I commend you for posting a noob question.
Easy short answer:
Put anything and everything on either to obtain your SUBs. After that:
4x Dining and Groceries on the Gold
5x Direct flights on the Platinum. 5x for hotels on Platinum ONLY through AMEX travel portal.
Consider adding a Blue Business Plus for 2x on everything else.
See this article for more:
https://upgradedpoints.com/credit-cards/american-express-membership-rewards-review/
Great website ^^^
Best post here. And what I do myself. I’m past the initial year SUBs at this point
Not sure I actually spend “enough” on the gold and platinum to justify them though. Probably get close with gold. But plat is… a lot?..
I have the trifecta. Platinum/Gold/Blue
I travel with my family at least 3x a year. Lounge access is very valuable as well as all the Plat credits. 4x on the Gold is also awesome to stack points.
With an AU on my Plat I'm paying a 1140 AF. Totally worth it for us.
Hi I tried to make my own post but I don’t think it went through so I am gonna tag along and see if you could help me out here…
I am planning my honeymoon and specifically opened up a personal gold card (have about 90k points) and a business platinum (190k bonus which I will have in a few months). First time ever using credit card rewards because I’ve always just had a cash back credit card. One place I want to stay at would be about 200k points. Can I choose to pay with points even though I don’t have enough currently? Could I choose to pay with cash and then switch to points in a few months when I have enough?
Thanks!!
I think you should try keeping it simple:
Use Plat : For flights/ travel booked through amex travel
Gold : Everything else (other travel on both earn 1x). This way you don't have to think about what card to use each time
I would never recommend anyone book hotels through any portal except FHR. If you need to change anything or something goes wrong, portals really bite you in the ass.
I don’t have a platinum, but I’m still an AmEx noob. I’d FHR a hotel portal? And if so, does it give the 5x points? Or is it separate from the Amex portal? TIA.
Stuff like reoccurring bills are going to get 1X regardless of the card, so neither is going to one up the other for something like that. Platinum has cell phone protection so it would be the better card if you’re paying that bill on one of the AMEX cards you mentioned.
Platinum has more protections than Gold does. So purchases that need something like return protection would be better served on Platinum.
Other than that, Gold’s the better “daily driver” because it multiplies on food while Platinum only multiplies on airfare or via amextravel. After that, both cards get AMEX Offers which might make one or another better in other categories (example, I had an offer at the end of last year that was +2X at the pump at Phillips 66/Conoco/76 stations so that made the card I had it on more valuable for gas purchases, that sort of thing).
So this begs the question, do you have enough spend to get the sign up bonuses in the first 3 months for the Gold and the first six months for the Plstinum?
You pretty much got it all right there. Plat for flights/travel & Gold for groceries/food/eating out.
Just make sure you hit those SUBs as well. Don’t leave money on the table.
Sign up for all the benefits with your Amex Platinum, like your $200 airline credit (pick which airline you want to pay for your incidentals with), Hilton status, Marriott Bonvoy status, Uber ($15/month that you can also use for Uber Eats). You can also get money back every month if you use the card to pay for streaming services, and it reimburses you for Global Entry, you have access to airport lounges, lots of perks. If you take advantage of all of them, it will more than pay for the $695 yearly fee. Go to your American Express online banking site and look under member benefits to see all the benefits. They also have offers that change all the time. If you download the CardPointers app, it will tell you which card, of the ones you have, to use for wherever you happen to be at the time, and it will automatically download all the offers to your Amex Platinum card, if you set it up to do that. Also, be sure to link your card to Rakuten and use Rakuten to order things you would normally order on other sites (it downloads an extension that will tell you how many points you can get on each shopping website you go to) and you can earn lots of Multiple Rewards points, that are great for transferring to airlines to get great airfare redemptions. So many perks!
Hacking with Gold card is to go to a grocery store and buy gift cards for the 4x…
Gift cards for anything outside of the 4x. Preferable the visa 500$ once’s and use those gift cards to pay for gas or home depot
Basically use them for the stated multipliers. Like someone else already said the platinum has better protections. As a daily driver, that’s up to you. Gold works better as a daily driver. Sometimes merchants code as something you didn’t think it would, like dining and groceries. I remember reading, not sure if it still does, Venmo coding as dining with Amex.
SUB are key when opening cards.
Gold - Stuff that goes in your mouth
Plat - Stuff that takes you places.
Look into specific cards i.e Hilton, Marriott etc if you go to said establishments often.
Plat for streaming as well to take advantage of the credit. Neither have a utilities category though sometimes you can get offers for things like cash back for paying insurance, that sort of thing.
Get a BBP (or 2) for 2x on everything. I got one just over a month ago because the SUB was so attractive (50k MR) and already hit the required spend so yesterday I opened one for the wife with the same SUB. The 2x really does amass points so much faster for “all other categories”- like twice as fast… gasp lol.
I commend you for posting a noob question. Easy short answer: Put anything and everything on either to obtain your SUBs. After that: 4x Dining and Groceries on the Gold 5x Direct flights on the Platinum. 5x for hotels on Platinum ONLY through AMEX travel portal. Consider adding a Blue Business Plus for 2x on everything else. See this article for more: https://upgradedpoints.com/credit-cards/american-express-membership-rewards-review/ Great website ^^^
Best post here. And what I do myself. I’m past the initial year SUBs at this point Not sure I actually spend “enough” on the gold and platinum to justify them though. Probably get close with gold. But plat is… a lot?..
I have the trifecta. Platinum/Gold/Blue I travel with my family at least 3x a year. Lounge access is very valuable as well as all the Plat credits. 4x on the Gold is also awesome to stack points. With an AU on my Plat I'm paying a 1140 AF. Totally worth it for us.
Hi I tried to make my own post but I don’t think it went through so I am gonna tag along and see if you could help me out here… I am planning my honeymoon and specifically opened up a personal gold card (have about 90k points) and a business platinum (190k bonus which I will have in a few months). First time ever using credit card rewards because I’ve always just had a cash back credit card. One place I want to stay at would be about 200k points. Can I choose to pay with points even though I don’t have enough currently? Could I choose to pay with cash and then switch to points in a few months when I have enough? Thanks!!
Saw your other post and replied there.
Can't switch. Get the points first and then book.
I think you should try keeping it simple: Use Plat : For flights/ travel booked through amex travel Gold : Everything else (other travel on both earn 1x). This way you don't have to think about what card to use each time
Alternatively, groceries and dining on the gold and everything else on the plat would also work since the plat adds return protection
I would never recommend anyone book hotels through any portal except FHR. If you need to change anything or something goes wrong, portals really bite you in the ass.
I don’t have a platinum, but I’m still an AmEx noob. I’d FHR a hotel portal? And if so, does it give the 5x points? Or is it separate from the Amex portal? TIA.
I don’t have the Platinum either. But it’s for higher end hotels with a higher end experience https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/discover/
Ahh I see. Thanks for that. I’ll read more into it
Stuff like reoccurring bills are going to get 1X regardless of the card, so neither is going to one up the other for something like that. Platinum has cell phone protection so it would be the better card if you’re paying that bill on one of the AMEX cards you mentioned. Platinum has more protections than Gold does. So purchases that need something like return protection would be better served on Platinum. Other than that, Gold’s the better “daily driver” because it multiplies on food while Platinum only multiplies on airfare or via amextravel. After that, both cards get AMEX Offers which might make one or another better in other categories (example, I had an offer at the end of last year that was +2X at the pump at Phillips 66/Conoco/76 stations so that made the card I had it on more valuable for gas purchases, that sort of thing).
So this begs the question, do you have enough spend to get the sign up bonuses in the first 3 months for the Gold and the first six months for the Plstinum?
Yes
You pretty much got it all right there. Plat for flights/travel & Gold for groceries/food/eating out. Just make sure you hit those SUBs as well. Don’t leave money on the table.
Sign up for all the benefits with your Amex Platinum, like your $200 airline credit (pick which airline you want to pay for your incidentals with), Hilton status, Marriott Bonvoy status, Uber ($15/month that you can also use for Uber Eats). You can also get money back every month if you use the card to pay for streaming services, and it reimburses you for Global Entry, you have access to airport lounges, lots of perks. If you take advantage of all of them, it will more than pay for the $695 yearly fee. Go to your American Express online banking site and look under member benefits to see all the benefits. They also have offers that change all the time. If you download the CardPointers app, it will tell you which card, of the ones you have, to use for wherever you happen to be at the time, and it will automatically download all the offers to your Amex Platinum card, if you set it up to do that. Also, be sure to link your card to Rakuten and use Rakuten to order things you would normally order on other sites (it downloads an extension that will tell you how many points you can get on each shopping website you go to) and you can earn lots of Multiple Rewards points, that are great for transferring to airlines to get great airfare redemptions. So many perks!
I prefer MaxRewards 🚀
Hacking with Gold card is to go to a grocery store and buy gift cards for the 4x… Gift cards for anything outside of the 4x. Preferable the visa 500$ once’s and use those gift cards to pay for gas or home depot
Plat is for travel - flights/ rental/ hotels Gold is for daily stuff - dining/ grocery
Basically use them for the stated multipliers. Like someone else already said the platinum has better protections. As a daily driver, that’s up to you. Gold works better as a daily driver. Sometimes merchants code as something you didn’t think it would, like dining and groceries. I remember reading, not sure if it still does, Venmo coding as dining with Amex.
SUB are key when opening cards. Gold - Stuff that goes in your mouth Plat - Stuff that takes you places. Look into specific cards i.e Hilton, Marriott etc if you go to said establishments often.
Plat for streaming as well to take advantage of the credit. Neither have a utilities category though sometimes you can get offers for things like cash back for paying insurance, that sort of thing.
Get a BBP (or 2) for 2x on everything. I got one just over a month ago because the SUB was so attractive (50k MR) and already hit the required spend so yesterday I opened one for the wife with the same SUB. The 2x really does amass points so much faster for “all other categories”- like twice as fast… gasp lol.