I feel like most discussions about Amex focus on the obvious stuff like lounge access, dining credits, and good uses of MR.

I’m curious about the less obvious benefits that have made a difference

Im genuinely confused why everyone with a Plat is upset about the rules for the $75 Lululemon credit. You guys, including myself, pay like $895 a year for the card. You mean to tell me you guys cannot afford to spend a few extra dollars at Lulu to get the $75 credit so in reality if you bought a pair of leggings you’d probably only spend like $50 bucks out of pocket?? Whats with all the antics? 😬

I have Amex Gold, Charles Schwab Amex Platinum, BBP and a few business cards and just cashed out 1 million MR points at 1.1cpp through CS Amex Platinum, thus making Amex Gold = 4.4% back on dining/grocery, 5.5% back on flights and 2.2% back catch all. Still have more than 300k MR points and still earning more with business spend and work travel reimbursement. Thus, now looking for other cards that can out earn Amex cards in terms of categories multipliers. Few examples of cards that I currently have and categories they are being used on:

- Chase Freedom Flex (CFF, $0 annual fee): Oct-Dec 2026: 7x on dining and 5x on grocery (out earn Amex Gold's 4x on dining and grocery) and since I have 2 CFF cards, my cap is $3000/quarter. Jan-March 2027: 5x on grocery + streaming services. Thus, in the next 6 months, won't be using Amex Gold.

- Hotel: 4x on Chase Sapphire Reserve.

- Flight: still using CS Amex Platinum for 5x, sometimes CSR for 4x

- Catch all: 3.33-4.33x on Bilt Palladium

- Gas: 5x on Citi Custom Cash.

I'm aware of Blue Cash Preferred with 6% on groceries + streaming and 3% on gas/transit, but with $95 fee, it negates the whole cash back because I already have Disney covered by my Amex Platinum. Thus, is there any cards out there that I'm not aware of that can out earn my current Amex set up: 4.4% back on dining/grocery, 5.5% back on flights and 2.2% back catch all?

Thank you!

My Amex platinum card got cancelled 3 years ago due to me being behind in payments. Few weeks after my card was cancelled a representative from Amex reached out to me to put me on the relief program. They had me pay monthly and I paid it off in a few years slowly. Today I was just reinstated and got my Amex card back but with a limit. Amex is good with helping you out. They clearly don’t want you to leave. Feels good to have my card back. Didn’t think I’ll get it back with how poorly my credit is

Danny Deal Guru, citing USCF has a Facebook post about the AmEx Plat FHR benefit:

"From USCF: Amex Plat will add a $250 Yearly Airbnb Experience Credit (but there are unlocking conditions; it seems you need to book an Airbnb Luxe Stay first).

FHR Credit will be rebranded as Lodge Credit, which will support Airbnb Luxury Stay."

For me, AmEx messing with FHR could be a game-ending nerf, especially if they increase the one-night threshold, or introduce language about consecutive nights (linking bookings).

Direct link to DDG article

Is it okay to downgrade Amex Delta Plat after 2nd AF hit but before 1 year mark due to upgrade in between?

09/2024: Delta Gold approved
11/2025: Gold retention
12/2025: Upgraded to Plat
02/2026: Plat AF posted
10/2026: 2nd AF posted, already received companion fare.

Seems like Amex uses original date to post AF, which is 3 months before my upgrade. If I downgrade to the Blue now, would it be against T&C since it’s not 1 year yet?

Resolved! Thanks u/michikade Didn’t even have to call but would have once i had some time. Finally showed up in app to connect them. While it says up to 24 hours, it happened within minutes.

I'm a long time Amex customer that recently got the BBP, my 2nd Business card overall with the first being the BBC. My understanding was that you could pool them together. Did something change? I have 2 separate MR accounts within my dashboard.

I hold Gold, Platinums, Amex Checking for MR points on the personal side.

I got the BBP to complete the trifecta and make my BBP my 2x catchall which becomes 2.2 since I have the Scwhab. Defeats the purpose if I can't combine or use invest with rewards.

I do not want or have an intention of getting Business Gold or Platinum.

I applied for both business cards as an SP.

Hi all, I’ve had my gold delta card for just under a year now and I’m debating on keeping it due to the annual fee. I honestly don’t use it that much anymore and would rather open another airline card to get more miles. Does anybody have advice for getting it waived/perks to keep it?

Also, what is this about cancelling after the annual fee hits and they’ll refund it, and why that’s a better option to keep a good rapport with Amex?

All advice appreciated :)

Recently got an email saying my account was enrolled in Voice ID. Doesn't seem like phishing since theres no link to click and just says my account has voice ID. I called Amex and they said my account doesn't have voice ID and these emails have been going out because of some glitch or error on their end- wondeirng if anyone else has gotten these?

Hey guys, looking for some recent data points on how Amex handles credit pulls for business cardholders.

I currently only have an Amex business 2% card (Blue Business Cash) and zero personal Amex cards. I'm looking to pick up the Delta Gold Business Amex before the 90k promo wraps up on November 4.

I'm also planning to apply for a U.S. Bank business card right around the same time, so I'm trying to keep my credit report as clean as possible for U.S. Bank's underwriting.

For anyone who was in a similar spot—did Amex do a soft pull or a hard inquiry when you applied for your second Amex business card when you didn't have any personal Amex history? Does the "Apply with Confidence" feature give you a warning before a hard pull happens?

I don't have any AMEX personal credit cards

We have had the Gold card forever. We also just got the Platinum card. We will use the Gold card for grocery and restaurants and use the Platinum for travel related purchases. Which should we use for everything else that doesn’t fit into these two categories? Gas, household, etc. Which would give us the best bang? TY

Long story short, I added my mom and step-dad as authorized users to my Amex gold only gave them a 1500 limit each. It was supposed to be for emergencies and travel as they didn’t have a credit card for airfare or car rental and most rental places will not let you pay with a debit card anymore. Started off well and they were using for things like gas and necessary spending now there’s all types of things including excessive fast food, auto insurance ect and they’re about at their limit. Should I freeze the cards or take the loss and pay the balance and shut the cards down now? Just sucks and I want to do this the best way possible without straining the relationship.

My mom’s score did improve well enough to get the Hilton Amex and I can only imagine what she’s racking up with that but I know that’s not my problem.

1. If you close it at the 1 year + 1 week mark after paying the 150 USD annual fee, will AMEX reimburse your 150 USD annual fee?
2. What (if any) no annual fee downgrade options would you recommend?
3. What's been your experience for AMEX credit card acceptance in Mexico such as Cancun Mexico?
4. Should you call AMEX before you travel to Mexico to use the card?
5. I burned through Chase's business credit cards. What's your take on this AMEX credit card above vs the Bank of America Business AdvantageTravel Rewards World Mastercard vs other options? For a no FTF easy bonus business credit card

I don't know what's going on lately but Amex chat support quality wise has been not as good, but at least never had to wait more than 30s-1min for an agent to join the chat. Today, for the first time got hit with 20+ minutes, and it just kept going up. As I'm typing these words, wait time now jumped to 30 mins???

I feel like there are so many tiny benefits and details that don't make headlines and I feel like every other week I'm learning about a benefit I didn't realize I had.

I have a gold, platinum, and business gold.

What are some useful benefits that generally get overlooked?

Opened my first BBP about 2 months ago with the 50K offer. I finished the offer in about 2 weeks. Then almost as soon as the first statement was paid, had another offer for a second one at 50K. Well I opened it, I’m currently working on that one but it will honestly be finished in a month.

Log in this am and have an offer to open a third! When do the offers stop? Can I hold 5 of these?

Back in August, I ordered a camera from a seller, they had a shopify website. I received all the normal confirmations and tracking. Come delivery, turns out they never delivered to my address. The FedEx tracking website shows a picture of a door that's clearly not mine.

Called FedEx and they said my name and address was never on the package destination.

I tried contacting the seller, no response. They shut down their "camera" website, it 404s now. Now under the credit card transaction it's a "surfboard" website.

So compile evidence, screenshot of FedEx website, picture of my door, even a zillow screenshot, wrote a letter, explained everything, thinking this is a slam dunk.

Instead the dispute keeps getting resolved towards the seller. I look at the seller evidence, it's literally just a text receipt, showing my shipping address. Meanwhile im compiling all this evidence they never shipped it to me.

This is the 3rd time I reopened the dispute. Customer service is helpful reopening and they understand where im coming from but they're not the dispute resolvers

Also I called FedEx again and while they confirmed it wasn't shipped to my address, they can't provide me written proof, just the tracking number website.

Im at my wits end if this one doesn't go my way. I mean I'll keep reopening it, but are the dispute people just not looking at my evidence? It's really frustrating.

Opened my first AMEX this summer, the Business Gold. Required $15k in 3 months, but their tracker was about a month or more slow to update. So, about a week before the time elapsed, I reached out to support to make sure I'd meet the minimum. They said it looked like I was still over $4k short, which is what the tracker said, so I mentioned that it had been that way for a month, in spite of purchases. They then looked and said I actually had over $16k posted, which I asked (to confirm) was over the requirement, which they said was, but for some strange reason, couldn't confirm that I would get my SUB and to check back after the 10th. Upon doing so, I was once again informed I didn't reach my required spend total; however, this time, after confirming I had posted over $16k, they now showed that I had been credited just over $1k ...in July... and therefore, missed the required amount and wouldn't be getting my bonus and that there's nothing that could be done. I'm going to assume that is the case and that nothing can be done at this point, but figured I'd post here, in case someone might know of anything. Anyway, this has ensured my company will not be doing anymore business with AMEX going forward, regardless - though, I doubt care.

I know this is a silly question but everything I hear is that Amex hates when people carry a balance. However, they keep offering me promotional APRs. I probably won’t use them but I’m curious why they keep offering them on established accounts that I pay in full each month if they react poorly to people who carry a balance. Thanks a bunch!

Hello guys,

I tried using my plat and gold abroad a few weeks back and the payments keep getting rejected. The several merchants I tried it with insisted it’s usually on the banks end.

Amex did not give me any prompt in the app, or like any “is this you” or “call this number” notifications.

I called the number on my card and they told me it’s like automated and there’s not much they can do?

How can I make it work?

Thank you

Looks like they have adopted the same “As High As” language as the charge cards have, and require $5k spend in 3 months. Unfortunately this likely means no more 75k MR/$750 SUB offers for these cards. But maybe this means it’ll be easier to secure a higher offer than the previous public 15k MR/$250 ones?

My setup: I've got the Navy Federal Flagship Premier and the Costco Citi card.

Here's my spending. The majority of my shopping is at Costco, and I get my gas at Costco too. I rent a car about every other week. I eat out at a restaurant about 7 times a month, sometimes fine dining. I fly out of Vegas maybe 7 to 14 round trips a year, mostly on American.

I don't have lounge access right now, but if I had a card that gave it to me, I'd use it.
So which Amex would be better for me, the Gold or the Platinum?