7 Platinum Cards! My Awesome Amex Platinum Retention Offer

Amex Retention Offer

In this post I’ll cover the details and background on my latest Amex Retention offer. There are currently seven American Express Platinum cards open in my house- we have two Business cards and the rest are personal Platinums. I’d rather not think about how much that is in annual fees (don’t even ask how many other premium cards we have- it’s like embarrassing). 2022 was supposed to be the year that I finally cancelled a few of them since I’m paying a ton in annual fees for a whole bunch of redundant benefits- there are only so many different memberships to lounges and Global Entry credits a person can use in a year. In a perfect world I would keep one personal Platinum card and one Business Platinum card. I value the credits on the personal platinum pretty heavily and the reason I love the Business version is the 35% Pay with Points airfare rebate (Full Guide to this awesome benefit here).

So in late December I was faced with the first of my annual renewals for the Business Platinum card but I wasn’t sure it made a ton of sense to cancel that specific card because the annual fee was hiked up to $695 for new applicants and renewals beginning January 1, 2022. Basically, I could either lock in one more year at $595 or cancel and keep the other business one which will renew at the new fee.  Rather than overanalyzing the $100 difference I decided to see if Amex would offer me a retention offer either in the form of points or statement credits (I’m not picky).

Related: How to Use Amex Airline Credits in 2022

Asking for a Retention Offer

The first thing Amex reps generally do when you ask for a retention offer is ask you what your needs for the card are and then they go through every last benefit which is always really annoying to me. But you have to suffer through it if you have any hope of getting an offer or having the fee waived. The Business Platinums newly added benefits – listed below – are of marginal value to me.

• $400 in Annual Statement Credits on Dell Purchases (doubled from last year)
• $360 in Annual Statement Credits at Indeed (useless to me)
• $150 in Annual Statement Credits on Adobe Products (only for very expensive memberships)
• $120 Each Year for Wireless Phone Service (at $10 a month I can’t be bothered to make multiple payments)
• $179 Statement Credit for CLEAR Membership (Annually)

Of course I make use of the airline credit and the Dell credits but otherwise the only reason I hold on to the Business platinum card is the airfare rebate I mentioned earlier. I mentioned that I had a bunch of Platinums and the benefits overlap plus it’s been pretty hard to travel the last few years so I just can’t justify the fee anymore. Generally at this point the rep tells you to hold for a retention specialist but this time it was a little different.

In the past I’ve had mixed luck but usually get denied by Amex or offered a spending offer that barely moves the needle. BUT, not this time. This time Amex decided to be really generous and offer me a statement credit for the full amount of the annual fee ($595).

Keeping my Amex Business Platinum Card for Another Year

Spoiler Alert! I kept the card. I swear I’ll cancel next year, but I’ll probably also cancel my other American Express Business Platinum Card unless they give me a similar offer. I can always squeeze a few hundred out of the benefits each year so the outcome is definitely a net positive for me. Share your experiences and offers in the comments below.