My annual fee is charged between 10th and 13th July each year. I haven't received the letter yet, not even in today's post. Does this mean that I'll escape the fee increase until July 2013?

The letter mentions access to BMI Business Lounges with the Platinum Card... does anyone know how long this will continue and/or if AMEX has any plans to replace BMI with another carrier?

This fee increase has certainly put me off upgrading from Gold to Platinum. £150 for status I already have with BA? No thanks.

If they got rid of the 2.99% fx fee I'd probably jump at it as I put a fair amount of foreign transactions on my card. Doubt this is going to happen given the competition in the UK and the amount of money Amex probably takes from it.

I truly resent the idea of such a big increase for pretty miserly benefits.

My guest on trips is my supplementary cardholder so the guest access on PP is useless.


However, do we all expect to have our BA PP fees upped by £150 if we cancel our Platinum cards?
Because if so, I wouldn't be any better off.

I agree. It's absurd that I can't use my Platinum card for non-GBP transactions without being stung for a 3% fee that my other cards don't charge. When I'm paying an annual fee of £300 or even worse £450, I should be able to earn MR points on all my expenditure, not just GBP expenditure. It's not worth paying the 3% to earn MR points either, because the MR points are worth less than the 3% fee.

It's best not to take personally decisions made by mass market companies. American Express had the UK Centurion and Platinum cards priced incorrectly compared to other markets. It appears the decision has now been taken to raise the price, and they know full well that they will lose cardholders in the process. I daresay they even know how (approximately) how many.

The International Dollar/Euro Platinum cards cost $550/€550. The French card €590, German €250 initiation fee plus €500 per year, Netherlands €600 per year.

The USA cards appears to be a bargain at $450, but this includes only a single card. Adding three supplementary Platinum and five Gold cards brings the cost to $670.

None of this should influence your decision to keep the card, but the fee increase is not surprising.

It is surprising in two respects; a 50% increase is a substantial increase, and it follows serious cuts in the benefits (the UK insurance policy). These cuts are not really offset by the new benefits, which with the exception of CX Gold (which is only of benefit to some), are worthless.

Agreed, the timing of the increase makes the marketing manager's job a misery, but they can lose a third of the accounts and break even ... but they won't.

If anything, with the reduction in insurance the new benefits should have been what brought it back up to 300 GBP/year value!

That's not the whole picture.

For each cardholder they lose, not only do they lose the £300 fee, they also lose the commission they get on their annual spend. Assuming a low average of £5k p.a., and a total guess at 3% commission, Amex could be losing £450 per customer lost. I think the break even point is more like 25%.

That doesnt take into account the extra they make on foreign spend, the outlay they have in providing the benefits, or the hard to quantify issue of reducing the overall amex cardholders in the uk and the effect that has in gaining more retailer accounts.

But clearly the bean counters have done their counting and decided £450 is sustainable.

Whoever decided that a free round of golf if you pay for a night or in some places 2- nights accommodation was worthwhile benefit, needs to be shot. Obviously a few in the dept were golfers, brought to the boss, he's a golfer and thought everyone would love it.

By the way, the new CX "benefit" is still only being stated for 1 year, as is Hilton gold. If like me you already got these, then my Hilton status will run out shortly, and my CX will run out in 4-5 months.

So for me thats an expiring cx gold, a pp guest I'll never use (partner has my supp plat), golf I'll never use, some silly air ticket price guarantee, reduced insurance, and £150 extra

Amex CSR have explicitly said that the CX Gold is a recurring benefit (but Hilton not). Clearly the website has not been fully updated.

Way too low a figure I think. I would guess average spend is 25-50k pa across all Plats.

Unless the cardholder changes to a less expensive American Express product.

I have reviewed the "new" benefits, and while some are 'nice to haves' I definitely do not see them as worth an additional £150 when my card is up for renewal in January. I was already struggling to justify the £300 fee, but decided that it was worth trying for another year (two of the last three years travel insurance claims have covered the cost of my annual membership). The key benefits I that *might* have justified a higher fee would have been higher rate of earning than 1 point/£1 at least on some spending (something like the old US 2x miles on grocery, gas stations and drugstores) and dropping the FX charge (as Amex has done with premium cards in the US). I try not to use my Amex plat outside of UK and CI; like many others, I suspect that changing the FX policy would significantly increase charge volumes.

It's important that those who believe £450 is excessive actually cancel their card there and then, explaining very clearly why they are doing so.

I'd guess that the recent years of "mass market" Amex Plat advertising campaign has significantly increased the numbers of Plat cardholders; losing even a third of the more "price sensitive" customers is probably no bad thing from Amex's perspective. It's a good way of weeding out the chaff from the big spending wheat.

Although it would have been better to have had incremental fee increases each year, we should remember that the fee hasn't increased in almost a decade, and with inflation as it is, it should have done, probably to around what is now being charged.

So I wouldn't think the fee rise inappropriate BUT for the fact that the insurance benefits have been dramatically cut, and that I don't see any personal value in the "improvements" offered.

I'm not certain the foreign transaction fee is very lucrative; I generally pay cash when overseas, but many will simply hold and alternate Amex and will continue to use that even when they resign their Plat card.

If I get it for a another year at £300 I'll stick with it, otherwise I'm out.

Well it's a shame the annual fee has increased, but to be honest, I was expecting it soon anyway.

I'll be keeping mine. The benefits and rewards that I get back from the card far outweigh the new fee.

MAN-FF