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Hey everyone, welcome back to Smart With Points. I'm Jack, and today we need to talk about something that's going to affect a lot of UK business owners who've been cleverly racking up Membership Rewards points with the American Express Business Platinum card. I've just received an email from Amex that's essentially gutting one of the card's best features, and whilst they're trying to soften the blow with some new benefits, the maths really doesn't add up for most people. So let's dive into what's changing, what you're getting instead, and whether this premium card is still worth its hefty six hundred and fifty pound annual fee.
Right, so here's what's happening. If you currently hold the American Express Business Platinum card, you'll know about the monthly bonus structure. Spend over ten thousand pounds in any calendar month, and you receive a bonus of ten thousand Membership Rewards points. If you're consistently hitting that threshold, that's an extra one hundred and twenty thousand points per year, essentially doubling your earn rate to two points per pound on that first ten thousand pounds of monthly spend. It's been a genuinely brilliant feature that's made the card incredibly valuable for business owners with consistent spending.
Well, that ends on the thirty-first of March twenty twenty-six. If you manage to spend ten thousand pounds in March, you'll receive your final monthly bonus. After that, it's gone completely. The standard earning rate of one Membership Rewards point per pound spent remains unchanged, but the opportunity to boost that to two times on your first ten thousand pounds of monthly spend disappears entirely.
Now, American Express isn't leaving cardholders completely empty-handed. From the first of April twenty twenty-six, three new benefits will be added to the card. Let me walk you through them.
First up is an enhanced American Express Travel Credit. This is probably the most valuable of the new additions. Currently, Business Platinum cardholders receive two hundred pounds annually to spend at Amex Travel, which must be used in a single transaction. That existing benefit stays, but now there's a tiered structure. If you spend sixty thousand pounds in a card membership year, you'll receive an additional two hundred pound credit, giving you four hundred pounds total. And if you spend one hundred and twenty thousand pounds in a card membership year, you'll receive an additional four hundred pound credit, giving you six hundred pounds total.
Now, here's the catch. These are travel credits, not flexible points. You're locked into booking through Amex Travel, which doesn't always offer the most competitive rates. It's useful, certainly, but it's not as flexible as Membership Rewards points that can transfer one-to-one to British Airways Avios, Virgin Points, or any of Amex's other transfer partners.
The second new benefit is an Enterprise Rental Car Credit. Spend sixty pounds or more with Enterprise in any month, and you'll receive a twenty pound statement credit. Do this every month, and that's two hundred and forty pounds annually. My take? This is incredibly niche. Unless you're regularly renting cars with Enterprise specifically, this benefit offers little value. It requires enrolment, and you need to remember to use it monthly. If you're not in the market for rental cars, it's essentially worthless.
The third benefit is a Superscript Business Insurance Discount. You'll receive a fifteen percent statement credit on your first transaction with Superscript each calendar year. Superscript sells business insurance like professional indemnity and public liability. The problem? Early reports suggest Superscript's quotes are running significantly higher than competitors. If their base rates are three times what you'd pay elsewhere, as one forum user discovered, a fifteen percent discount doesn't suddenly make them competitive. This feels like a benefit that sounds good on paper but delivers little real-world value for most cardholders.
So let's do the maths, because this is where things get really interesting. Here's the crucial question: for someone spending one hundred and twenty thousand pounds annually on the Business Platinum, which is the level needed to maximise both the old and new benefits, are you better or worse off?
Under the old structure, which is in place until the thirty-first of March twenty twenty-six, you'd earn one hundred and twenty thousand base Membership Rewards points, plus one hundred and twenty thousand points in monthly bonuses, giving you ten thousand points times twelve months. That's a total of two hundred and forty thousand Membership Rewards points.
Under the new structure from the first of April twenty twenty-six, you'd earn one hundred and twenty thousand base Membership Rewards points. You'd get six hundred pounds in Amex Travel credits versus the previous two hundred pounds, so that's four hundred pounds extra. You'd potentially get two hundred and forty pounds in Enterprise credits if you actually use them. And you'd get the Superscript discount, which likely has minimal value.
To make a fair comparison, we need to value those missing one hundred and twenty thousand points. I typically value Membership Rewards points at around zero point seven five to one pence each when transferred to airline partners. Let's be conservative and use zero point seven five pence. One hundred and twenty thousand points at zero point seven five pence equals nine hundred pounds in value.
In return, you're receiving four hundred pounds in travel credits, which are less flexible than points, two hundred and forty pounds in Enterprise credits if you actually use rental cars, and the Superscript discount which has minimal real-world value.
Even if you maximise every new benefit, you're looking at roughly six hundred and forty pounds in value versus nine hundred pounds in lost points. That's a net loss of two hundred and sixty pounds annually for high spenders. And it gets worse if you're someone who values points closer to one pence each.
This change really hurts business owners with consistent monthly spending. Someone spending ten to fifteen thousand pounds monthly was earning two times points on a significant portion of their spend without needing to hit the stratospheric thresholds required for some premium cards. These new benefits are clearly designed to push cardholders towards much higher annual spending thresholds of sixty thousand or one hundred and twenty thousand pounds to unlock value. But they're less flexible, more restrictive, and ultimately worth less than the points they're replacing.
So if you're a current Business Platinum cardholder, you've got until the first of April twenty twenty-six to decide what to do. You've got a few options.
First, you can simply accept the changes. Do nothing, and the changes will happen automatically. The card still offers excellent lounge access, hotel status benefits, and solid earning rates. But the value proposition at six hundred and fifty pounds annually has definitely weakened.
Second, you can close your account. If you don't accept the changes, you can close your account before the first of April twenty twenty-six. American Express will provide a pro-rata refund of your unused annual fee. Importantly, this doesn't affect your Membership Rewards points. They'll remain available as long as you hold another Membership Rewards-earning card.
Third, you could downgrade to the Business Gold card. The American Express Business Gold is free for the first year and has a much more palatable ongoing fee. It's also losing its quarterly bonus, which was ten thousand points when spending twenty thousand pounds per quarter, but given both cards are losing their bonus structures, the lower-fee option might make more sense.
And fourth, you could look at alternatives. For business owners primarily interested in earning Avios, Capital on Tap offers straightforward one Avios per pound with no annual fee on the standard card. The Pro version, which costs two hundred and ninety-nine pounds annually, offers one point two five Avios per pound. It's not as feature-rich as the Business Platinum, but for pure points earning, it's become increasingly competitive, especially now that Amex has gutted the Business Platinum's earning potential.
Here's my take on all of this. I currently hold the Business Platinum alongside Business Gold, and this change has me seriously reconsidering the value proposition of keeping both cards. The monthly bonus was genuinely valuable. It rewarded consistent business spending without requiring you to jump through hoops or hit unrealistic thresholds.
The new benefits feel like a poor substitute. Travel credits are useful if you regularly book through Amex Travel, but they lack the flexibility of points. The Enterprise benefit is so niche it'll be worthless to most cardholders. And the Superscript discount appears to be window dressing rather than genuine value.
For someone like me who values the airport lounge access via Priority Pass and the Global Lounge Collection, hotel elite status benefits, and travel insurance, there's still value in keeping the card. But the gap between what you're paying, which is six hundred and fifty pounds, and what you're receiving has definitely narrowed.
If you're on the fence, my advice is this: calculate your actual usage of the card's benefits beyond the points earning. If you're regularly using Priority Pass, staying at hotels where Gold status matters, and making use of the travel insurance, then six hundred and fifty pounds might still represent fair value. But if you were primarily holding the card for the points earning potential? It might be time to look elsewhere.
Now, here's one important note. If you've been considering applying for the Business Platinum and haven't yet, now might actually be the time to do it. You can still qualify for the current welcome bonus, which is fifty thousand points after six thousand pounds of spend, and you'll have the opportunity to earn the monthly bonuses through March twenty twenty-six. You can get the card by clicking the link in the shownotes. Just be prepared for the significantly reduced value proposition once April rolls around.
Also worth noting: American Express changed the eligibility requirements in January twenty twenty-six. You now must be a Director of a Limited Company or a Member of a Limited Liability Partnership. Sole traders and unlimited partnerships are no longer accepted.
So here's the bottom line. This is a significant devaluation, no matter how American Express tries to dress it up. The monthly bonus was one of the Business Platinum's standout features, a genuine competitive advantage that made the six hundred and fifty pound fee palatable for many business owners. The new benefits simply don't offer equivalent value, especially for points collectors who value flexibility.
If you're a current cardholder, now's the time to run the numbers on your own spending patterns and usage of the card's other benefits. And if you're considering applying, be clear-eyed about what you're signing up for beyond April twenty twenty-six. The UK points and miles game just got a bit less rewarding.
That's it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening to Smart With Points. If you found this useful, please subscribe to the podcast on all major platforms, or head over to our website at smartwithpoints.co.uk where you can also subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all the latest changes in the world of miles and points.
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