American Express Platinum Cashback Card

amexplatcb

I have just been told about this card by a friend and after checking out the details on the Amex website can't believe I have never heard of this before!

From what I can see you get £25 for signing up (so the first year is effectively free) and then 1.25% cashback on ALL spending for the year...with a bonus 5% up to £100 on the first 3 months spending.

Before I sign up - are there any catches I should know about? :beer:

UsernameAlreadyExists

There's the fee ... so you need to spend a certain amount in order that the cashback earned cancels it out. (can't remember the exact figure - it's nothing scary though)

Lots of places still don't take it because the cost for the merchant to take it is so high. Other than that, I have one myself and hammer the hell out of it , and don' forget to setup the DD to clear it each month.

amexplatcb

That's what I thought. The fee is nothing relatively - I think I will go ahead and apply!

UsernameAlreadyExists

One more thing ... I've noticed that some online merchants I've seen are starting to accept payments by paypal as well as debit/credit cards (but still exclude amex) ... I've put my amex card behind my paypal account and loophole it in that way.

Finally, they've not adopted the 3DSecure online system - yet (VerifiedByVisa, MastercardSecurecode). so you don't have to go through the issuer authentication process - which some might perceive as riskier if your card number "escapes" somehow. Also the 3 digit security code on the signature strip that sites ask for, should in fact be the 4DBC (4 digit batch code) which is printed on the front - so make sure you type in the right thing They still have the 3 digit code, but it's meaningless. It's only there because of the card manufacturing process.

pingles

Don't forget it's also eligible for the current Foursquare offers- listed in another thread on the forums.

If your friend also has the card they can generate a referral link for you that gives both of you £25 credits- effectively removing the fee for the first year. If your friend doesn't have the card I can generate a referral for you, PM me if you're interested.

Acceptance can vary but I've been pleasantly surprised to find I can put the vast majority of my monthly spend (prob around 80%-90% depending on the month) onto the card- I just use it rather than my debit card.

You can also add a supplementary card holder for the same account to boost your spend- my wife is a supplementary holder and puts a lot of her spend through it. Finally, I've read other threads where spouses have referred each other once one of them has the account- you'd get £50 in referral bonuses (£25 each) plus a second 5% bonus period.

MPH80

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Finally, they've not adopted the 3DSecure online system - yet (VerifiedByVisa, MastercardSecurecode). so you don't have to go through the issuer authentication process

Actually - they have - it's called AmEx SafeKey.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/membership-benefits-cardmember/american-express-safekey.html

It's just not many retailers have rolled it out.

robot1000

Don't wish to hijack the thread.... but I've been trying to contact AMEX all day, yet it rings and then the lines just cuts off.

Anyone know if they have an email address that they can be contacted through?

JakeGreen

I'm very keen to apply for this card soon as I have a number of big purchases coming up and the 5% cashback would certainly take the edge off them, and the ongoing 1.25% is great too.

What credit limits did you get? I'd need above 10k for the card to be of any use to me.

zerog

JakeGreen wrote: »

I'm very keen to apply for this card soon as I have a number of big purchases coming up and the 5% cashback would certainly take the edge off them, and the ongoing 1.25% is great too.

What credit limits did you get? I'd need above 10k for the card to be of any use to me.

Unless you want to buy something for 10k, you can always pay it off and spend again...

UsernameAlreadyExists

JakeGreen wrote: »

I'm very keen to apply for this card soon as I have a number of big purchases coming up and the 5% cashback would certainly take the edge off them, and the ongoing 1.25% is great too.

What credit limits did you get? I'd need above 10k for the card to be of any use to me.

I got offered 8K to start with ... and I got nowhere near that for a good year or more (and still don't), but they pushed it up to 9.something anyway. So not quite 10K yet, but reasonably close.

re MPH80 and SafeKey, I knew it was coming (I work for an amex owned company ), but hadn't realised it was actually already here ... how embarrasing!

reclusive46

MPH80 wrote: »

Actually - they have - it's called AmEx SafeKey.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/membership-benefits-cardmember/american-express-safekey.html

It's just not many retailers have rolled it out.

I've yet to find a retailer that has rolled it out, although I have heard British airways has it, not sure if thats true though.