TLDR: The American Express Platinum Card®’s annual fee is expected to increase to $895 in a few weeks and will come with new credits from Lululemon, Resy, and Fine Hotels Resorts
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The American Express Platinum Card®’s annual fee has historically increased every 3ish years and this 2025 is no different: many rumors have been circulating around the internet about yet another increase to the annual fee.
Of course, when annual fees increase, new benefits/card changes come along as well.
The last annual fee change was in 2021, when the American Express Platinum Card® hiked its annual fee from $550 to $695. Now, father time is upon us, and it’s been widely rumored that the Platinum annual fee is going up to $895.
If this is true, this would make the American Express Platinum Card® carry one of the heftiest annual fees around for personal credit cards:
Yeah. Pretty large to say the least. I think it’s a true statement to say that this new rumored Platinum annual fee would be the largest annual fee for any consumer credit card around. Sheesh.
It only feels like a matter of time before the first $1,000+ annual fee credit card comes rolling in… and I’m not totally sure how I feel about that notion.
It looks like a few things are suspected to be changing about the card’s credits:
As far as we can tell, it doesn’t seem like any of the other credits are being changed/removed except for the Equinox credit. It feels like the Lululemon one is basically replacing the Equinox credit.
Well, just to be clear: these are rumors based on leaks from Amex's site.
But, if we are to analyze them as if they are real… I think they are ok? There are definitely some benefits, but also some significant cons. For starters:
So I think my overall take here is positively lukewarm? Like I could definitely see myself getting the most out of all the credits, but it would require some mental effort.
It’s abundantly clear that using/leveraging the FHR credits is going to be critical to maximizing the value of this card. If you weren’t going to use any of the new FHR credits, then you’re likely going to be losing a lot of money on the card.
It’ll definitely depend from person to person, but here’s my general, harsh valuation of each benefit, starting with the newest ones:
Credit Name | Max Value (Up to) | Corgi’s Valuation |
|---|---|---|
Lululemon | $300 | $150 |
Resy | $400 | $200 |
FHR | $600 | $300 |
Even with my harsher credit valuations at play, it’s pretty clear that if you are a thinking, well intentioned credit card user, you can probably do pretty well with the new rendition of the Amex Platinum.
The biggest changes for me here (removing Equinox and adding the 2 new credits alongside expanding the FHR benefit) make the card much more worthwhile in my mind.
I don’t value any of the CLEAR/Precheck benefits because I already have them. Walmart+ is equally useless to me.
As you can probably tell, getting the new American Express Platinum Card® with its new structure could actually make a lot of sense, but it will definitely vary on a person to person basis
The American Express Platinum Card® provides several types of lounge access:
While you can somewhat justifiably put a “valuation” on the credits earlier, it’s a bit more difficult to value lounge access and these other intangibles.
For me, Priority Pass is firstly a $0 value benefit. Why? I already have access to it through cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®—there’s no true benefit to getting a second Priority Pass.
Now, Centurion Lounge and Delta SkyClub access are both very useful benefits. I’ve been to nearly every Amex lounge in the United States and it’s still pretty safe to say that they’re solid lounges. For example:
Would I pay for Amex Lounge access? Given I do fly quite a bit, maybe a little, but I wouldn’t necessarily overvalue it too much here.
I used to love lounges a lot more, but time has become a pretty valuable asset and spending too much time at the airport just isn’t in the books as it once was. However, having this as a perk is still very useful.
So, in this case, I’d probably value a visit in lieu of a nice meal with good working spots so maybe $20/visit?
For Delta SkyClubs, while I rarely fly Delta (more of an American Airlines/Alaska dog), it’s still a “nice to have.” I would not pay for Delta lounge access, but it’s definitely something I note when considering the card.
This section was basically a long way of saying: be careful to not necessarily overvalue lounge benefits. In your card evaluation calculations, I’d actually argue to treat them as a “nice to have” not a “must” but it can definitely vary depending on your priorities.
No idea.
Again, this entire article is based on pure speculation/rumor, but from what we can probably guess—it’s going to be pretty high.
Right now, the American Express Platinum Card®’s offer is “as high as 175,000 points” after spending $8,000 within the first 6 months.
If we were to take a wild guess, it feels like the offer might reach the “up to” 250,000 range? That might feel high, but from my experience, we’re in relatively unprecedented waters with this high annual fee. If this all turns out true, the American Express Platinum Card® suddenly becomes the most expensive personal credit card out there, so it better have a hefty bonus to come with it.
Might as well break a few good records while we’re at it.
Uber
$200 |
$200 |
Incidental Flight | $200 | $150 |
Saks | $100 | $50 |
CLEAR | $209 | $0 |
Digital Entertainment | $240 | $120 |
TSA PreCheck/Global Entry | $120 | $0 |
Total Credits | $2,525 | $1,170 |
