How To Find A 100,000 American Express Platinum Offer – Forbes Advisor

Pulling the trigger on American Express’ Platinum Card® can feel like a big step. The card’s annual fee is high, which feels like a big commitment. And the card welcome offer fluctuates over time, so you might have to worry if you got the best deal. While there is no permanent guarantee of any particular offer, finding a six figure bonus usually means you’ve found a great one. How to find an Amex Platinum deal for 100,000 points – or more.

Should you apply for American Express’ The Platinum Card®?

Your eyes may have lit up at the prospect of earning 100,000 or more membership rewards with a single card welcome offer. No doubt that’s a great incentive, but it’s not the only reason to apply for a Platinum card. The card also offers over $1,500 in various annual credits, numerous travel benefits, and consumer protections built into the card.

Of course, you’ll also earn 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 per calendar year, 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel, and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases.

With all these benefits and a solid welcome offer to boot, you might think that applying for the card is a breeze, but there’s always a catch. In this case, the card comes with an annual fee of $695 (see Rates and Fees), so you should be sure you’re getting all the benefits before you decide to apply. Our Amex Platinum Card Review can help you decide.

How to determine which American Express Platinum Card offer is the best

The other question to consider is should you apply for the Platinum Card now? This is important as the welcome offer changes several times a year. It is also important because you are usually only eligible to receive a welcome bonus once. Therefore, you should be sure that you are getting the best possible offer when you apply.

In general, when you see an offer for 100,000 points or more, you can be sure that it’s a good time to apply. A welcome offer of this size is worth $1,000 when you book select trips or redeem for participating gift cards. It can be even more rewarding when you transfer your membership rewards to partner loyalty programs and book travel through their associated frequent flyer program. For example, 100,000 points is enough for a round-trip business class flight between the US and Europe, a ticket that typically costs more than US$2,000.

When comparing multiple offers, don’t forget to also consider the minimum spend requirements. Sometimes Platinum Card offers of 100,000, 125,000 or even 150,000 points require a lot of money in a short time. Remember that if you don’t spend the full amount, you won’t get the offer. Because of this, a smaller pool of bonus points may make more sense to you, if it also requires an amount that you’re happy with.

How the bonus is structured can also contribute to what constitutes the best offer. For example, not all welcome bonuses focus exclusively on a flat pool of points. In the past, we’ve seen offers of up to 15 points per dollar on select purchases, in addition to a more traditional flat bonus. In such cases, combining two types of bonus points can put you ahead in the long run.

How to find an Amex 100,000, 125,000 or 150,000 offer

Sometimes you are lucky that the standard Platinum American Express Welcome Offer is very good. Today there is a publicly available offer: 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on card purchases in the first 6 months of card membership. But if you’re not satisfied with the current offering, you might have other options to explore.

Targeted offers from American Express

For starters, you may be approached with a customized offer just for you. These offers often come in the mail and may include an invite code that you must provide when applying. So if you’re thinking about applying for a new credit card, don’t throw away all the flyers and marketing materials you receive in the mail without looking at them first—there might be an improved deal waiting for you.

American Express also has a tool on their website that you can use to search for pre-qualified offers. They need to enter some very basic personal information like your name and address so they can determine what offers are available to you. However, a credit check will only be carried out if you apply formally. You may notice an increased offer – even if you don’t, you’ll know if you were prequalified and are more likely to be admitted.

If you’re an existing American Express cardholder, you may also receive emails with targeted offers. In addition, you may be presented with offers when you log into your online account. These offers may consist of applying for new cards or upgrading an existing account to the Platinum Card. Either way, you should give them a check.

Offers via the CardMatch tool

Similar to finding pre-qualified offers, CardMatch is a tool that allows you to search for targeted offers without running a credit check. CardMatch works with multiple card issuers, so you may receive offers for cards you are not interested in and you may not receive a single offer from American Express.

Despite these limitations, CardMatch sometimes finds higher offers as they can share targeted bonuses from banks they are affiliated with. There is no guarantee that you will find a higher offer on the Platinum Card – or any offer at all – but it is one of the best sources for alternative welcome offers.

Only apply for offers that you are eligible for

It is possible that you accidentally come across a link for a higher welcome offer. However, be careful when applying for offers that are neither publicly available nor specifically targeted to you. American Express has strict terms and conditions and you may not get a bonus at all if they suspect you are cheating that you are cheating the system:

“If we determine in our sole discretion that you have abused, abused or gambled in any way in connection with the Welcome Offer, or intend to do so… we may not credit Membership Rewards® points, we may freeze Membership Rewards® points credited, or we may deduct Membership Rewards® points from your account.”

Additionally, there were reports that American Express allegedly closed other accounts that were already open and blacklisted cardholders entirely. The chance to get a few extra points isn’t worth the risk of not being able to collect membership rewards at all.

bottom line

The Platinum Card has had some amazing welcome offers lately with bonuses in the upper six figures. When the publicly available offers are so high, there is no need to look for Amex Platinum 100,000 offers. In other cases, taking a few steps in finding targeted offers can help you find a boosted welcome offer that’s made specifically for you. Regardless of how you apply, an offer of this magnitude is a valuable asset and another compelling reason to add the card to your wallet.

To see prices and fees for American Express’ The Platinum Card®, please visit this page.