I’ve long been a cardholder of the American Express Platinum Card, however I’ve been debating whether to keep the card or to close it.

There’s a lengthy American Express retention offers Flyertalk thread that talks about all sort of retention offers cardholders are getting. I decided to call up American Express’s retention department at 800-452-3945 where I was prompted to enter my 15 digit card number.

The agent was friendly and asked me to verify my information and then I told him that I was having doubts about keeping the card and how I’ve started shifted my spending to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card. He tried to sell the card with the Centurion Lounge access and Delta SkyClubs, but I kept saying that the annual fee was hard to justify. I then asked if we was able to waive the fee, which is what it would take for me to keep this account.

I was placed on hold for 5 minutes, and when the agent came back I was pleased to hear that he had a few options for me. He could offer 50,000 Membership Rewards points or a $500 statement credit if I agreed to keep the card. I was shocked that I’d receive this, especially since neither had any minimum spend requirements attached to them.

I decided to take the 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which he said should be deposited into my account within 6-8 weeks.

Bottom Line

I was very pleased with my call to the American Express retention department and with the offers that I was presented with. For background, I’ve received offers in the past, but nothing last year, which looking at the threads seems to suggest that you won’t receive a retention offer if you already received one the prior year.

Note the number to call for American Express retention is 800-452-3945, not the number of the back of your card.

Have you called the American Express retention department before and received an offer to keep your card active? Feel free to share in the comments below.