AMEX Platinum 100K Signup Bonus Offer (Targeted)

An AMEX Platinum 100,000 signup bonus offer (targeted) is available to select applicants via CardMatch, per TravelSort client Michael. Earlier this year I took advantage of a similar AMEX Platinum 100K signup bonus, which came in very handy in booking my husband in Singapore Business Class and Singapore Suites, my favorite way to use AMEX Membership Rewards points.

The AMEX Platinum does come with a hefty $450 annual fee, not waived, but now is the ideal time to apply for the AMEX Platinum if you qualify for this targeted offer, because the $200 per year airline incidental credit is *per calendar year* so you'd be able to max out the credit now, in 2013, and then again in January 2014. See Maximizing the AMEX Platinum Airline Fee Credit.

Another way to get $100 in value out of the card, especially if you frequently travel internationally, is with the reimbursement for the $100 Global Entry fee. See American Express Platinum Card Global Entry Benefit Tips.

Note that I wasn't able to get the AMEX Platinum 100K offer to come up for me or anyone I know who currently has an AMEX Platinum or Gold card, which stands to reason, since the terms explicitly say that if you're identified as a “current American Express card member, you may not be eligible for this welcome bonus offer.”

Here are the key terms for the AMEX Platinum 100K offer:

Earn 100,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points after using the AMEX Platinum card to make $3000 or more in purchases within the first 3 months
$450 annual fee
Current American Express card members may not be eligible
Offer not available to applicants who have had this product (which now includes the Mercedes-Benz AMEX Platinum card) or any Consumer Zync, Green or Gold card within the last 90 days

“OFFER TERMS

If you are identified as a current American Express® Card Member, you may not be eligible for this welcome bonus offer. This offer is also not available to applicants who have had this product within the last 12 months or any Consumer ZYNC®, Green or Gold Card account within the last 90 days.

100,000 Membership Rewards® PointsTo be eligible to earn the 100,000 Membership Rewards points, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards Program at the time of purchase. 100,000 Membership Rewards points will be credited to your account after you charge a total of $3,000 (the “Threshold Amount”) or more of purchases on your Platinum Card® from American Express within the first 3 months of Platinum Card membership. The Threshold Amount consists of the combined purchases of both the Basic Card member and any Additional Card members on a single account.The following charges do NOT count towards the Threshold Amount: fees or interest charges; balance transfers; cash advances; purchases of travelers checks; purchases or reloading of prepaid cards; or purchases of other cash equivalents.Points will be credited to your Membership Rewards account within 6-8 weeks after charges appear on your monthly billing statement. If you have any questions regarding this offer, please call the number on the back of your Card. Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards® program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms or call 1-800-AXP-EARN (297-3276) for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice. American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke offer at any time.”

To see if you're eligible, here's what to do:

1. Go to CardMatch

Enter in your name and address. Note that you do NOT need to enter in the last 4 digits of your SSN if you prefer not to; it can help pinpoint your credit file, but most people are able to see their credit card matches without it.

2. Verify Your Details and Enter the Verification Code

You'll need to enter the verification code in order to proceed to your credit card matches.

3. View Your Preapproved Offers

In this example, the first offer is the AMEX Premier Rewards Gold Card with a 50K bonus after $1000 minimum spend, which is twice the current public offer of only 25,000 points. You may even be able to get both this card and the AMEX Platinum 100K, but if you're only applying for one card and see both offers, go for the AMEX Platinum 100K offer. This was available for this applicant by scrolling down.

4. If You See the American Express Platinum 100,000 Signup Bonus Offer, Congratulations!

Do note that AMEX is stingier with signup bonuses now, so it's more important than ever to read the terms and conditions and manage your expectations of a bonus if you don't qualify. Here's what the AMEX Platinum 100K offer looked like for this applicant; for some reason the image didn't appear correctly, but you can see the 100,000 bonus in the text: