Business

American Express unveils refreshed Platinum card with $895 annual fee, upping the ante in luxury cards

By Hugh Son

Copyright cnbc

American Express unveils refreshed Platinum card with $895 annual fee, upping the ante in luxury cards

American Express on Thursday unveiled updates to its flagship credit card amid heightened industry competition over the country’s high spenders.

The company said that consumer and business versions of its refreshed Platinum card now carry an $895 annual fee, about 29% higher than the current fee of $695.

But consumers can now tap $3,500 in annual benefits, according to American Express, mostly in the form of credits offsetting purchases made on the card, more than twice the previous level.

The perks include credits at Uber, Lululemon, Oura, the restaurant booking platform Resy, and enhanced hotel and streaming benefits, the card issuer said. Business card users will also see $3,500 in annual benefits, including new hotel credits and offsets for purchases at Dell Technologies and Adobe.

Those are on top of the card’s existing benefits, none of which have been rolled back, said Howard Grosfield, president for U.S. consumer services at American Express.

American Express’ announcement highlights an arms race of sorts when it comes to catering to wealthy U.S. consumers. In recent months, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup released updated or new premium cards, products laden with benefits for those who spend, travel and dine enough to make them worthwhile.

Notably, American Express and JPMorgan each made announcements within a day of the unveiling of their rival’s updated premium cards. American Express touted its biggest ever investment in a card refresh back in June just before JPMorgan released its latest Sapphire Reserve card, while JPMorgan announced improvements to that card’s hotel perks Wednesday.

Card issuers are banking on the fact that wealthy Americans are driving an ever-growing share of the country’s overall spending. Consumers with top 10% incomes accounted for roughly half of total spending in the second quarter, the highest level in more than three decades, according to Moody’s Analytics.