Here's What Happened When I Called Amex to Downgrade My Platinum Card

For the first couple of years we had it, I enjoyed The Platinum Card® from American Express. I especially liked the perks of traveling with the card and the sheer number of reward points we'd earn with each big trip. After a year or so of not traveling much, though, my husband and I rethought how we were using it and realized that we'd be better served with another card at our disposal.

Saying goodbye (and hello)

Other than the fact I hate disappointing people (even total strangers and large multinational corporations), I'm not sure why I was so nervous about calling American Express to let it know that the Amex Platinum Card was no longer working for us the way we wanted it to. When it comes to reward cards, our goal is always to use the rewards as a sort of rebate. We spend a certain amount of money, and we're rewarded with valuable points in return.

I initially planned to move all our bills from the Amex Platinum Card to another rewards card before calling to downgrade but decided at the last minute to have a discussion with Amex first. Here's what happened:

• No one is going to lose sleep. The customer service representative could not have been any nicer. Because I've never downgraded a card before, I didn't realize that it's not a big deal. Literally, no one cares. We're still Amex customers, after all.
• I was given two card options. We could downgrade to an American Express® Gold Card or an American Express® Green Card. Both cards carry an annual fee, but they're quite a bit lower than we were paying for the Amex Platinum Card. The American Express® Gold Card has an annual fee of $325 (see rates and fees), and the American Express® Green Card carries a cost of $150 (see rates and fees).
• I'd already done my homework. Knowing that I would need to choose a new card, I got to work figuring out which one we were likely to benefit from most. We chose the Amex Gold Card because we would earn 4X the points at U.S. supermarkets, 4X spent at restaurants (including takeout and delivery in the U.S.), and still receive 3X the points on flights booked through American Express. Terms apply. Practically speaking, we'll be rewarded for the daily spending we do. We use our American Express to pay most of our expenses, including utilities, charitable contributions, groceries, and gasoline.
• I didn't even have to transfer my bills. I was relieved to learn that the downgrade would be seamless. The monthly bills we paid with the Amex Platinum Card were automatically transferred to the Amex Gold Card.

A strong card

I meant it when I wrote about the perks of The Platinum Card® from American Express. As long as we took advantage of the many card benefits, we were pretty much able to cover the annual fee. That's saying a lot, considering the annual fee is $695 (see rates and fees).

That's far more than we pay for any of our other cards. However, we also used our Amex Platinum Card far more than any of them. Not only did we take advantage of benefits like the $240 digital entertainment credit, $155 Walmart+ credit, and $200 Uber cash, but we adored the fact that we earned 5X the reward points on all flights and 5X the reward points on prepaid hotels (terms apply, enrollment may be required). It was fun to come home from a well-planned trip and see how many new points we'd accrued.

Our issue began when we took a break from traveling. We still do a ridiculous number of weekend trips, but have only flown once this year so far.

Squeezing it dry

We spent thousands of dollars monthly on our American Express card, but nearly every dollar spent was only worth one reward point because it wasn't travel related. At that rate, it was going to take a very long time to build up a large enough number to do anything meaningful.

While we're in the planning stages of a big trip for early next year, right now, we need a rewards card that will give us the most bang for our buck.

In downgrading from one American Express card to another, we gave up two things: Perks associated with the Amex Platinum Card and any introductory offer we would have received as a brand-new cardholder. That's okay, though. I have a feeling this is going to be a better fit for our everyday needs, and that's ultimately what a good card should be.