Here in the Canadian Miles & Points landscape, this week has been something of an emotional rollercoaster thanks to American Express.
We learned of the insanely lucrative Double Rewards promotion on the Platinum Card, which provides cardmembers with “double the points” and “double the value” when earning and redeeming Membership Rewards points until July 20, 2020.
The usual “3-2-1” earning rates are doubled to “6-4-2”, while your points can now be redeemed against statement purchases at an unbelievable rate of 1,000 points = $20. This makes the Platinum Card effectively a no-limit 4% cash back card with 8% and 12% bonus categories as well, propelling it to the undisputed rank of the best credit card in Canada.
On the other hand, this week we also heard a few troubling instances of American Express unilaterally cancelling cards, which seems to indicate a trend to align with its US counterpart in discouraging unprofitable behaviour among cardholders.
In this week’s video, we discuss both of this week’s developments, including how to maximize the Double Rewards promotion to full advantage, as well as how we should adapt our American Express credit card strategy given their newfound heavy-handedness.
Without further ado, you can watch the video below:
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Hm, I applied for a new personal Plat and it doesn’t seem to qualify for the 1000pts = $20 promotion.
I’m a bit conservative with some of these things.
I’m going to assume that if you’ve had a plat within the past year (as is my case) you’re not going to be eligible for the sign up bonus.. or if it is granted, there’s a decent chance that it’ll be clawed back.
So.. my analysis is going to look at just the rewards promotion.
I’m further going to assume that most spend is going to be in the 4% category.
The AF on the Platinum card is $499 after the travel credit. Most of the other benefits of the Platinum (travel benefits) are worthless at this point in time, which is why Amex needs to entice people with this promo.
To make up that $499 at 4% cashback.. you’d need to spend $12,475 (over the next three months) on the card to break even. (Further, consider the opportunity cost of putting the spend on a different card)
As mentioned, this is a conservative take on it. You can do better with sign up bonuses, and different spending categories as applicable.
So, to me, this sounds like a good opportunity IF:
1. You qualify for the sign up bonus (and they pay out the bonus in time to cash out at the double rate.. and there is a risk – perhaps a small one – that they may not).
and/or
2. You’re able to put very large amounts of spend on the card in a short period of time.
Personally, I think I’m going to pass on this.
Well it seem like new Amex Plat can’t take advantage of the double cash on statement , because according to Amex t&c it can take up to 8 weeks (i am assuming after first 3 months) to receive the welcome bonus. So it seems like it will be cutting it real close since its already end of April and Amex promo is till July 31. Good chance welcome bonus won’t hit account in time.
Most often, you receive the welcome bonus as soon as you make the purchase that brings you over the spending threshold.
Currently should it be possible to get again the bonus if I had the Platinum previously and cancelled 12 months ago…?
Data points are mixed, it seems.
Are you not going to talk about Amex shutting down tons of accounts of people suspected of gaming the system?? And losing ALL their points??
Well, what do you think “And Other News This Week” was in reference to?
He did. Watch the video ????