American Express Platinum charge card downgrade, annual fees

[super5]

Does anyone know if you can downgrade an American Express Platinum charge card to one without an annual fee? I heard you need to downgrade to the Gold or Green charge card, but what are their annual fees? Are their annual fees worth it, considering the Gold and Green charge cards have almost no benefits in Australia? Can customer service be persuaded to waive those annual fees?

 

[Happy Dude]

Does it need to be a charge card? You're right in that the gold/green are pretty useless. I'm sure they'll happily transfer you to a no fee credit card though. There's a method for getting retention points in the Amex forum, although success stories are becoming fewer, which may be a reason to keep the Plat.

 

[TakaHas]

Based on the Target Market Determination (TMD), Green charge card is $80 annual fee and Gold charge card is $130. If you wish to have Membership Rewards (MR) program, it will be an additional $80 annual fee.

Green: https://www.americanexpress.com/con...uctPDF_The_American_Express_Green_Card_A4.pdf

Gold: https://www.americanexpress.com/con...ductPDF_The_American_Express_Gold_Card_A4.pdf

Both cards have the same MR earning rate:
1.5 points per $1 spent on all purchases
1 point per $1 spent with government bodies in Australia

Note, while you may see it as a downgrade, I believe Amex will treat it as a cancel charge card and apply credit card if you were to pursue the route of credit card as they are different products. This will result in a record on your credit file showing you have applied for credit whether the credit card has been approved or not.

 

[super5]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was reading in this forum and people were saying they could only downgrade their Platinum charge card, to another charge card. Some said they downgraded to Gold, but never said what annual fee they had to pay for the Gold. Or is it a better idea to close the Platinum card instead of downgrading, and wait 18 months to apply for sign-up bonus again?

 

[Happy Dude]

That may well be the case then. Just call them up, tell them you want an AF-free card and see what they can do.

This formula will help you decide whether it's better to close and reopen in 18 months time:

Total points after 18 months = points from 18 months spend - (sign on bonus + add supp card offer/s).

If Total points is -ve, then close/wait. If +ve, you get more points from spend so don't close.

You need to place some value on the statement credits for 18 months too I suppose, assuming you couldn't get them if you closed your card.

Sounds like you would take a retention offer so try to elicit one when on the phone. It seems offers are for charge cards only (my impression only, I can't be assed going back through the posts to firm up that impression). See this thread if you haven't already.

 

[super5]

I do not have a card yet, I am planning ahead to see what the exit options are, as $1450 annual fee is very high.
Can someone who has downgraded their Platinum charge card before give an idea of the retention offers they were given? I asked for retention offers with another bank, not Amex, and they said they were not allowed to give retention offers anymore after the royal commission.

 

[dein_gesicht]

Base it on $0 retention offers.

Things can change very fast in 12 months

 

[Happy Dude]

FFS. I'm out.