Dr Jabadski

Not sure if you’re serious but good to see that you’re always thinking Frequent Flyer. Ford Motor Company not Ford at OMAAT.

(Unbelievable that people actually believed that "Ford has a better idea" when they had the exact same ideas as every other car manufacturer.)

josephstern

Wow. My bad. Wrong context completely. Never heard that Ford Motor slogan. With all the talk about blogs here . . .

Dr Jabadski

(Sorry for the OT, hope it's educational and enlightening.)

I guess we’re both dating ourselves. “In the late 1960s, Ford tried to rally baby boomers around the slogan, “Ford has a better idea,” using the image of a lightbulb to signal inspiration instead of the “o” in Ford.”

goodeats21

Is it usual for there be different SUB for the Schwab card versus the regular Plat?

In comparing, being offered 150,000 points for regular and only 100,000 for Schwab.
And the Schwab doesn't show up as an option for cards on the Amex site for me, only on the Schwab site.

FreFly

Yes, Schwab SUB is often less than that for the regular Amex plat.

LAX

True. But back when SUB for regular Amex Plat was routinely 60K/75K and occasionally 100K, there were reports of people being targeted with 100K offers. I wonder if there will be targeted offers of 125K/150K on the Schwab version at some point.

LAX

goodeats21

Thanks both. Thinking about the Schwab card as a method to cash in some points. Already have accounts there, but don't want to miss out on "free" points. Will wait a bit and see if any better offer pops up.

ziggy29

Is there any good reason NOT to choose the Schwab branded platinum card over the standard Platinum Amex if I have assets with Schwab that would qualify me for $100 based on AUM? Is there anything that the regular platinum Amex would give me that the Schwab branded version does not?

Dr Jabadski

Having had both cards a few years ago, “no” and “no”.

If you have any appetite for even the mildest of churning you could plan on both. Apply for one, get the SUB, keep it until 29 days after the AF posts, cancel, apply for the other. For SUB purposes, they are considered “different” products.

diesteldorf

The standard vanilla Platinum can be product-changed to a gold or green card in the future, and, it also offers, based on previous data points, better retention offers if you decide to close it. However, if I was in your position, I'd get Schwab. not only for the $100 asset-based discount, but also for the ability to cash out points at 1.1 cents. Grab the sign up bonus. You can always get the vanilla Platinum in the future. Good Luck.

ziggy29

Thanks, was actually thinking about getting a Platinum and an extra Gold card for my wife as an authorized user (at no extra charge). That way we have all the travel (and other) perks of the Platinum and all the restaurant and grocery perks of the Gold. The only (small) downside is after January 31 she would have to pay for lounge access, but I think between $175 for an AU on Platinum and the extra savings from buying food on the Gold Card, that lounge entry fee would be worth eating a couple times a year.

The way I see it, if I structure spending to hit the 100,000 MR points ($6k spend in 6 months), that is basically $1,100 back (at 1.1 cents per MR) on a $695 annual fee, and I am “playing with house money” for a year to decide if I want to keep it.

SpaethCo

The gold-colored no cost Platinum AU card is "fool's gold" - it has the same earning rate as the Platinum (1x on everything but airfare), and the only new credit/feature it gains is another Precheck/GlobalEntry credit for that card.

If you want the restaurant or grocery 4x earning rate, you need to pay $250/year for an actual Gold card account.

ziggy29

Ah. Sounded too good to be true, anyway. I have a 1.5x cash back card from my credit union (no AF) that already has the Precheck reimbursement, so no value added there. And I already have another no-fee branded Amex that gives 3x on dining and 2x on groceries, so probably not worth $250 a year there, either.

charmed18

For the Schwab card, if I am understanding what you've said correctly, there is no downgrade path at all, is that correct? You either have to keep as is or close it? Thanks! Also, for retention offers on the Schwab card, do you know if we could just chat through the regular AMEX channels or would it be through Schwab agents?

diesteldorf

Correct, the Schwab Platinum has no downgrade path. It's either keep it or close it. Unfortunate, because I would've considered changing to another gold card. Just to be clear, I only canceled because I also had the co-branded Morgan Stanley Platinum. I like having the free authorized user benefit, but actually prefer Schwab brokerage over MS, so if MS ever terminates their relationship with Amex, I'd reconsider Schwab, though probably get the vanilla, for the signup bonus as I've never had it.

Back in 2021, I was still on the $550 annual fee, with around $2000 annual spend. I called the number on the back of my Schwab card and was ultimately offered 20,000 MR points with zero spend. It was an easy decision to keep it for another year, but in 2022 I was at the $695 fee, with around $1000 annual spend. Called to cancel and was offered zilch.

As far as I know, Amex doesn't have special Schwab Platinum reps, so I don't think it matters how you contact them. In fact, when I called to cancel Schwab, I actually used the number on the back of my MS Plat, since that was the one I had with me.

The biggest drawback of all the co-branded Plats is the inability to downgrade. I know my annual spend is on the low end, so I'm sure that contributed to my modest retention offers, but I've followed the vanilla Platinum thread and it seems as if signup bonuses and retention offers are more lucrative all around. I don't know if Amex Offers vary from one Platinum to another. When I had MS and Schwab, my offers seemed identical.