I’m currently writing my annual year in review piece for the AMEX Platinum Charge, which recaps the value I got from my card in the 2022/23 membership year.
In my analysis, I always caveat that I’m writing from the perspective of a renewing cardholder. A first-time cardholder would get even more value because of:
- the welcome offer (currently 132,500 bonus MR points)
- the ability to use two sets of Platinum Statement Credits in the first year
And as I was doing the sums, it dawned on me that the first year’s value proposition for the AMEX Platinum Charge is now incredibly strong. Yes, the S$1,728 annual fee is no small matter, but I’m confident I can more than cover it through the card benefits.
That’s made me decide to get a second AMEX Platinum Charge (well, technically The MileLioness is getting it, but I was the one who had to do the convincing!).
A second AMEX Platinum Charge?
To be clear, I don’t intend to be dual-wielding Platinum Charges for very long. In fact this will, in all likelihood, be a purely one-year move.
The plan is that The MileLioness will get her AMEX Platinum Charge this month, so her 2023/24 membership year will run from October 2023 to September 2024.
This lets her enjoy all of the following, for the payment of a single S$1,728 annual fee.
132,500 MR points welcome offer
| ⚠️ Story Update |
| Since this article was published, the welcome offer has changed. The current welcome offer (valid for applications till 29 May 2024) features 127,500 MR points and a one-night Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore hotel stay. |
 AMEX Platinum Charge |
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| Apply Here |
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| New Customers | Existing Customers | |
| Spend S$5,000 (Mo. 1-3) |
5K | 5K |
| Spend S$6,000 (Mo. 1-2) |
127.5K | 80K |
| Base Points from S$6,000 (@ 2 pts/S$1.60) |
7.5K | 7.5K |
| Total Spend | S$6K | S$6K |
| Total Points | 140K | 92.5K |
| S$1,728 annual fee must be paid | ||
As a new-to-AMEX customer, The MileLioness can take advantage of the best welcome offer we’ve ever seen for the AMEX Platinum Charge.
AMEX Platinum Charge 132,500 MR points welcome offer: Now with lowest-ever minimum spend
Cardholders who spend S$6,000 in the first 60 days of approval will receive 132,500 bonus MR points, on top of 7,500 base MR points. These can be transferred to the following airline and hotel loyalty programmes.
| 💳 Membership Rewards Transfer Partners | |
| Partner | Conversion Ratio (AMEX: Partner) |
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400:250 |
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400:250 |
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400:250 |
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400:250 |
 |
400:250 |
 |
400:250 |
 |
400:250 |
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400:250 |
 |
400:250 |
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400:250 |
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1,000:1,000 |
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1,000:1,250 |
| Do note that the AMEX Platinum Charge receives a preferential conversion rate of 400 points = 250 airline miles, compared to regular AMEX Cards which get 450 points = 250 airline miles. | |
Assuming The MileLioness picks KrisFlyer, the value of the welcome offer (i.e. 132,500 bonus MR points) is ~S$1,250, based on a value of 1.5 cents per mile.
Even better, the opportunity cost of meeting this S$6,000 spend will be minimal, because The MileLioness has a payment for a dental course coming up. This codes as Education, and while American Express added education transactions to its rewards exclusion list on 1 October 2023, an exception was carved out for the Platinum Charge and Centurion.
Since I wouldn’t be able to earn miles on this transaction with other cards, I might as well use it to hit the sign up bonus.
Two sets of Platinum Statement Credits
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| 💳 Annual Statement Credits |
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| Credit | Amt. | Min. Spend | No. of Trxns. |
| Local Dining | S$200 per yr. | N/A | Multiple |
| Overseas Dining | S$200 per yr. | N/A | Multiple |
| Lifestyle | S$400 per yr. | S$600 | Single |
| Entertainment | S$17 per mo. | N/A | Multiple |
| Airline | S$200 per yr. | S$600 | Multiple |
| Fashion | S$150 per yr. | N/A | Multiple |
AMEX Platinum Charge Cardholders receive S$1,354 of annual statement credits that can be spent on dining, lifestyle, entertainment, air tickets and fashion.
Guide: AMEX Platinum Charge annual S$1,354 statement credits
| ❓ Just got your card? |
| You can register for these statement credits on the AMEX Offers section of the AMEX app or online banking portal. Do note that it usually takes 3-5 working days after card activation for them to appear |
Because these credits are tracked by calendar year, first-time cardholders like The MileLioness will enjoy two sets of credits in their first membership year:
- 2023 credits: Valid from approval till 31 December 2023
- 2024 credits: Valid from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
Assuming she holds the card for one year, she can expect S$2,429 of value, broken down as follows:
| 💳 First Membership Year | ||
| 2023 Calendar Year (Now to 31 Dec 23) |
2024 Calendar Year (1 Jan to 31 Dec 24) |
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| Local Dining | S$200 | S$200 |
| Overseas Dining | S$200 | S$200 |
| Lifestyle | S$400 | S$400 |
| Entertainment | S$51* | S$153* |
| Airline | S$200 | S$200 |
| Fashion | S$75** | S$150 |
| Total | S$1,126 | S$1,303 |
| *Issued as a S$17 credit per calendar month. Assuming The MileLioness does not renew her card in October 2024, she will only enjoy the Entertainment credit for 9 months in 2024 **Issued as two S$75 credits biannually on 1 Jan (valid till 30 Jun) and 1 Jul (valid till 31 Dec). Since 30 Jun has already passed, there’ll only be a single S$75 credit in the 2023 calendar year |
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I also want to point out how important timing is. We’re fast approaching the end of 2023, and with the exception of the Entertainment credit (which is awarded monthly), statement credits need to be used by 31 December each year. Anything unused is forfeited.
The later you apply in 2023, the less time you have to make use of the 2023 statement credits. It’s not impossible, of course, but just puts extra pressure on you.
Since the current welcome offer runs till 31 January 2024, waiting till January is an option too. However:
- you’ll have to wait almost a full year till January 2025 to use your next batch of statement credits
- you won’t have much time to spend 2025’s credits, assuming you don’t plan to renew your card after one membership year.
| ⚠️ Important note |
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If you plan to cancel your AMEX Platinum Charge after the first membership year, take care not to use any statement credits after the annual fee for the second membership year is charged (which in The MileLioness’ case will happen sometime in October 2024). Cardholders who do will need to appeal for a refund of the second year’s annual fee, which complicates things. This can be avoided if you’ve burned all your statement credits in the run up to the renewal month, so spend them now, not at the last minute! A detailed explanation is available in this post. |
ComoClub C5 vouchers
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| AMEX x COMO |
All AMEX Platinum Charge cardholders receive a complimentary 12-month Comoclub C5 membership.
This comes with various discounts throughout the Como Group, but the real highlight are the birthday perks. In your birthday month, you get:
- S$200 shopping vouchers at Club21 Singapore, Kids21 Singapore and Dover Street Market Singapore
- S$40 dining voucher at COMO Dempsey
- S$20 grocery voucher for SuperNature Singapore or Culina Market Singapore
- COMO Shambhala signature Invigorate essential oil and mask diffuser
- Corkage waiver at COMO Dempsey
- DrHair deep cleansing scalp treatment
Note: There used to be a full-day Maserati driving experience too, but the perk now requires you to redeem 10,000 Comocredits (equivalent to S$2,000 spend).
That’s S$260 of vouchers (all with no minimum spend), and since the Como C5 benefit also applies to supplementary cardholders, you can apply for the two free supplementary cards and share the benefits with family members, netting S$780 in total.
More hotel and dining vouchers
As part of the welcome/renewal kit, AMEX Platinum Charge members will receive a pack of more than two dozen vouchers for hotel stays, dining and spa treatments. Do note that unlike the statement credits, this voucher pack is issued once per membership year.
Some of these vouchers are more useful than others, but the ones I really value are:
- Complimentary 1-night hotel stay at selected properties (mostly from the Banyan Tree Group)
- S$100 Tower Club voucher
- S$50 Wan Hao Restaurant voucher
- 2x complimentary cake or bottle of wine at Fairmont Singapore/Swissotel The Stamford (just buy a coffee or dessert and redeem both vouchers at one go)
It’s tricky to assign a value here since it depends on where you use the hotel voucher, but either way it’s more stuff to offset the annual fee.
Other perks
While these weren’t really at the forefront when I decided to get a second AMEX Platinum Charge, it doesn’t hurt to have them nonetheless:
- The MileLioness getting her own AMEX Platinum Charge frees up her supp. cardholder slot, which I can then reassign to a family member
- The MileLioness will get two complimentary supp. cards of her own, which she can then give to two family members
AMEX Platinum Charge supplementary cardholders enjoy perks such as:
- Unlimited lounge access to the following lounges (only the first supplementary cardholder gets the Priority Pass)
- Centurion Lounges (+2 guests)
- Delta Sky Clubs
- International American Express Lounges (+2 guests)
- Priority Pass (+1 guest)
- Plaza Premium Lounges (+1 guest)
- Como C5 status
- Hilton Gold status
- AMEX Love Dining & Chillax perks
Conclusion
The AMEX Platinum Charge offers an excellent first-year sweet spot, thanks to its welcome offer, two sets of Platinum Statement Credits, Como C5 birthday treats, plus the regular free hotel stay and dining vouchers.
I’m confident The MileLioness can get at least S$4,400 of value out of her card, before even taking into account the value of the free hotel stay and dining vouchers, or the additional lounge access and hotel status for family members via supplementary cards.
For a detailed rundown of how I’ve been using my AMEX Platinum Charge over the past year, look out for my upcoming year in review article!
I like how Marriott gold was conveniently ignored as a perk given it’s almost useless value.
We had our rooms upgraded and checkout time extended so it wasn’t useless.
With every (Chinese) Taobao VIP user being able to pretty much just officially buy Platinum and the borders being open again – good luck in SEA in the foreseeable future.
Ymmv with these things but my bonvoy lifetime gold has been absolutely useless in my experience
Nice work and hard work. You have helped to navigate a lot of “treacherous” mileage routes and give us a concise and precise write up. Many Thanks.
Time for the baby to have a supp platinum card! 😀
I remember I have some issue with terminating the card after doing the double dip of the credits . It’s was quite a few calls to and fro with customer service until they relent and let me cancel . Is it easier now ?
refer here: https://milelion.com/2023/07/30/psa-how-statement-credit-usage-affects-amex-platinum-charge-cancellations/
Hi, I just applied the card through the link here. After finishing the application, I didn’t receive any confirmation email. Is that normal?
yup. amex does not send confirmation emails, strangely.
so how long do they send a response to the application?
Took only 2 days for me
To be honest the value depends on your lifestyle habits. I would not assign $100 to a $100 voucher when I typically would not pay $100 to spend at this place, moreover when such vouchers typically are limited to non-promotional items I am in fact ‘over-paying’. Its a marketing tactic that most companies use- pay $x to get $x + $y + $z. But in the first place would I have even make my spending there under normal circumstances without any promotion?
yes! that’s exactly true. so it’s highly subjective and will vary from person to person. if you’re the kind who doesn’t normally spend on this sort of thing, then you’ll value it a lot less.
Does the new sign up offer apply to existing supplementary card holders?
Did you read the article you are commenting under?
400k household income is the new middle class in SG. All these vouchers and coupon clipping lmao…
Working class and upper class not interested not interested in coupon clippings?
Hi, if I pay my university’s tuition fee via AXS station with the card, does it contribute to the $6k qualifying spend? Understood that education is listed for inclusion but that seems like direct epayments or over-the-counter transactions.
axs= no points.
Got it, thank you!
Is it a bit limited time to apply in Nov/Dec and better in January next year? Assuming the same offer still remains. If I had Plat Charge in the past (more than 5 years ago), will I qualify for first year offer?
The “existing Amex customers”
refer to OTHER Amex card members or is it applicable to Amex Plat Charge current members as well? Amex CS told me this offer is not valid for existing Amex charge card members 😦
It’s confusing bc the $1728 fee one is called Platinum Card, the $324 fee one is called Platinum Charge.
You probably mean the Platinum Credit Card for $324. The Platinum Charge card is the one that’s branded “The Platinum Card”, but often referred to as charge card (even on Amex website) for clarity.
If I have a COMO C4 membership through the platinum credit card. Would I still get to enjoy the C5 birthday perk or it will overlap and lose out on the C4 $120 birthdays vouchers? Any insights will be helpful