The American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card is one of the 2 ‘Platinum’ badged cards issued by American Express in the Australian Market. The other one being, it’s pricier and more illustrious partner, The American Express Platinum Card.

The Edge earns 3 Membership Rewards points on spends at Australian supermarkets and petrol stations, 2 Membership Rewards points on overseas spend and 1 Membership Rewards point everywhere else.

Prominent Features & Fees

• Annual Fee – $0
• Welcome Bonus – Nil
• Foreign Currency Transaction Fee – 3%
• Travel Credit – $200 per year
• Rewards Program – Membership Rewards Ascent
• Airline Partners – 9
• Hotel Partners – 2
• Other Travel and Retail partners
• Insurance – Free Travel Insurance, Smartphone screen insurance of up to $500 per year, Buyer’s Advantage, Refund Purchase Protection and more.

I will get to other card features and fees in a minute, before that though, I want to dwell a little on the No. 1 feature that makes this card so compelling.

Earning points at Supermarkets & Petrol Stations

The main attraction of this card is its high points earning power for purchases made at Supermarkets and Petrol Stations. At 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar, it provides the biggest bang for your buck. These points can be transferred to any of its 9 airline partners at 2:1 ratio, which effectively translates into 1.5 points/miles per dollar spent.

Besides buying groceries, one of the common tricks used by points and miles collectors to turbo-charge their points earn, is purchasing gift cards. Both Coles and Woolworths sell several dozen 3rd party gift cards of businesses such as Target, David Jones, Bunnings, Uber etc. The list is way too exhaustive to cover here, but do take a moment and look at the gift cards section in your supermaket, next time you are there.

Back to maximising points through gift card purchases.

For instance, if you were planning to go to the movies, the lazy option is to purchase your tickets directly from Hoyts or Events cinemas and earn 1 Membership Rewards points per dollar. However, if you paid for the same tickets through a gift card purchased at Coles or Woolworths, you will pocket 3x as many points.

It’s worth pointing out though, that redeeming gift cards for making big ticket purchases may exclude those items from any insurance protection (more on this later) that the card offers. So make sure you do your due diligence and consider whether the extra points you will earn, provide a large enough incentive to forfeit the cover.

Annual Fee

First things first, this card has a $195 annual fee which becomes payable when your inaugural monthly statement is generated and each year thereafter. However, for a limited time this is waived, so you will pay $0 in annual fee in the first year. You can add up to 4 supplementary cards at no extra cost.

There is a 3% foreign currency transaction fee, which is applied to the converted A$ amount.

Welcome Bonus

Amex have occasionally offered welcome bonus on this card in the past, but the current offer is for the annual fee waiver in the 1st year saving you $195.

Apply here for The American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card

Travel Credit

The card comes with a $200 travel credit which can be used to pay for flights, hotels, experiences and car-hire. This fully offsets the annual fee (in-fact puts an extra $5 in your pocket). I should emphasise that the travel credit is NOT a one-off perk, but is awarded at the start of each ‘card year’ after the annual fee is paid.

As the travel credit can only be applied to a single transaction, it is best utilised for transactions of $200 or more. Any unused credit is forfeited. You can use this credit to book travel for anyone.

Here is a short video from American Express explaining how to use the Travel Credit.

Video credit : americanexpress.com.au

Rewards Program

American Express offers several cards in the Australian market that come with their own Membership Rewards program. Whilst all these programs share some common traits, there are some differences too. The American Express Platinum Edge card participates in the Membership Rewards Ascent program.

Airline Partners

The Membership Rewards Ascent program has 9 airline partners. This includes Virgin Australia but not Qantas. The partners are :

• Virgin Australia – Velocity Frequent Flyer
• Singapore Airlines- Krisflyer
• Cathay Pacific – Asia Miles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Thai Royal Orchid Plus
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Air New Zealand Airpoints
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Transfers to all airline partners except Air New Zealand, is at 2:1 ratio. The transfer ratio for Air New Zealand is 200:1 Airpoints dollar. Unfortunately, the transfers are not instant and it takes anywhere between 1 day (Virgin Australia) to 7 days (Etihad) for the points to reflect in your frequent flyer account.

Redeem Membership Rewards points to fly Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

Hotel Partners

The 2 hotel partner programs associated with Membership Rewards program is Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy. Membership Rewards points transfer to Hilton at 2:1 and to Marriott at 3:2 ratio. In both cases, the transfer rates are subpar and unless you have more points than you can count, you are better off redeeming them to fly business or first class on partner airlines.

You can transfer Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy for a stay at Le Meridian Angkor Wat

Travel Agency partner, Retailer & Gift cards

The American Express Membership Rewards points can also be redeemed for booking travel through ‘Hello World’, online shopping at ‘David Jones’ or purchasing gift cards.

As is the case with hotel partners, redemption with these partners too, offer less than optimum value and must be carefully considered before proceeding through with it.

For details on specific redemption rates, refer to this link.

Insurance

The American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card comes with a chock-full of insurance cover.

Travel Cover

The card provides you, your spouse and any dependent children with complimentary travel insurance when you charge the full return airfare to it. You are also covered if you transfer Membership Rewards points to a partner airline program and use them to book flights or when you directly pay with Membership Rewards points for your flights, or when you pay for the flights with the included travel credit.

Note that the insurance is activated only upon payment of return fare. If you buy a one way ticket, you are NOT covered. The trip must commence and end in Australia.

Smartphone Screen Cover

This is a great new benefit which American Express have only just added to this card, in the process making it even more valuable.

When you pay for your smartphone outright, or through a monthly payment plan with your Platinum Edge Credit Card, it covers you for any accidental damage to the screen of up to $500 per year. A 10% excess applies to each claim with a maximum of 2 claims per year permitted.

I got a chance to test out this feature a while back, when I accidentally dropped my phone and broke the screen.

My shattered iPhone 🙁

Luckily, I had access to this cover through my American Express Explorer Card. The total cost for getting the screen replaced was $140, which was reimbursed by American Express (after deducting a 10% excess).

Note that the cover becomes effective as of 25th February 2021, so any claims made prior to this date will not be honoured.

Buyer’s Advantage

This is a handy cover that comes with the card. The easiest way to explain this is, that it provides extended warranty on products purchased and paid for by The American Express Platinum Edge credit card, over and above the warranty provided by the retailer. Upon successful claim, American Express will, at its discretion, repair, rebuild, or replace the defective or broken-down product, or pay you an amount to do so.

For warranty periods of less than 1 year, it adds a warranty period of the same length to the purchase. For example, if the product purchased has a warranty period of 6 months, at its expiry, American Express will extend it for a further 6 months.

For warranty periods of between 1 and 5 years, you get extended warranty, or ‘The Buyer’s Advantage period’ as American Express calls it, of another year. There is no cover for products that come with original warranty of more than 5 years.

Refund Protection

This is another useful cover to have for situations where you have simply had a change of mind after the purchase, and for whatever reason, the retailer will not take it back. Under these circumstances, items paid for by The American Express Platinum Edge credit card can be returned to American Express who will reimburse you with an amount specified under the terms of the cover.

Other

The insurance provided with The American Express Platinum Edge credit card is extensive and it is impractical to list them all here. Insurance providers change the terms and benefits covered regularly, so it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself by reading the PDS over here.

Who can apply?

This brings us to the last but perhaps the most important question of all, who can apply for this card?

You are eligible to apply for this card if you meet the following conditions:

• You are at-least 18 years old.
• You are an Australian citizen, permanent resident or on a long term visa. (1 year or over).
• You have a before tax income of $50,000 or more.
• You have a good credit history and no payment defaults.

In Conclusion

The American Express Platinum Edge Credit Card is one of the best cards in Australia for spends at Supermarkets and petrol Stations. It offers well rounded benefits, great perks, easy qualification criteria and a perfectly reasonable annual fee.

If you have another American Express card, such as The American Express Explorer Card, you can use it for your other day to day spend, while putting all your grocery and fuel purchases on the Edge.

The fact that the annual fee is more than covered by the included annual travel credit, in my opinion, makes this card a no-brainer.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this post is author’s personal opinion, it does not constitute advice of any kind and must not be relied on. You must assess your own personal circumstances and needs before applying for this product.

pointsHq or its related entities are not authorised credit representatives and will not be responsible for losses arising from any actions taken, as a result of views or opinions expressed here.