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CNET
5 days ago
- Business
- CNET
This Amex Card's New Welcome Offer Has Me Scratching My Head. Here's Why
CNET/Getty Images A welcome offer is usually one of the main reasons people apply for a new credit card. But what if the issuer didn't disclose the offer until after you applied? American Express recently changed the language for the terms on The Platinum Card® from American Express without specifying the exact number of points you'd be eligible to earn with its welcome offer. A credit card's welcome bonus -- a lump sum of rewards you can earn, typically for reaching a certain spending threshold in a specified number of months -- is one of the biggest draws of luxury travel cards. The annual fee on an expensive credit card can usually be offset by the welcome offer you can earn. So, with a card that has a $600 annual fee and a welcome bonus of 100,000 points (depending on how much those points are worth), you know that fee is covered for at least a year. American Express didn't respond to a request for comment. So what changed with The Platinum Card? I'll explain. What changed with The Platinum Card's welcome offer? Here's how Amex changed its language: Old offer: 80,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first six months. 80,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first six months. New offer: You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first six months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Find out your exact welcome offer when you apply. It's a mouthful, I know. As someone who's covered credit cards for nearly a decade, it's a good reminder to read all of the terms carefully. Here's what you should pay attention to. Why you should read the offer carefully A few things to call out with this new language. As high as. Yes, 175,000 is a big number. However, they don't disclose the range. That leaves me to wonder what's the least amount you might earn on a card with a $695 annual fee. (See rates and fees; terms apply.) Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for this offer. This could mean that you may not qualify for the highest payout or, in the worst case, that you may not qualify at all. Either way, the wording is ambiguous. Find out your exact welcome offer when you apply. You're no longer told how much you're eligible to earn before applying. Let's say you're approved, expecting a 175,000 bonus, but instead only qualify for 60,000. At that point, you'd have to decide if the card is valuable enough to you to accept. On the plus side, Amex says your credit score is only affected if you accept the card -- not when you apply. Should you apply for the Amex Platinum? If you had plans to apply for the card, it might be worth holding off until the company clarifies the bonus -- perhaps that will come with its planned update to the card later this year. Otherwise, the welcome offer you receive may not match your expectations. It could be that the credit card issuer is putting this out now, ahead of the planned update in preparation for a rewards revamp. Amex might offer tiers of Platinum cards, each with a different welcome offer and rewards, but that's just speculation. Either way, the change in language and the lack of disclosure about the welcome offer give me pause. Similar to how the new Coinbase One Card won't disclose how many assets you need to qualify for the highest rewards rate, the new language strikes me as purposefully ambiguous to get people to apply, only to find out the benefits are much less than what they expected.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
American Express Platinum Card Gets Major Refresh To Attract Younger Cardholders
American Express announced plans to overhaul its Platinum Card, targeting millennial and Gen Z consumers with expanded lounge access and enhanced dining benefits. The refresh will roll out in fall 2025. It represents Amex's largest-ever investment in updating a card product and comes at a critical time when younger generations already account for 35% of the company's total U.S. consumer spending. According to Howard Grosfield, Amex Group President of U.S. Consumer Services, the company aims to take the Platinum Card 'to a new level, not only in what they offer in travel, dining and lifestyle benefits but also in how they look and feel, to meet the evolving needs of our customers.' The move comes more than four years after Amex's last major Platinum Card update in 2021. This previous update added numerous benefits and raised the annual fee to $695. Airport lounge access remains a cornerstone of the Platinum Card value proposition, with Amex poised to open three new Centurion Lounge locations within the next year. This expansion will bring its premium lounge network to 32 locations worldwide, reinforcing Amex's first-mover advantage in the airport lounge space that began over four decades ago. Amex specifically highlighted dining programs as a key focus area for the refresh, likely aiming to appeal to younger cardholders who prioritize culinary experiences. While specific details remain under wraps until fall, industry observers expect enhanced restaurant reservation services, expanded dining credits, and potential new partnership with popular food delivery platforms that resonate with Gen Z spending habits. The timing of Amex's announcement appears deliberately calculated to counter Chase's heavily promoted upcoming Sapphire Reserve refresh. With Capital One's Venture X card also recently updated, 2025 is shaping up to be a landmark year for premium credit card competition. Beyond digital benefits, Amex specifically mentioned changing how the Platinum Card 'looks and feels,' suggesting a physical redesign is coming. This aesthetic update could appeal particularly to image-conscious Gen Z members who view their payment methods as status symbols and extensions of personal brand identity. The exact details of the refreshed benefits package remain confidential until the official fall announcement. Still, the company's emphasis on capturing younger premium cardholders signals a strategic pivot as American Express works to ensure its flagship product remains relevant to evolving consumer post American Express Platinum Card Gets Major Refresh To Attract Younger Cardholders appeared first on Travel Noire. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
JPMorgan, Amex flash new cards
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. American Express and JPMorgan Chase are ramping up their competition for upscale cardholders. JPMorgan fired the opening salvo when it teased a refresh of its Sapphire Reserve credit card last week on its Instagram page. Amex then touted major changes coming later this year to its Platinum cards via a Monday press release. On Tuesday, as JPMorgan unveiled hundreds of dollars worth of new perks and pricing for its premium Sapphire Reserve card, the bank said it would hike annual fees for the card by 45% to $795. The Amex Platinum card currently has an annual fee of $695. The American Express Platinum card and the Sapphire Reserve card are both geared to higher-income consumers. Both charge hefty annual fees, but provide perks like dining and travel credits or priority reservations at exclusive restaurants. Amex dominated the premium card network until Chase launched the Sapphire Reserve card in 2016. The American Express card refresh was likely in the works for months before the card network's Monday news release, TD Cowen analyst Moshe Orenbuch said in an interview. But the timing of the company's initial announcement, just days after JPMorgan's Instagram post, was likely not a coincidence, Orenbuch said. "There's a definite competitive dynamic going on there," Orenbuch said. Amex's news release amounted to an announcement for an announcement planned later this year, giving very little new information and saying more details would come. 'I would say that maybe they rushed that announcement,' Orenbuch suggested. Although he stressed that Amex does not appear to be rushing the refresh itself. 'These are not things you can do by flipping a switch,' he said. An American Express spokesperson declined to comment on the timing of its release or say precisely when the card network will provide more information on the refresh. Amex and JPMorgan aren't just competing with each other when they update their premium cards, said Tony DeSanctis, senior director of payments for the consulting firm Cornerstone Advisors. 'They're also thinking about buy now, pay later,' he said in an interview. American Express has openly courted members of Gen Z, who are increasingly using BNPL, he noted, and the perks on premium cards must appeal to members of that demographic who are looking for alternatives to credit cards. JPMorgan's Instagram marketing post was light on details until the company sent out a news release announcing the new fees and perks on Tuesday. The list of new perks for the Sapphire Reserve card include a $500 annual credit at certain hotels and resorts and a $300 credit at restaurants that are part of the Sapphire Reserve's dining program. It remains to be seen what new perks Amex will offer cardholders, but the company said the forthcoming changes would represent its largest ever investment in a card refresh. That likely means bigger annual fees and more perks, Orenbuch said. 'This is not just about raising the price,' he said. 'You have to provide significantly more value than the increase in price to the consumer.' Recommended Reading Amex, Fiserv cite inflation benefit
CNET
20-06-2025
- Business
- CNET
A New Welcome Offer for The Platinum Card® from American Express Gives Me Pause. Here's Why
CNET/Getty Images Would you apply for a credit card that costs hundreds of dollars if the issuer wouldn't tell you what the welcome offer was? American Express recently changed the language for the terms on The Platinum Card® from American Express without specifying the exact number of points you'd be eligible to earn with its welcome offer. A credit card's welcome bonus -- a lump sum of rewards you can earn typically for reaching a certain spending threshold in a specified number of months -- is one of the main reasons why people apply for luxury travel credit cards. The annual fee on an expensive credit card can usually be offset by the welcome offer you can earn. So, a card with a $600 annual fee and a welcome bonus of 100,000 points (depending on how much those points are worth), you know that fee is covered for at least a year. American Express did not respond to questions in time for publication. So what changed with The Platinum Card? I'll explain. What changed with The Platinum Card's welcome offer? Here's how Amex changed its language: Old offer: 80,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first six months. 80,000 points for spending $8,000 in the first six months. New offer: You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first six months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Find out your exact welcome offer when you apply. It's a mouthful, I know. As someone who's covered credit cards for nearly a decade, it's a good reminder to read all of the terms carefully. Here's what you should pay attention to. Why you should read the offer carefully A few things to call out with this new language. As high as. Yes, 175,000 is a big number. However, they don't disclose the range. That leaves me to wonder what's the least amount you might earn on a card with a $695 annual fee. (See rates and fees; terms apply.) Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for this offer. This could mean that you may not qualify for the highest payout or, in the worst case, that you may not qualify at all. Either way, the wording is ambiguous. Find out your exact welcome offer when you apply. You're no longer told how much you're eligible to earn before applying. Let's say you're approved, expecting a 175,000 bonus, but instead only qualify for 60,000. At that point, you'd have to decide if the card is valuable enough to you to accept. On the plus side, Amex says your credit score is only impacted if you accept the card -- not when you apply. Should you apply for the Amex Platinum? If you had plans to apply for the card, it might be worth holding off until the company clarifies the bonus -- perhaps that will come with its planned update to the card later this year. Otherwise, the welcome offer you receive may not match your expectations. It could be that the credit card issuer is putting this out now, ahead of the planned update in preparation for a rewards revamp. Amex might offer tiers of Platinum cards, each with a different welcome offer and rewards, but that's just speculation. Either way, the change in language and the lack of disclosure about the welcome offer give me pause. Similar to how the new Coinbase One Card won't disclose how many assets you need to qualify for the highest rewards rate, the new language strikes me as purposefully ambiguous to get people to apply, only to find out the benefits are much less than what they expected.
Fast Company
19-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Carnival is overhauling its cruise rewards program: Changes, launch dates to know
Rewards programs are getting revamps all over the place. Earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase announced major changes to its Chase Sapphire Reserve rewards credit card. That announcement came shortly after competitor American Express teased an upcoming overhaul to its premium Platinum rewards card. And now, one of America's most popular cruise lines, Carnival, has announced it will radically shake up its rewards program come 2026. Here's what you need to know about Carnival Cruise Line's upcoming overhauled rewards program. Bye-bye, Very Important Fun Person (VIFP) Carnival Cruise Line's current rewards and loyalty program is called the Very Important Fun Person (VIFP) program. The program has been in existence since 2012 and is beloved by many Carnival Cruise enthusiasts. One of the reasons frequent Carnival customers love the VIFP program is its simplicity. You earn points based on how many days you cruise—that's it. There's no complicated earning structure or confusing rules. The total number of these points based on the total number of days cruised slots you into one of five groups: blue, red, gold, platinum, or diamond. The higher the group (diamond is tops), the more perks you get, including everything from free bottles of water to priority reservations at Specialty restaurants. However, Carnival has now announced that the VIFP program is being discontinued. Its last day of operation will be May 31, 2026. Hello, Carnival Rewards Carnival's VIFP program is being replaced with a new rewards and loyalty program called Carnival Rewards. The program will officially launch on June 1, 2026, and it represents a radical departure from the current VIFP program. One of the biggest changes to the new Carnival Rewards program is that points are no longer earned based on how many days you cruise with the line. Instead, points will be earned based on what you spend with Carnival Cruise Line. This spend includes the cost of tickets, drinks you buy on board, and even what you spend in the ship's casino. Points can also be earned through the use of a new Carnival Rewards Mastercard, which will be debuting. However, you won't just be collecting points to move up the group rankings anymore. The new Carnival Rewards program will use a dual-earning structure. The dollars you spend will earn you both stars and Carnival Rewards points. The stars will dictate which group you are slotted into—there are only four this time: red, gold, platinum, or diamond (blue is going away). The more prominent the group, the better perks you get, such as embarkation and debarkation priority, if you are a member of the diamond group. The Carnival Rewards points you earn can be redeemed for anything from cruise fares, transfers, onboard purchases, and more. Why is Carnival revamping its rewards program? The business answer to this question is that Carnival Cruise Line likely believes that the revamped rewards program will lead to a better bottom line. As points and group tiers are now dependent on what you spend, customers who are keen to collect Canrival Rewards points may be more willing to spend more onboard to keep earning those points. But Carnival would likely argue that the revamped program is now a little fairer than its current VIFP program. Under the VIFP, Carnival customers would receive the same amount of rewards regardless of whether they paid for the lowest or highest class of cabin on the ship. That's because the rewards were simply linked to the number of days cruised. The new program will mean that customers who book higher-priced cabins will now earn a higher number of reward points. But there is some bad news for customers under the new Carnival Rewards program, no matter how much they spend: the new status tiers they earn—red, gold, platinum, and diamond—don't last forever. Under the VIFP program, when a customer earned a status, they could only move up, not down. That means someone who earned diamond status would keep it for life. But the new status program will see customers lose their status after two years. And the points earned to achieve a status must be earned within a two-year period; otherwise, they do not count towards a status upgrade. In a FAQ about the new rewards program, Carnival says that this move is consistent with loyalty programs across the travel industry. The company says it recognizes 'that change can be difficult, but the current program based on cruise frequency makes it difficult to properly recognize our loyal guests.' Carnival stock price still well below pre-pandemic levels The owner of Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnival Corporation & plc, filed its most recent earnings report on March 21 for the first quarter of 2025. The company announced that its Q1 revenues increased by over $400 million from the same quarter a year earlier, reaching $5.8 billion. At the time, Carnival Corporation & plc's CEO, Josh Weinstein, boasted that the quarter 'was truly characterized by outperformance.' That growth is something investors are undoubtedly happy to see, especially after Carnival, like all other cruise lines, took a major hit in 2020 following the outbreak of the pandemic. In January 2020, Carnival Corporation & plc's stock (NYSE: CCL) was trading at above $50 per share. But by April, it had fallen to below $8 per share. As recently as October of 2022, CCL stock was trading below $7 per share. However, the stock's fortunes have improved as the cruise industry has slowly recovered from the pandemic's impact, receding from people's memories. As of yesterday's close, CCL stock is trading at above $23 per share. However, that is still down more than 5% since the beginning of the year. We won't know whether Carnival's new rewards program will have a material impact on the company's business, and thus its stock price, until it launches next year.
