Consider your options: 3 reasons to downgrade from Amex Platinum to Amex Gold

While American Express Platinum® Card offering many travel and lifestyle perks, it’s also one of the most expensive cards on the market with an annual fee of $695 per year (see exchange rates and fees).

Meanwhile, lying below the Amex Platinum is American Express® Gold Carda product that offers fewer benefits but a more reasonable annual fee of $325 (see exchange rates and fees). Both cards offer a variety of credits and statement perks to help offset annual fees.

Every cardholder has their own reasons for considering downgrading, and the Amex Platinum is a card I often consider downgrading. From Walmart+ Membership ARRIVE Feces credit, a list of perks have been introduced to give the card more potential value (registration required to receive select benefits). While there’s no doubt that the benefits are huge, there’s also a point where quantity trumps quality, especially considering the nearly $700 annual fee.

If you’re thinking about downgrading from the Amex Platinum Card, here are three reasons to switch to the Amex Gold Card and how to do it to maximize your points potential.

Quick comparison between Amex Platinum and Amex Gold

Here’s how the Amex Platinum and Amex Gold cards stack up.

	Amex platinum	Amex Gold
Annual fee	$695	$325
Income ratio	5 points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel (on purchases up to $500,000 per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar la) 5 points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel 1 point per dollar spent on other qualifying purchases	4 points per dollar spent on restaurant dining (including takeout and delivery in the US) (up to $50,000 per calendar year, then 1 point) 4 points per dollar spent at US supermarkets (up to $25,000 per calendar year, then 1 point after that) 3 points per dollar spent on airfare purchased directly from the airline or through American Express Travel 1 point per dollar spent on other qualifying purchases
Welcome offer	Earn 80,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of using the card.	Earn 60,000 points after spending $6,000 on your new card in the first six months of membership.
Integrated credit	Up to $200 in Uber Cash* Statement credit up to $200 for airline fees Up to $100 in Saks Fifth Avenue statement credits Statement credit up to $200 for prepaid hotels Up to $240 statement credit for digital entertainment Up to $199 statement credit for Clear Plus membership and more Registration is required to receive select benefits.	Up to $120 annual dining statement credit ($10 per month at participating restaurants) $10 in Uber Cash monthly, up to $120 annually* Up to $100 in Resy statement credits annually, (up to $50 every two years) Up to $84 in Dunkin’ statement credits (up to $7 monthly) Registration is required to receive select benefits.
Lounge access	Visit American Express Global Lounge Collectioninclude Centurion lounge, Priority cardAirspace and Escape lounges, along with Delta Sky Club on flights during the day. (Effective February 1, 2025, cardholders are limited to 10 SkyClub visits per year. Unlimited visits can be unlocked by spending $75,000 in a calendar year) Registration is required to receive select benefits.	Do not have
Hotel condition	Complimentary Gold status with Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programs Registration is required to receive select benefits.	Do not have
Mobile phone protection**	Maximum two requests; $800 per claim, up to $1,600 per 12-month period; $50 deductible	Do not have
Interruption, cancellation and delay insurance**	Trip interruption/cancellation: USD 10,000 per trip, maximum USD 20,000 per account within a 12-month period Trip delays: Up to $500 per trip for delays of six hours or more; maximum two requests within a 12-month period	Flight interruption/cancellation: None Trip delays: Up to $300 per trip for delays of 12 hours or more; maximum two requests within a 12-month period
tour guide	Platinum concierge	Standard Amex concierge service

*You must add Amex Platinum or Amex Gold to your Uber account and you can redeem with any Amex card; Valid only on purchases in the US.

**Eligibility and benefits vary by Card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit Americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

Why you might downgrade to Amex Gold

You don’t want to be faced with too much credit

the Amex platinum have one Lots of annual reporting credits spanning a variety of categories, from shopping (Walmart+ subscription) to travel (up to $200 airline fee credit) and more.

Therefore, regular Amex Platinum users should take a closer look at what these credits are. It’s clear from the specific nature of some of these perks that many cardholders won’t be able to fully utilize all of them. With an annual fee of $695, you’ll want to at least get some of the service without much effort.

There are at least 10 credits on Amex Platinum: four credits annually, four credits monthly, one credit every two years, and one credit every 4½ years. Annual credits for Clear Plus, prepaid hotels, Equinox, SoulCycle and airline fees; monthly credits for digital entertainment, Walmart+ and Uber Cash; a bi-annual credit to Saks Fifth Avenue; and a credit for the Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee every 4½ years.

Meanwhile, Amex Gold only has two credits and is therefore much easier to manage. These include an annual dining credit of up to $120 and an annual credit of up to $120 Uber Cash.

It’s also worth noting that some credits for both Amex Platinum and Amex Gold require registration before you can use them.

Related: Does owning an Amex Platinum and Amex Gold Card make sense?

You don’t need airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Some other Amex Platinum travel perks also offer significant value that can’t be tied to a specific dollar amount. But for more casual travelers, these perks may not be of much use.

For example, you’ll get one of the most comprehensive airport lounge memberships with the Amex Platinum. In particular, you will enjoy it Select priority card (subscription required), access to Amex’s growing collection Centurion lounge and access Delta Sky Club when flying Delta Air Lines. (Effective February 1, 2025, cardholders will receive 10 visits per year to Delta Sky Clubs or to-go clubs when traveling on same-day flights operated by Delta with Unlimited unlockability by spending $75,000 over a calendar year.)

That makes the Amex Platinum one of the best Airport lounge card. Platinum cardholders can also apply Gold elite status with both Marriott and Hilton and even enlist the help of Premium concierge service.

However, the Amex Gold may be a better fit if all these travel amenities seem redundant.

You are more interested in accumulating points for daily spending

Amex Platinum excels in many ways, but earning money from everyday spending is not one of them. Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all qualifying non-airline purchases booked with American Express Travel or directly through airlines for 5 points per dollar (spend up to $500,000 dollars per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar) and hotels booked with American Express Travel, earn 5 points per dollar and have no spending limit, which doesn’t make it a winner to carry goods day.

Meanwhile, Amex Gold earns 4 points per dollar spent at restaurants (up to $50,000, then 1 point per dollar) worldwide and US supermarkets (with maximum of $25,000, then 1 point per dollar) where the majority of a typical household’s spending is each month. Earning 3 points per dollar spent on airfare is obviously not 5 points per dollar, but it means you’re not completely missing out on potential rewards for carrying Amex Gold.

Related: 8 ways to get the most out of your Amex Gold Card

How to ‘downgrade’ to Amex Gold

Let’s start by making one thing clear: If you decide to downgrade Amex platinumyou may want to close it completely and then open a new Amex Gold instead directly downgrade request to Gold. Why? Well, because with Amex, changing card products won’t qualify you for the welcome offer on the card, and you might not want to miss out on that.

Strategy

Currently, Amex Gold is offering a 60,000 welcome bonus Member reward points after you spend $6,000 on the new card in the first six months of card membership (although you may be targeted for an even higher bonus when you sign up using CardMatch tool; Offers are subject to change).

This public reward has a different value of 1,200 USD based on TPG November 2024 valuation.

Note that you can usually only earn a welcome bonus on any Amex card once in your lifetime, so if you’ve previously earned a bonus on Amex Gold, you’re probably out of luck. And while Amex doesn’t officially require you to keep your card for a certain amount of time before downgrading it, you probably should wait at least a year before canceling or downgrading Amex Platinum.

Another option is to downgrade your Amex Platinum American Express® Green Card because the Amex Platinum, Gold and Green cards are all considered to belong to the same card family. Once you do that, you can sign up for Amex Gold outright (but of course, that means you still have two cards).

Information about the Amex Green Card has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Retention incentives

Before making the final decision on whether to cancel or downgrade your Platinum status, you should call Amex (or live chat) when your annual fee is due to see if you are targeted or not. Recommend retention. These offers are essentially Amex’s last ditch effort to keep you as a cardholder. Ask to be transferred to the Amex hold line when you call and speak to someone from that department.

Previously, I received 20,000 Membership Rewards Points just for keeping my card for another year.

Bottom line

Downgrading from Amex Platinum to Amex Gold may be a good option for some cardholders.

If you just want to pay an annual fee, you can ask the following: Do you want a higher daily earning rate across more categories? Or, do you want valuable travel and lifestyle perks that will add luxury to your next trip? If the first option sounds like you then the Amex Gold may be more suitable. However, if the second scenario suits your needs, you may want to keep the Amex Platinum.

However, know that there is still room in your wallet for both of these cards. In fact, Amex Gold and Amex Platinum complement each other very well as part of Amex Trifecta.

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Register here: Amex Gold
Register here: Amex platinum

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For Amex Platinum rates and fees, click This.
For Amex Gold rates and fees, click This.