It has already been one year since I’ve gotten the Platinum Card by American Express for Ameriprise Financial. As such, the one-year mark is when an important decision must be made about the card: keep it or cancel it?
My Retention Offer for the Platinum Card by American Express for Ameriprise Financial:
Before making any “keep or cancel” decision, I’ve found it wise to always call the card company and see if there are any retention offers available.
I called the American Express Retention Line at 1-800-452-3945. I quickly got a representative, told her I was trying to determine if I should keep the card, and asked her straight-up if there were any retention offers available to me.
Immediately she came back and said, “yes, there are two offers”. After reminding me that the offers she was about to read aloud were based on a variety of factors (including, but not limited to: annual spending on the card, years of card membership, credit history, etc.), she came back with the following:
Offer #1: A $100 credit after spending $2,000 in the next 90 days.
Offer #2: 5,000 Membership Rewards points immediately, with an additional 10,000 points after spending $2,000 in the next 90 days (for a total of 15,000 points).
Note: I had about $2,000 worth of spending on this card during year one.
To Keep Or Cancel?
My initial thought strategy on this card was to use this card for the $400 in airline credits ($200+$200), lounge access, and status upgrades – keep it for one year (with the $0 annual fee year one) and then close it before the $450 annual fee hit.
Well, in the interim, American Express actually raised the annual fee to $550 – but they added a $200 Uber credit (which I find to be very useful in L.A.). The inclusion of the Uber benefit actually raised the value proposition of the card for me greatly.
So, conservatively, the value proposition changed from $450 annual fee – $200 airline credit = $250 “out of pocket” cost to the now better $550 annual fee – $200 airline credit – $200 Uber credit = $150 “out of pocket” cost.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly – I discovered that the Platinum Card by American Express for Ameriprise Financial turned out far more lucrative than I had originally estimated. In year one, I was able to wring $2,400+ in value out of the card! Not bad for $0 annual fee.
Which Retention Offer Did I Choose?
By my math, I valued Offer #1 at $100, and Offer #2 at $150 (conservatively). Obviously, I went with Offer #2 as I could now effectively “eliminate” my annual $550 annual fee.
Here’s The Math:
$550 annul fee – $200 airline credit – $200 Uber credit – $150 Retention offer = $0 annual fee…and I still get access to the benefits, lounge access, status upgrades, AMEX offers, etc.
The Bottom Line on My Retention Offer for the Platinum Card by American Express for Ameriprise Financial:
As you can see, retention offers can be more than worth a call if you are the fence about keeping or canceling your card.
In this case, I got another year of an effective a $0 annual fee courtesy of the retention offer for the Platinum Card by American Express for Ameriprise Financial. Of course, next year I’ll have to repeat this process. But for now, I’ll continue to reap the benefits.
Cheers!
