One of the key perks of American Express Platinum and American Express Gold Cards is a monthly Uber/Uber Eats credit. As a Gold cardholder, you’ll receive $10 a month in Uber Cash while Platinum customers can get $15 per month (plus an additional $20 in December to bring the total to a nice, round $200 per year). However, the downside of this benefit is that it’s “use it or lose it” — meaning that the credits do not roll over from month to month and, instead, expire when a new month begins. On top of that, Amex is now adding a new wrinkle that will further restrict this Uber credit feature.
Earlier this week, Amex observers happened to notice an addition to Uber’s help pages for these benefits that read “To utilize your Monthly Premium Benefits as a [card name] Card Member, you’ll need to select your Amex card as your payment method for trips/orders.” This change is apparently set to take effect on November 8th.
Up until now (or November 8th, really), you could use your Uber Cash toward your order but, if there was still a balance due, you could pay with any other card. This was good news for credit card enthusiasts who may have Uber credit-earning Amex cards but also some other rewards cards with enhanced dining or rideshare point multipliers. Back in the days of the Uber Credit Card, that’s exactly what I’d do: use my Platinum card’s Uber Cash but put the rest on the Uber card to get 5x points.
When this update note was first discovered, some of the forums and sites that I frequent wondered whether this meant that you’d need to pay with the card that you earned the credit from — meaning that stacking the Gold and Platinum cards’ credits and using during a single order might no longer be allowed. Honestly, this my also my first thought as I’m someone who utilizes that very move each month. Luckily, according to The Points Guy, it seems that this won’t be the case as any American Express card can be used to qualify.
Hopefully that does prove to be the case because having to break up the credit usage into two orders would be hugely detrimental to the value I get from this perk. Then again, I’m already trending toward canceling my Gold card when the new, higher annual fee hits, so stacking might not matter to me for long.
Even though this update is a bit of a bummer, assuming TPG is correct with their assertion, this isn’t that big of a deal to me. However, if you did have to use the card you earned the benefit from (meaning you could no longer stack your monthly Uber Cash), then that might be a dealbreaker for me — or at least make me far more annoyed. Still, if you are an Amex Gold or Platinum card member, you’ll want to keep this update in mind as November draws nearer.