Is the Amex Platinum Worth It in 2026? The $895 Fee, Credit by Credit

Is the $895 Amex Platinum worth it in 2026? We walk all 9 recurring credits Pointsmiths tracks ($2,075), split easy ones from coupon-book ones, compute a real break-even, and give a keep/downgrade/skip call by cardholder type.

Strategy · 15 min read · 2026-06-07

Is the Amex Platinum Worth It in 2026? The $895 Fee, Credit by Credit The Amex Platinum costs $895 a year in 2026, and that new fee is now hitting existing cardholders as their renewals come up — not just new applicants. Amex will tell you the card carries "over $3,000 in value." We're not going to repeat that number. Instead we're going to do the honest thing: walk all nine recurring credits Pointsmiths actually tracks, total them up to $2,075, separate the ones almost everyone uses from the coupon-book ones, and figure out exactly how few credits it takes to break even on $895. Then we'll tell you whether to keep it, downgrade it, or skip it based on the kind of spender you are. The honest starting line — $895, and the new fee is landing on existing cardholders Let's start where most reviews bury the lede: the Amex Platinum annual fee is $895 in 2026. That's not a typo and it's not a teaser. And if you've held this card for years at a lower fee, the increase is showing up on your 2026 renewal date — so "I'll just keep what I have" is no longer a free decision. Your renewal is effectively a fresh underwriting question you're asking yourself. The card is loaded with credits designed to offset that fee. But here's the catch every glossy review skips: a credit is only worth what you redeem. A $25 monthly entertainment credit you forget to use four months a year isn't $300 of value — it's $200, and you paid for the privilege of leaving $100 on the table. The whole Pointsmiths thesis is that the headline value and the captured value are two very different numbers, and the gap b