Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
Maximize Your Earn, Part 1: American Express Credit Card Multipliers
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Business Platinum Card from American Express
- Earn 90,000 MR points upon spending $15,000 in the first three months
- Plus, earn 40,000 MR points upon making a purchase in months 14–17 as a cardholder
- And, earn 1.25x MR points on all purchases
- Also, receive a $200 annual travel credit
- Transfer MR points to Aeroplan and other frequent flyer programs for premium flights
- Unlimited airport lounge access for you and one guest at Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Centurion, and other lounges
- Credits and rebates for business expenses throughout the year with Amex Offers
- Bonus MR points for referring family and friends
- Qualify for the card as a sole proprietor
- Annual fee: $799
13 Comments
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I’ve been following you for a while now and love all the tips that you give. I definitely aspire to fly more in business and first class and am working to accrue enough points to get me there. My question is what to do with all the cards once you’ve earned all the points? I currently have and plan to keep the Amex platinum, cobalt and Marriot Bonvoy as I can easily see how the ongoing benefits beyond the sign up bonus justify the annual fees. But I also have the BMO world elite MC (my oldest credit card), the TD visa infinite through which I’m due to earn a buddy pass next month and that gives me free bags on AC, RBC avion visa infinite (the one I’m most likely to get rid of) and, most recently, the Amex business
platinum. I am also eyeing the Amex Gold. Problem is my eyes are starting to water at the combined annual fees and the effort involved in managing so many cards. (My husband has his set too!).
How long do you tend to hold on to cards? How frequently do you churn? Which of my cards would you get rid of first?
Thanks for your advice
Hi! I’d love to answer all your questions but that’s quite a loaded post and I would be writing an essay here. I would encourage you to book a consult session so we can discuss further.
Thank you for the article. Question about multiplier bonuses…if I have a 10x multiplier, I want to pre-book some travel taking advantage of that. If closer to the travel date I decide to change or cancel the booking, do I lose the 10x multiplier or only the multiplier for that category?
I believe amex reserve does not have a 2 times point multiplier on groceries only dining and food delivery.
Yes! Thanks for catching that.
Thank you for the article! Looking forward to the next one. How do the lounge passes work? I have a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids). Do they allow the whole family to enter?
You’ll have to look at the terms and conditions of each card and which particular lounge you are trying to enter. Some cards provide lounge access by virtue of just holding the card while others provide access via third party programs like Priority Pass. Not all Priority Passes issued by credit cards are the same. Some offer a fixed number of visits per year (ie. 4 passes a year so you could potentially get 4 members of your family in on a one time use basis) while others allow unlimited access for you and up to 2 guests. For my family, I make sure both my husband and I both have cards that provide lounge access in order to cover our family of 5 on any given trip.
Ah, the headache of “which card should I use” 🙂 I also have an Excel spreadsheet with categories and multipliers, just like you 😉
My “decision tree” of which card to use:
– If travel outside of Canada, use no foreign transaction fee cards (doesn’t matter the multipliers, that 2.5% FX fee is a lot)
– Always prioritize new cards with minimum spend first (doesn’t matter the multipliers, better hit that min spend on time LOL :D)
– Keep at least 1 non-AmEx card in the wallet (how many times do we see “Sorry no Amex” 🙂 )
– When traveling, use the card with the best insurance possible (likely to be the best multipliers as well)
– Also consider any credits (like groceries credits of AmEx Plat a long time ago) to use them first
My friend tells me that I should build an optimization model for this haha 😀
Brilliant.
You are taking even more relevant and time sensitive factors into control.
I currently own a platinum but interested in getting a cobalt too. I see you suggest to hold both (and I do see the benefits). How do you make the most of $850 yearly fee? (How to optimize spend with both cards)
Maximize the 5X earn on groceries and dining on the Cobalt if you can. Then use the Plat for access to lounges, travel insurance, 2x travel multiplier, $200 annual hotel credit, fine hotels and resort benefits, hotel and car rental elite status. I also signed up under an offer that gives a free authorized user which gives them similar benefits (and our whole family into the lounge for free). Amex often has special statement credit offers that if you use and add up, often outweighs the cost of the card. If you hold another premium card already like the Aeroplan Reserve, you may find holding the Platinum card harder to justify.
What might come into play for many of us here is the Aeroplan offer of reaching 30,000 points to maintain your current AC status for next year. While it obviously make sense to always use your Colbalt card for the 5x at restaurants, it could be worth it if you think you can reach those 30,000 points by November 30 and pay with the Amex Aeroplan card but only receive the 2x eats points.
Yes, definitely something to consider for those who currently hold AC status!