American Express has launched a new welcome offer for the AMEX Platinum Charge, valid for applications approved by 30 September 2025.
Unfortunately, it’s the weakest offer we’ve seen in a long time. Not only has the bonus been cut significantly, American Express has also added a distinction between new and existing AMEX cardholders.
While both groups previously enjoyed the same welcome offer, new AMEX customers will now receive 80,000 Membership Rewards (MR) points, and existing AMEX customers will get only 45,000 MR points.
That’s not all. American Express has also tightened its eligibility criteria, excluding supplementary cardholders from the new-to-AMEX bonus, as well as anyone who has recently cancelled any principal or supplementary card.
AMEX Platinum Charge offering up to 80,000 bonus MR points
 AMEX Platinum Charge |
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| Apply |
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| New | Existing | |
| Annual Fee | S$1,744 (must be paid) |
S$1,744 (must be paid) |
| Spend | S$8,000 |
S$3,000 |
| Spend Period | 90 days | 90 days |
| Base Points | 10,000 MR points (6,250 miles) |
3,750 MR points (2,344 miles) |
| Bonus Points | 80,000 MR points (50,000 miles) |
45,000 MR points (28,125 miles) |
| Total Points | 90,000 MR points (56,250 miles) |
48,750 MR points (30,469 miles) |
New-to-AMEX customers
| ⚠️ Eligibility criteria |
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New-to-AMEX customers who apply for an AMEX Platinum Charge and receive approval by 30 September 2025 will earn 80,000 bonus MR points (50,000 miles) when they spend S$8,000 within the first 90 days of approval.
This bonus is on top of the regular 10,000 MR points (6,250 miles) earned from spending S$8,000.
Existing AMEX customers
| ⚠️ Eligibility criteria |
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| Note: When first published on 31 July 2025, this clause read “You do not previously hold a basic or supplementary consumer Card from American Express that was terminated or otherwise cancelled in the last twelve (12) months prior to the application” |
Existing AMEX customers who apply for an AMEX Platinum Charge and receive approval by 30 September 2025 will earn 45,000 bonus MR points (28,125 miles) when they spend S$3,000 within the first 90 days of approval.
This bonus is on top of the regular 3,750 MR points (2,344 miles) earned from spending S$3,000.
Eligibility criteria has been tightened
With this latest welcome offer, American Express has drastically tightened its eligibility criteria.
Previously, new-to-AMEX customers were defined as anyone who did not currently hold a principal AMEX consumer card. There was no “timeout period”, so in theory, you could cancel your last remaining AMEX card today, and apply for a new AMEX card tomorrow as a new-to-AMEX customer (the only restriction was that you couldn’t apply for the very same card you just cancelled for a 12 or 24 month period).
Now, American Express is saying that even a supplementary AMEX consumer card will disqualify you, and that is a very unwelcome development indeed (UOB tried it some time back, and thank goodness it didn’t stick). In addition to this, applicants must not have cancelled any principal or supplementary AMEX consumer card in the past 12 months.
What counts as qualifying spend?
A minimum qualifying spend of S$3,000 or S$8,000 must be made within 90 calendar days of approval.
Qualifying spend refers to all online and offline retail purchases, whether in Singapore dollars or foreign currency, excluding the following transactions:
| ❌ Qualifying Spend Exclusions |
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a) Charges processed and billed prior to the Enrolment Date or charges prepaid on any Card Account prior to the first billing statement for that Card Account following the Enrolment Date; *Except AMEX Platinum Charge and AMEX Centurion Card |
For the avoidance of doubt, CardUp, private and non-profit hospital bills, charitable donations, education, and anything else not explicitly stated in the exclusion list will count as eligible spend. While American Express added charitable donations and education to its exclusions list on 1 October 2023, an exception was carved out for the AMEX Platinum Charge.
However, if you plan to use CardUp to meet the minimum spend, do note that there are certain restrictions on the type of payments that can be made with an AMEX card.
Spending by both principal and supplementary cardholders will be combined when determining whether the minimum spend threshold has been met.
When will bonus MR points be credited?
Bonus MR points will be awarded within 12 weeks of meeting the minimum spend threshold.
Any questions about the crediting of bonus points should be directed to American Express.
Terms & Conditions
How does this compare to previous offers?
For the sake of comparison, here’s a summary of the recent welcome offers we’ve seen for the AMEX Platinum Charge.
New customers
| 💳 AMEX Platinum Charge Welcome Offers (New-to-AMEX) |
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| Date | Min. Spend | Bonus MR Points & Gifts |
| Current | S$8,000 | 80,000 |
| 29 May to 30 Jul 25 |
S$4,000 | 95,000 + FCY spend bonus |
| S$8,000 | 150,000 + S$50 | |
| 17 Feb to 28 May 25 | S$8,000 | 150,000 + S$100 |
| 3 Dec 24 to 16 Feb 25 | S$8,000 | 88,000 + 2x Samsonite luggage or S$800 + 2x Samsonite luggage |
| 1 Oct to 2 Dec 24 | S$8,000 | 88,000 + Samsonite luggage + S$100 or Samsonite luggage + S$900 |
| 6-30 Sep 24 | S$8,000 | 131,000 + S$100 eCV |
| 24 Jul – 5 Sep 24 | S$8,000 | 131,000 |
| 1-23 Jul 24 | S$8,000 | 93,000 |
| 30 May-30 Jun 24 | S$6,000 | 132,500 |
| 9-29 May 24 | S$6,000 | 127,500 + S$350 voucher or Samsonite luggage |
| 1 Apr-8 May 24 | S$10,000 | 137,500 |
| 1-31 Mar 24 | S$6,000 | 127,500 + RC stay |
| 29 Jan – 28 Feb 24 | S$6,000 | 132,500 + S$200 voucher |
| 27 Sep 23- 28 Jan 24 | S$6,000 | 132,500 |
| 12-26 Sep 23 | S$8,000 | 60,000 + Samsonite luggage |
| 5-11 Sep 23 | S$10,000 | 100,000 |
| Spending time periods may not be the same across all offers; refer to the respective articles for the full details |
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Existing customers
| 💳 AMEX Platinum Charge Welcome Offers (Existing AMEX customer) |
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| Date | Min. Spend | Bonus MR Points & Gifts |
| Current | S$3,000 | 45,000 |
| 29 May to 30 Jul 25 | S$4,000 | 95,000 + FCY spend bonus |
| S$8,000 | 150,000 + S$50 | |
| 17 Feb to 28 May 25 | S$8,000 | 150,000 + S$100 |
| 3 Dec 24 to 16 Feb 25 | S$8,000 | 88,000 + 2x Samsonite luggage or S$800 + 2x Samsonite luggage |
| 1 Oct to 2 Dec 24 | S$8,000 | 88,000 + Samsonite luggage + S$100 or Samsonite luggage + S$900 |
| 6-30 Sep 24 | S$8,000 | 120,000 + S$100 eCV |
| 24 Jul – 5 Sep 24 | S$8,000 | 120,000 |
| 1-23 Jul 24 | S$8,000 | 93,000 |
| 30 May-30 Jun 24 | S$6,000 | 85,000 |
| 5 Apr-29 May 24 | S$6,000 | 127,500 |
| 29 Feb – 4 Apr 24 | S$6,000 | 80,000 |
| 29 Jan – 28 Feb 24 | S$6,000 | 85,000 |
| 12-26 Sep 23 | S$8,000 | 60,000 |
| 5-11 Sep 23 | S$8,000 | 60,000 |
| Spending time periods may not be the same across all offers; refer to the respective articles for the full details | ||
What can you do with Membership Rewards points?
AMEX Platinum Charge cardholders can convert MR points to airline miles or hotel points at the following rates:
| 💳 Membership Rewards Transfer Partners | |
| Frequent Flyer Programme | 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 |
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400:250 Temporarily unavailable |
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400:250 |
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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 AMEX Platinum Charge cardholders receive a preferential conversion rate of 400 points = 250 airline miles, compared to regular cardholders who get 450 points = 250 airline miles.
Membership Rewards points do not expire, and all conversions are free of charge.
AMEX Platinum Charge: Key benefits
AMEX Platinum Charge cardholders can enjoy benefits such as:
- S$1,354 of dining, entertainment, lifestyle, travel and fashion credits each calendar year
- COMO Club C5 membership (no birthday benefits for newly fast-tracked members)
- Unlimited airport lounge access for the cardholder + 1 guest
- Priority Pass Lounges
- Centurion Lounges (2 guests allowed)
- Plaza Premium Lounges
- One complimentary hotel night every membership year
- Tower Club access
- Tower Club & assorted dining vouchers
- Access to the American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts programme, which offers perks such as free breakfast, room upgrades (subject to availability), a US$100 experience credit and guaranteed late check-out
- Hilton Honors Gold status, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status, Pan Pacific DISCOVERY Platinum status & Radisson Rewards Premium status
- American Express Love Dining
- American Express Chillax
- Platinum Golf privileges
The S$1,354 of statement credits are split into:
- S$150 fashion credits at Mr Porter and NET-A-PORTER
- S$200 dining credits at participating local restaurants
- S$200 dining credits at participating overseas restaurants
- S$400 lifestyle credits at participating retail partners
- S$204 entertainment credits for news or music streaming services (disbursed as S$17 per month)
- S$200 airline credits for Singapore Airlines or Scoot
It’s important to highlight that the statement credits are now disbursed on a half-yearly basis (e.g. S$100 local dining credits from Jan-Jun, and another S$100 from Jul-Dec), which makes them harder to fully utilise. I’d strongly encourage you to read this article in detail to understand the implications.
Also, note that the first supplementary cardholder no longer receives unlimited Priority Pass visits. Instead, their entitlement has been cut to just eight per year, effective 13 February 2025.
Conclusion
| AMEX Platinum Charge |
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| Apply |
The latest AMEX Platinum Charge welcome offer is worth up to 80,000 bonus MR points, but American Express has dramatically narrowed the pool of eligible applicants with its new restrictions.
One particularly unwelcome one is that supplementary cardholders will now be excluded from the new-to-AMEX definition, and that sets a very bad precedent I hope other banks do not follow.
Given that the AMEX Platinum Charge is a significant investment, snagging a generous welcome offer was always key to making it worthwhile. Under the current conditions, I’d say it’d be quite hard to justify getting onboard now.
For those who intend to use the global dining credit, remember to check and ask the wait staff or cashier if their AMEX terminal are working. Some restaurants are not so forthcoming when diners had finished their meals and the AMEX terminal failed to charge. They will process payment thru another cafe or restaurant nearby and failed to inform the guests. As a result, the receipt and charge slip will not reflect the actual dining venue and thus ineligible for the dining credit. Remember to check the AMEX terminals as well as the charge slip and invoice.
FYI the regular MGM offer gives 100k MR each for both referee and referer. Aaron should negotiate a better offer for his readers
Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as going to AMEX and saying “hey give me a better deal”. the MGM offer is supposed to be the best on the market but – and this is the crucial part – it’s capped at just three people because it’s meant to be used by individuals. I could always post my personal link, but I can’t promise you’ll be part of the first 3. And with the number of visitors this site has, you probably won’t. All other channels, whether it’s me, SingSaver, Moneysmart, or even AMEX’s public facing website, will then have the… Read more »
Another one of those people sitting around waiting to be spoonfed. Why don’t you negotiate a better offer for Aaron and charge him a commission for it? LOL.
Still worth renewing?
Thanks Aaron for the summary.
You are right, given it’s premium price tag and offering and cut of signup bonus , hard to justify this card
I rather signup other cards
What happens if I had signed up on 23rd July and its still pending to be approved?