Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which we receive financial compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). However, the credit card information that we publish has been written and evaluated by experts who know these products inside out. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers that are on the market. See our advertising policy here where we list advertisers that we work with, and how we make money. You can also review our credit card rating methodology.
Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used...
Nick’s passion for points began as a hobby and became a career. He worked for over 5 years at The Points Guy and has contributed to Business Insider and CNN. He has 14 credit cards and continues to le...
Kellie’s professional experience has led her to a deep passion for compliance, data reporting, and process improvement. Kellie’s learned the ins and outs of the points and miles world and leads UP’s c...
We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.
American Express tends to offer many different tiers of cards, ranging from the ultra-exclusive Centurion® Card from American Express to simple cash-back cards with no annual fee like the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (rates and fees).
Over time, your needs may evolve, and you might originally opt for a simple cash-back card with little to no benefits but discover that you can enhance your travels or get more out of your card by upgrading it to a more premium option.
So if you’re thinking about upgrading your Amex card to a higher-tier option, you’ve come to the right place! Today, we’re going to walk you through all the ins and outs of doing just that so you can make the best decision possible.
How To Upgrade Your Amex Card
The way you upgrade your Amex card is dependent on whether or not you see an upgrade offer online.
The first way you can tell if you have an upgrade offer is by logging into your online account at americanexpress.com and looking around on the account dashboard to see if you’ve been targeted for any upgrade offers.
Amex also sends out upgrade offers via email, which can look something like this:
Sometimes, you’ll be allowed to request an upgrade online without an offer, and it’ll look something like this (notice that there are no mentions of any offers for extra bonus rewards or points):
In other cases, you may need to call to upgrade your Amex card. Simply dial the number on the back of your card and speak to an agent about upgrading your Amex card.
You’ll need to have your card open for at least 1 year to be eligible to upgrade, and you must upgrade to a card within the same “family” of cards. For example, you cannot upgrade a Hilton credit card to a Marriott credit card because they are not in the same family.
Also, you can’t upgrade a personal card to a business card and vice-versa.
Reasons To Upgrade Your Amex Card
Although the decision to upgrade your Amex card depends on the individual, there are a few different groups of people for which it makes a lot of sense to upgrade:
You Get a Targeted Upgrade Offer
If you were thinking about upgrading your Amex card at one point but just haven’t pulled the trigger for one reason or another, you might want to do so as soon as you get an upgrade offer delivered to your email inbox or online account.
These targeted upgrade offers are particularly lucrative and could mean thousands of dollars back in your pocket.
Targeted upgrade offers are sent only to specific cardholders, and they’re typically time-sensitive. In some cases, the offers are so time-sensitive that they may be pulled even before the quoted expiration date!
For example, if you receive a targeted upgrade offer that requires your action by June 30, don’t be surprised if you try to accept the upgrade offer by June 27 and the offer is no longer valid!
There’s a Specific Perk You’re Looking For
Usually, when you’re considering upgrading your card, you’re doing so because there’s an attractive benefit or feature offered on the card you’re contemplating upgrading to.
The list goes on, but those who benefit most from upgrading their card will be focused on the 1 or 2 specific benefits where they would get the most value.
Your Spending Habits Change
Another great reason to upgrade your Amex card is if your spending habits start changing. For example, let’s say you currently have the American Express® Green Card and you originally got it because you spend a substantial amount of money every month on eating out as a young professional.
But as time went on, you got married, started a family, and your food expenses skyrocketed — you still eat out from time to time, but most of the spending is now at grocery stores.
This would be a fantastic reason to upgrade your Amex Green card to the Amex Gold card, which not only earns more at restaurants worldwide (4x with the Amex Gold card compared to 3x with the Amex Green card) but also earns 4x points (on the first $25,000 per calendar year, 1x thereafter) at U.S. supermarkets.
This singular move alone could result in earning hundreds of thousands of extra points in just a few years!
Bottom Line:
You should consider upgrading your Amex card if you get a targeted upgrade offer, if you need a specific benefit that your current Amex card doesn’t have, or if your spending habits change and your card strategy needs to be re-evaluated.
Amex Membership Rewards Cards
In each of the following sections, we’ll be walking you through each of the major card families in the Amex portfolio and comparing the benefits that each card has to offer.
In general, you can upgrade your Amex Green card to the Amex Gold card or Amex Platinum card. Meanwhile, you can also upgrade your Amex Gold card to the Amex Platinum card.
You can upgrade the Amex Business Green card to either the Amex Business Gold card or the Amex Business Platinum card — you can upgrade your Amex Business Gold card to the Amex Business Platinum card.
Benefits Comparison
Without further ado, let’s get neck-deep into our benefits comparison for the major Amex cards!
Note: some benefits mentioned below require enrollment through your American Express account.
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95
Authorized Users
$300 annual fee for each additional Business Platinum card, $45 annual fee for each additional Business Gold Rewards card, and no additional annual fee for each additional Business Green card (rates and fees)
$50 annual fee for the first additional Business Gold card and no additional annual fees for each card thereafter (up to 99 total additional cards)(rates and fees)
No additional annual fees for employee cards
Amex Marriott Bonvoy Cards
Another popular family of credit cards that Amex offers is the co-branded Marriott Bonvoy credit cards. Although Chase also shares this portfolio with Marriott Bonvoy, American Express’ territory is with the ultra-premium and business variants of the Marriott Bonvoy cards.
Currently, there are 3 personal Marriott Bonvoy Amex cards and 1 business Marriott Bonvoy Amex card:
You can upgrade from the Marriott Bonvoy card to either the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card or the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card. However, there are no upgrade options available to those who have the Marriott Bonvoy Business card.
Now, let’s take a look at a comparison of American Express’ line of Marriott Bonvoy co-branded personal credit cards:
Benefits Comparison
Note: some benefits mentioned below require enrollment through your American Express account.
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
As you can see, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card offers automatic Platinum Elite status among other benefits, making it an excellent card to upgrade to if you value these types of benefits.
Amex Delta SkyMiles Cards
Amex offers consumer and business co-branded Delta SkyMiles cards. Here are your options for the family of personal cards:
You can upgrade your Hilton Honors card to the Hilton Surpass card or the Hilton Aspire card. And you can also upgrade the Hilton Surpass card to the Hilton Aspire card.
Benefits Comparison
Note: some benefits mentioned below require enrollment through your American Express account.
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
There’s also a Hilton Honors co-branded card that’s issued to business owners — The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card. However, you can’t upgrade or downgrade to this card since there are no other co-branded Hilton Honors business credit cards available.
Amex Cash-back Cards
The last set of cards we’ll discuss is the family of cash-back cards under the Amex umbrella. Currently, there are 3 cards within the Amex cash-back card family on the consumer side:
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
No additional annual fees for authorized users (rates and fees)
No additional annual fees for authorized users
Final Thoughts
All in all, you should only upgrade your Amex card if it makes sense to do so. In general, it makes sense to upgrade your Amex card if you have an attractive welcome offer, if you want to elevate the benefits you enjoy from your card, or if you’re interested in earning rewards more effectively due to changes in spending habits.
Amex has a few different families of cards, and you can only upgrade to cards within the same family. For this reason, you can’t upgrade a Delta SkyMiles credit card to a Marriott Bonvoy credit card, for example.
Your card needs to have been open for at least 1 year in order to qualify for an upgrade, too. For this reason, you can’t upgrade a new card you just opened a few months ago.
Remember to bookmark this page to refer back to it if you’re considering upgrading one or more of your Amex cards!
The information regarding the Centurion® Card from American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and was not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information for The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card has been independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Business Green Rewards Card from American Express was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy American Express® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer. The information regarding the American Express Cash Magnet® Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Green Card, click here. For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here. For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® card, click here. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees for the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Card, click here. For rates and fees of The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.
Featured Image Credit: American Express
Frequently Asked Questions
In general, your number does not change when you upgrade your Amex card.
If you are targeted for an upgrade offer that has a bonus, it will typically show up in your online account. However, you can also access any upgrade offers by calling Amex over the phone and speaking to a customer service agent.
In the vast majority of cases, it does not. Your card number usually stays the same, so it won’t get reported to the credit bureaus as a new card.
In general, you can only upgrade your Amex Blue Cash Everyday card to the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card.
Unless the offer you take advantage of specifically mentions a bonus, you will not get any bonus points when you upgrade your Amex card.
Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.
0 comments
Any thoughts or questions? Comment below!
Email needed if you'd like comment updates. It will NOT be published.
0 comments
Any thoughts or questions? Comment below!
Email needed if you'd like comment updates. It will NOT be published.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.