If you're in the market for a new credit card, and also use Uber, then this credit card hack may save you money.
American Express is offering $200 in annual Uber ride credit for cardholders of The Platinum Card® from American Express.
How It Works
If you have a Platinum Card, you will receive $15 of Uber ride credit each month from January to November, plus $35 each December. To qualify, you need to link your Platinum Card to your Uber account, but you do not have to pay for your Uber rides with your Platinum Card. You will also be automatically enrolled in the Uber VIP program, which in select cities, will pair you with top-rated Uber drivers.
What's The Catch
1. The Platinum Card has an annual fee of $550 (up from $450 previously), so this is not a free hack.
2. Each Uber ride credit is only available in the U.S. and can only be used in the given month. Therefore, you cannot roll over the monthly credit to the subsequent month.
Is It Really Worth Paying This Annual Fee To Get $200 In Ride Credit?
The Uber ride credit is only one of several benefits included with the Platinum Card. Among others, some of the annual benefits include:
1. $200 in airline fee credit
2. 60,000 in membership rewards points after spending $5,000 in first 3 months
3. 5x membership rewards points for flights booked directly through airlines or American Express Travel
4. 5x membership rewards points for travel booked for eligible hotels through amextravel.com
5. $100 fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®
6. Access to 1,000+ airport lounges in 500 cities across 120 countries
7. No foreign transaction fees
8. Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status and Hilton Honors Gold Status
Why Is American Express Offering The Uber Ride Credit?
The new benefit is viewed as a proactive move to thwart competition in the premium credit card space from rivals JPMorgan Chase and Citi. In the post-financial crisis regulatory environment, banks have gravitated toward investments in credit cards as compared with more capital markets-intensive businesses.
JPMorgan Chase offered the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card ($450 annual fee) last August, which included up to a $1,500 sign up bonus plus $300 in travel credits, among other benefits.
Citi's Prestige Card ($450 annual fee) also offers a host of travel benefits such as airport lounge access and complimentary hotel stays, $250 in airline credit, 40,000 Thank You Points after $4,000 in purchases within three months, among other benefits.
Like the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card and the American Express Centurion Card ($2,500 annual fee; $7,500 initiation fee), American Express will begin to make the Platinum Card out of metal.
Which Credit Card Offers The Most Value
While each credit card offers unique benefits and each cardholder's ideal benefits may vary, analysts at Barclays write in a research note that the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card offered the most value relative to the Platinum Card and Prestige Card. According to Yahoo Finance, which cited the Barclays report, “The Amex Platinum card is still at a 14% discount of total value to the Citi Prestige and a 27% discount of total value to the Chase Sapphire Reserve.” Barclays estimated the lifetime value of The Platinum Card at $5,800 compared with $7,995 for the lifetime value of the Chase Sapphire Reserve.