OnlyOne

After recently closing my United MP Explorer Card when the annual fee hit, I started thinking about my AmEx Gold Delta Skymiles card as the annual fee is coming up in May or June. I know AmEx is strict about annual fees and rarely offer retention bonuses, but I like the card and it works for me, so with that in mind, I have a couple of questions and would like some advice/thoughts on the following:

1) In lieu of paying the annual fee on my Gold card, could I go ahead and cancel it now and apply in 90 days (is that enough?) for the Platinum Delta card and get the signup bonus? Or would I be denied the bonus for having had the Gold card recently but still be approved for the Platinum card minus the bonus?

2) If I'm unlikely to get the signup bonus for a Platinum card, I could potentially take AmEx's offer for 5,000 miles and upgrade my current Gold card to the Platinum card. Upgrading doesn't result in a credit inquiry, does it? However, 5,000 miles is a paltry sum.

Any guidance or thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Thanks.

mia

Question moved to the Delta forum which is the primary discussion forum for all SkyMiles topics, including credit cards.

DaChief

That is 5000 MQMs for the upgrade offer. Whether this is important to you for status or not is the question.

jb008

According to a rep, one benefit on upgrading the card is that the current YTD spend gets applied to the thresholds for the Plat DL AmEx, whereas the new card will start accruing the YTD only once you spend on that new card.

You can also rotate between the personal and business cards to up the signup bonuses. I believe (though you'll need to check T&C yourself) it's generally 90 days for any related product (e.g., any DL AmEx personal) and 1 year for that exact product (DL Personal Gold AmEx) if you're going to churn for points/miles.

OnlyOne

Thanks for the information. As I haven't been putting much spend on this card, the YTD spend applying to the upgraded card doesn't matter much to me at this point. I've been meeting spend for other cards so that has moved this card down the list for awhile.

Even with the sole proprietorship route, I'm not comfortable applying for business cards at this point, so that's out. If I do attempt to churn this for another bonus, do I need to cancel the card now or does the card have to be cancelled at all? I know many are against closing cards, but if it means I could be available for another bonus offer in 90 days, isn't that the obvious thing to do?

jb008

The platinum DL card has 3 main differences from the gold DL card.
1) $150 annual fee with no waiver for first year (vs $90/year, starting year 2)
2) Companion certificate is free (vs $99 fee to use the gold cert)
3) Plat gets MQMs with a $25k minimum spend.

They have since discontinued the Gold companion cert, but you'll get one this year if you're coming up on a renewal on an existing card - I have the Gold and I've confirmed with AmEx that I'll get 1 "legacy" companion cert when I renew in May 2013.

Depending on your travel patterns, the gold companion certificate may pay for itself AND the renewal fee. I believe these are only valid on LUT fares, but those are the ones you probably want to buy anyway since those are the cheaper fares. If I'd had a companion cert available I'd have saved myself $150 on some vacation travel with DW this april, even after the $99 fee

If you're not chasing MQMs on the card, then there's very little benefit of Plat vs Gold for you (esp. with the companion cert for this year's renewal). You'll need to spend $300 (year 1 fee plus renew for year 2) before you see a plat companion certificate. Plat DL amex carries a lower RDM bonus but comes with a modest MQM signup bonus, whereas the Gold carries a higher RDM bonus but no MQMs.

From what I can tell of the T&C, your Gold card has to be closed at least 12 months before you can apply for a new Gold card and get a signup bonus - and I'm not sure you'd get the 1st year free if you reopen the card (that might have a 24 month or lifetime wait). The 90 day wait would be if you close the gold, then sign up for the platinum (with a fee to open a plat card).

If you're not sold on the DL AmEx family, there's some hefty sign up bonuses with other cards, including some that will allow you to transfer points into the skymiles program. I think I've seen some AmEx offers that come with 50k-100k pts (higher annual fees though) at sign up, and I just saw a Chase Visa offer in the mail for 40-50k points. There's some good websites/blogs on these topics if you're shopping around for other cards specifically for the miles and sign up bonuses over the Delta affiliated benefits.

Edit - Added: Your profile doesn't mention if you have frequent traveller status on Delta. If you don't, then the free checked bags and Zone 1 boarding could easily pay for the $90 annual fee with a trip or two. 1 checked bag per person, 2 travelers on roundtrip flight is $100 alone. Even as an FO (silver medallion), the DL AmEx gives me 2 checked bags free pp, and is a compelling reason for me to pay the renewal on my DL Gold AmEx.

OnlyOne

Thank you for your detailed response!

It appears my annual fee won't hit on this card until July as I opened it July 2012 so I have some time to think about all the options. Also, I guess that means I'll get a legacy companion pass as well, but I need to confirm this with AmEx. That certainly makes the annual fee more palatable.

I am not chasing MQMs with this card. My spending is on other cards that offer me better returns. However, I have family in ATL and found the free checked bags and early boarding to be attractive benefits of this card.

Thanks for the clarification regarding signup bonuses. I was really hoping to be able to get another signup bonus as I got the worst offer initially only to see a 70,000 mile offer pop up shortly thereafter.

I think this may be the heart of the issue. I just don't know that I'm sold on the Delta AmEx card. After I met the spend and got the signup bonus, I've only used the card twice. I don't want to lose the CL for the obvious utilization ratio and credit reasons, but I prefer the flexibility of my other AmEx cards in MR and my chase cards. So, I just don't know what to do with this card. There are other, far more lucrative signup bonuses, as you said, and they come with more flexibility but can still be used for Delta and that's very appealing.

I do not have any status with Delta.

jb008

Happy to try to help!

If you fly at all with checked bags, having the DL gold amex pretty much pays for itself - especially if you don't have medallion benefits. I'd strongly consider holding on to it through using your gold companion cert., especially if you have family in ATL since that's a delta hub and you're likely going to be on DL so you're almost guaranteed to use both the cert and the card perks.

If you have other AmEx cards remember that you can transfer most of the DL credit line to those cards before you close the DL one so the utilization hit is minimal. But if you're carrying another AmEx you might have a better chance sweet talking/begging them to give you a discount on your annual member fee on one of the cards. It never hurts to at least ask.

OnlyOne

Thanks again for all the advice. Much appreciated.