The Platinum Card® from American Express is a charge card designed for those who have an excellent credit history, can pay in full each month, and want to avoid accumulating credit card debt.

This platinum card is by far one of the most glamorous of all platinum cards - offering numerous benefits and services to cardholders. In addition to the services provided by the gold card, the platinum card offers a concierge service, exclusive shopping discounts, up to $500,000 in travel accident insurance, and various travel related discounts, benefits, and services for cardholders (too many to list here). Read the ‘Additional Perks’ section (see below) as some of the benefits are quite impressive and unique.

Access to the Membership Rewards® program is free and offers cardholders the opportunity to redeem accumulated points for various services and benefits. For those who are not familiar with the Membership Rewards® program, it is by far one of the best and most flexible reward programs available, with no expiration or yearly limit applied towards points earned. Plus, cardholders get 25,000 bonus points when they spend $1,000 in their first three months of membership - that's the equivalent of one domestic airline ticket.

Of course, all these services and benefits come with a hefty price - a $450 annual fee, which is one of the highest annual fees in the credit card industry. Due to its high annual fee, this card should be exclusively used by those who spend at least $3,500 - $4,500 or more on their credit cards each month, frequently travel, and plan to take advantage of the many exclusive benefits offered.

Therefore, those who will take advantage of the many services and discounts and plan to spend several thousand dollars a month will benefit most from The Platinum Card® from American Express.

Updated:  August-10-10

Most Attractive Feature(s):  Free access to rewards program; many benefits and additional perks.

Least Attractive Feature(s):  Extremely high annual fee for primary cardholders.