135. Amex Platinum Cards Refresh: What's New, What's Missing, and What We Really Think

Point Me To First Class

Devon Gimbel MD

Finances, Education, How To, Travel, Credit, Expenses, Card, Cards, Society & Culture, Professionals, Tips, Personal, Places & Travel, Business, Points, Rewards

5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Back in June, Chase refreshed its personal Sapphire Reserve card and introduced the Chase Sapphire Reserve Business card, complete with highest ever annual fees for rewards cards. Not to be outdone, American Express quickly followed with its own updates to the personal and business Platinum Cards. Now that the details are here, it's time to look at what's changed and what it means for cardholders.

In this episode, I'm joined by Kelly, the Points and Miles Doc to walk through the Amex Platinum cards refresh. We cover the higher annual fees, the new credits, and why the personal Platinum still struggles with bonus categories. You'll also hear our reactions to the removal of the 35% rebate on the business Platinum, the addition of a $600 hotel credit, and the new 2X earning on large purchases over $5,000.

We share our thoughts on whether the $895 annual fee on the personal Platinum makes sense, how the new benefits are user-dependent, and why the business Platinum refresh feels more useful for high spenders.

Get full show notes and transcript: https://pointmetofirstclass.com/amex-platinum-refresh-2025/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher than average expenses to travel the world.
0:10.7	I'm your host, Devin Gimble, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset, if you know how to leverage them.
0:17.8	Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often. Let's get started.
0:29.6	Hey everyone and welcome back to the podcast. Back in June, Chase made some big waves in the credit
0:35.2	card space by not only introducing a new business credit
0:38.4	card to the market, the Chase Sapphire Reserve business card, but also by updating and refreshing
0:43.5	its counterpart on the personal side, the Chase Sapphire Reserve personal credit card. In one fell swoop,
0:49.5	Chase catapulted both the personal and the business Chase Sapphire Reserve credit cards
0:53.6	to the top of the
0:54.9	premium rewards credit card pile, at least in terms of annual fee at $795 each, but not necessarily
1:02.1	in utility or consumer friendliness. Not to be outdone, American Express almost immediately announced
1:08.0	that they were going to do their own refresh of their two signature
1:11.3	premium rewards credit cards, the Amex Personal Platinum card and the Amex business platinum card
1:16.9	to be unveiled in September 2025. Well, that time has come. And we now know what Amex was working on
1:23.9	behind the scenes on both cards. Did Amex get right, everything that Chase got wrong with their premium card refresh?
1:30.8	Back in June, my friend Kelly, the Points and Miles Doc, join me on the podcast for our
1:34.9	unfiltered take on the Chase Sapphire Reserve cards.
1:37.7	And today, she's back for us to give our candid thoughts on the Amex Personal Platinum
1:42.7	and Amex business platinum refreshes,
1:45.3	including what's changed with these cards, whether those changes justify Amex's own annual
1:50.0	fee price increase, and how these updated card offers impact the way we think about our wallets
1:55.9	and our spending. Tune in to hear what we think Amex got right, what we think they got wrong, and whether
	...

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