In October 2019, I did something that seemed crazy at the time: I applied for a credit card that carried a $550 annual fee. The card was the American Express Platinum card and what attracted me to it were features such as the airport lounge access. At the time, my wife and I had been traveling a lot, so I figured that we’d make good use of this premium travel card. Well, although my initial timing proved less than ideal, my relationship with the Platinum card grew steadily over time. Even when I was scared about a semi-recent refresh, Amex managed to crush it, delivering a card that I was still more than happy to pay $895 per year for.
Well, this past week, I finally canceled my American Express Platinum Card. So what happened?
Okay, sorry for the mislead — but the reason I canceled this version of the Platinum card is that I already got another version earlier this year. Yes, as I previously shared, I decided to get the Charles Schwab American Express Platinum Card so that I could cash out my Membership Rewards points at a rate of 1.1¢ each. Thus, now that it’s renewal time for my “vanilla” Platinum (as it’s often called in credit card enthusiast circle), I decided to say “goodbye” to my original card.
I will say that, while the plan was always to cancel once the $895 annual fee hit, having two Platinums over the past six months has been pretty great. It meant that my wife and I could both use the Lululemon credit (or I could split the transaction via PayPal to use two credits on one item), we got double the Uber credit, got to eat out for free twice each quarter thanks to the Resy credit, and more. In fact, if we were able to use the $300 semi-annual Fine Hotels & Resorts credits a bit more easily or reliably, I might have considered holding onto two Platinums long term! Unfortunately, the math just doesn’t really work out without that $600 per year component.
Now that I think about it, I’m actually saving more than $895 by canceling my vanilla Platinum card — I’m saving an additional $390. That’s because, back when the Platinum allowed you to add up to three additional cardholders for a flat price, I asked two of my friends if they wanted cards (since I’d already added my wife as one). Well, once the change to a per-card price happened, I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the gift I had given them had just gotten more expensive… so I just kept them on and continued paying. But when I decided I was canceling the card altogether, that made it easier to break the news to them.
For all intents and purposes, the Schwab Platinum is essentially the same as the mainline version. That said, one difference is that the Schwab only offers one card design — and I’m already missing the Kehinde Wiley art that was on my other card. I’ll always remember walking into the 21c hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas, seeing a Wiley on display at reception, and thinking, “He did my credit card!” No more.
What’s funny is that, even though I do still have the Platinum card (and can look at the old one whenever I want), I did actually feel a tinge of sadness when canceling yesterday. Or perhaps I was offended that the Amex rep didn’t even bother to try to talk me out of it. Either way, it was oddly emotional.
Let me just close with this: My Vanilla Platinum is dead. Long Live My Schwab Platinum.