The Platinum Card from American Express is running some fairly substantial welcome offers right now. I believe a couple of them involve using your browser’s “incognito” or “private” mode to see if you’re eligible for a 100k bonus or something. The only one I’ve personally seen is the 75,000 Membership Rewards bonus we discussed in detail a few weeks ago — and how you can get triple that number of points.

While the prestigious Amex Platinum Card is known for some of its travel and luxury benefits, it also has a reputation for something else: its $550 annual fee that’s not waived the first year.

That said, it should be entirely possible to earn back $480 in statement credits before everything resets on January 1. But it all depends on your spending habits and upcoming travel preferences.

And keep in mind that you can take advantage of all these benefits (except the Global Entry/TSA Pre√ perk) again next year — before your annual fee strikes again for year two.

So keep these thoughts and benefits in mind if you’re thinking of applying for the card. You may think Sure, I need those and know exactly what I’ll do! Or you may go, Uh, no.

(And for current cardholders, this is a good refresher about which benefits you might have forgotten about this year!)

Either way, I hope this helps!

If you hold a Platinum Card from American Express (the personal/consumer card) or Business Platinum Card from American Express and haven’t yet used some of your statement credits, read this.