Mercedes-Benz Platinum discontinued; get 60K while you can

As reported by US Credit Card Guide, the Mercedes-Benz American Express cards (including the Mercedes-Benz branded flavor of the Platinum Card) will be discontinued in January 2019 and replaced with different cards. Applications are still available at the time of writing (find a link on our Best Offers page) — it might be worth picking up some easy Membership Rewards points while you still can and before these cards get converted to some other products (though that might not make sense for everyone — more below).

Pick up points while you can?

The 10K offer on the Mercedes-Benz credit card might appeal to those looking for a quick and easy score in terms of points, though it might be hard to tie up an available credit card slot with that (since Amex limits the number of credit cards you can have open at one time).

On the other hand, one can theoretically open as many charge cards as one wants (within the limits of whatever Amex is willing to approve for you). The Mercedes-Benz Platinum card may be of particular interest to those who haven’t had this flavor (See: Which is the best Amex Platinum card? for more information on the different flavors).

The Mercedes-Benz Platinum card comes with the same welcome offer as any other flavor of Platinum currently: 60K Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first three months. We’ve seen an offer as high as 75K in the past, though not since the refresh of the Platinum cards last year. With this card being discontinued, I wouldn’t expect an increased bonus.

Since each flavor of the Platinum card is considered a separate product, it would make sense to get this 60K welcome offer while you can if you have never had this flavor of the Platinum card. Note the high annual fee — $550 per year — though it comes with $200 in airline incidental credits (See: Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements. What still works?) and $200 in annual Uber credits that I believe still work for UberEATS (though note that this is split into monthly $15 credits and a $35 credit in December — not a bulk Uber credit). Still, with the suite of benefits of a Platinum card (Hilton Gold status, SPG Gold status, National Executive status, higher purchase protection limits, Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, the Platinum concierge, Priority Pass Select, Centurion Lounge access etc), it can present good value for some.

All that said, I think it’s worth considering your options if you’ve never had the plain “vanilla” American Express version of the Platinum card. The Amex site does not indicate what type of card your Mercedes-Benz Platinum will become when this card is discontinued in January 2019; with the $550 annual fee you will have already paid, I think it’s reasonable to expect that Amex may transition you to the plain Amex flavor of the Platinum card. Since Amex usually blocks those who have or have had a particular product from earning a future welcome offer, I wouldn’t want to be transitioned to the regular personal Platinum card without ever having received the welcome offer on it. While the public welcome offer on that card is the same as the Mercedes-Benz version at the time of writing this post, people sometimes receive targeted offers for 100K on the plain Platinum card. It’s worth considering your plan of attack on maximizing points if you’ve never had the “vanilla” Platinum.

On the other hand, if you’ve gotten a welcome offer on that card before, you might want to make a move on 60K points while you can. While applications are currently still working for this card, I imagine they will end at some point before January 2019.

H/T: US Credit Card Guide

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