AMEX Platinum Charge offering 110,000 MR points sign-up bonus

American Express has launched a new sign-up offer for the AMEX Platinum Charge, which is valid for approvals up till 31 January 2023. New cardholders will enjoy 110,000 bonus Membership Rewards (MR) points and 25,000 base MR points upon approval and spending S$20,000 in the first 3 months.

This offer is notably smaller than the previous one (175,000 bonus MR points), and there’s a reason: American Express will be adding S$1,200 of dining, lifestyle and travel credits from 2023, but anyone approved before 31 January 2023 will also receive the existing S$800 airline and hotel credits. 

Of course, the best case scenario would have been to sign up during the previous offer (since you’d still enjoy S$800 airline and hotel credits + S$1,200 new credits + a larger sign-up bonus), but that ship has already sailed…

Even if you take a haircut on the value of the credits, once you factor in the value of the sign-up bonus, free hotel stay and other vouchers, you should be well-placed to recover your first year’s annual fee. 

New AMEX Platinum Charge sign-up offer

Apply Here
	MR Points
Pay S$1,712 Annual Fee	N/A
Spend S$5,000 (Months 1-3)	35K (25K public + 10K MileLion)
Spend S$20,000 (Months 1-3)	75K
Base Points from S$20,000 (@ 2 pts/S$1.60)	25K
Total Spend	S$20K
Total Points	135K

From now till 31 January 2023, new AMEX Platinum Charge cardholders will receive up to 135,000 MR points when they sign-up, pay the S$1,712 annual fee (S$1,728 if you sign up in 2023) and spend S$20,000 in the first 3 months of approval. 

This is broken down into:

• 25,000 MR points for spending S$5,000 in the first 3 months 
  • +10,000 MR points if you apply through The MileLion
• 75,000 MR points for spending a further S$15,000 in the first 3 months (i.e. S$20,000 total)
• 25,000 MR points for spending S$20,000 (@ 2 points per S$1.60)

Do note that the spending window has been shortened to 3 months, compared to 6 months previously.

Terms & Conditions

• 25,000/75,000 MR points sign-up bonus (Page 2- note that they phrase it slightly differently as 25,000/100,000 MR points, but read it carefully and you’ll realise it’s the same thing)
• 10,000 MR points sign-up bonus (Page 5)

This offer cannot be further stacked with any MGM bonuses, and terminating the card within six months of approval will lead to a clawback of the sign-up bonus.

In terms of crediting timelines:

• 25,000/75,000 MR points will be credited within 8 weeks of meeting the spend threshold
• 10,000 MR points will be credited within 12 weeks of meeting the spend threshold

Any questions about the promotion should be directed to American Express (and if the CSOs say to contact MileLion, they’re mistaken; all fulfilment is from the AMEX side).

For avoidance of doubt, spending by both principal and supplementary cardholders will be pooled when determining whether the minimum spend threshold has been met. 

What counts as qualifying spending?

AMEX has a list of excluded spending categories here, but the key ones to note are: 

• GrabPay top-ups
• Insurance
• Public hospitals and polyclinics
• SPC transactions
• Utilities

For the avoidance of doubt, CardUp, private and non-profit hospital bills, donations, and anything else not explicitly stated in the exclusion list will count as eligible spend. 

Double dipping on credits

As mentioned earlier, the AMEX Platinum Charge will be undergoing some changes from early 2023, so we’re in a bit of a transition period now.

AMEX Platinum Charge adds S$1,200 dining, lifestyle and travel credits

Here’s how it works: if your card is approved before 31 January 2023, you’ll still enjoy the S$800 airline and hotel credits. You’ll need to redeem them by 31 January 2023 (so don’t leave it too late), but the actual travel date can be any time in the future.

In addition to this, you’ll also be eligible to register for the S$1,200 statement credits when they go live in early 2023. These are split as follows:

• S$200 in dining credits at participating local restaurants
• S$200 in dining credits at participating overseas restaurants
• S$400 in lifestyle credits at participating retail partners (min. spend applies)
• S$204 (not a typo) in entertainment credits for news or music streaming services
• S$200 in airline credits for spend at Singapore Airlines (min. spend applies)

We don’t have the T&Cs for these credits yet, so it’s unclear who exactly are the participating merchants. I’ve speculated a bit in this post, but we’ll only know for sure at a later point.

In any case, that’s S$2,000 worth of credits plus up to 110,000 bonus MR points for anyone who applies during this period. It may be necessary to take a haircut on the value of some of those credits (especially if they’re for merchants you won’t frequent), but together with the sign-up bonus and other Platinum Charge perks, it’s certainly possible to earn back the first year’s annual fee and then some. 

Don’t take my word for it though; S$1,712 is a big investment. Take some time to read about each of the perks and do your your sums before pulling the trigger.

Conclusion

Apply Here

MileLion readers can enjoy a sign-up bonus of 110,000 MR points when they get approved by 31 January 2023 and spend S$20,000 in the first 3 months of approval. On top of this, they’ll also receive S$800 in hotel and airline credits, plus a further S$1,200 in dining, lifestyle and entertainment credits come early 2023. 

All in all, a good way to get started on your AMEX Platinum Charge journey.