. This isn’t a bad option, and it’s probably what I would do if I needed to cancel an Amex card.

However, a big part of the value of American Express points is the options and flexibility you have. When you transfer points to an airline or hotel, you can’t transfer them back, and if that program makes negative changes, your points could lose value or become less useful. If you downgrade, you keep your options open and maintain your flexibility.

Polish your credit score

If you downgrade your Amex Platinum, you can keep the same account number, and the account remains open on your credit reports. That makes the transition simple since you won’t need to update subscriptions or recurring bills charged to your card.

It also has a small added benefit for your credit score. The age of your accounts or length of credit history comprises 15% of your FICO Score, which is one of the most popular credit score models. While closing the account won’t necessarily crush your credit score (especially if you have lots of other accounts or older accounts), keeping it open will help maintain it.

There’s no arguing that the Amex Platinum is expensive and valuable; the issue with that value is that it’s complicated. You can receive $1,000s in benefits every year, but much of it is doled out in monthly, quarterly or semi-annual increments (some of which require enrollment).

That said, even if you aren’t intentionally maximizing every perk, you may be utilizing benefits without realizing it — and you may also qualify for a generous retention offer. When you call to cancel the card, you’ll typically get transferred to the retention department. Their job is to convince you to keep the card, and they may offer incentives to do so. These offers are highly targeted.

In my experience, you’re more likely to receive a retention offer if you call close to when your annual fee is due. Amex generally will refund an annual fee within 30 days of it posting to your account, so you have leeway with this.

Online reports suggest you could be targeted for several hundred dollars in statement credits or 15,000 to 50,000+ points. Your offer may require a minimum amount of spending to earn, but these deals can easily make it worth keeping the card for another year. In the past, I received an Amex Platinum retention offer for 30,000 points after spending $4,000 within three months.

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For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.

For rates and fees of the American Express Platinum Card®, click here.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Green Card, click here.