Amex Platinum Card vs. Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum Card [Detailed Comparison]

The Platinum Card^® from American Express is one of the most popular travel cards on the market today, delivering thousands of dollars in value per year through its airport lounge access perks, strong rewards structure, and luxury benefits like hotel elite status and car rental privileges.

However, did you know that there are several versions of the Amex Platinum card? In this guide, we’ll introduce you to arguably the most exclusive version of Amex Platinum, The Platinum Card^® from American Express Exclusively for Goldman Sachs.

Since the card is closely aligned with the Amex Platinum card in terms of benefits, there aren’t many unique reasons to pursue the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card variant instead. For most consumers, the standard Amex Platinum card may be the right move. However, to really get an accurate assessment, we’ll show you everything in this guide!

Amex Platinum Card vs. Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum Card — Overview

We’ll cut right to the chase: the Amex Platinum card and Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card are similar in almost every respect. In fact, there may only be 2 features that distinguish the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card from the Amex Platinum card:

1. The Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card can be much more difficult to qualify for than the Amex Platinum card.
2. According to most recent data points, the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card also offers bonus points after a certain spending threshold is met.

Here’s an overview of the 2 card products:

	The Platinum Card® from American Express	The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Goldman Sachs
Welcome Offer	Earn 80,000 points after spending $8,000 on purchases in the first 6 months.	Generous welcome offer after meeting minimum spending requirements
Application Recommendations	Good to excellent credit; applications are open to the public	Good to excellent credit, plus at least $10 million in assets under Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management
Earning	Earn 5x points on flights purchased directly with the airline or through Amex Travel (up to $500,000 per year) and prepaid hotels booked through Amex Travel Earn 1x points on other purchases
Redemption Options	Transfer points to airline and hotel partners  Redeem points for travel directly with Amex Travel Online shopping, statement credits, gift cards, and charitable donations
Top Travel Benefits and Protections	Access to 1,400+ lounges through the Amex Global Lounge Collection Automatic Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards President’s Circle, Avis Preferred Plus, and National Emerald Club Executive elite status (upon enrollment) Annual statement credits, including up to $200 in airline incidentals, up to $200 for prepaid hotels, up to $200 in Uber Cash, up to $189 for CLEAR Plus, and more (upon enrollment) Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credits Trip interruption and cancellation insurance, trip delay reimbursement, and baggage insurance plan No foreign transaction fees
Top Shopping Benefits and Protections	Annual statement credits: up to $240 for digital entertainment, up to $155 for Walmart+, and up to $100 for Saks (upon enrollment) Cell phone protection, purchase protection, extended warranty, and return protection
Annual Fees	$695 (rates and fees)	$695
Authorized Users	$195 per card, and $0 for additional American Express® Gold Card authorized users (rates and fees)	$195 per card, and $0 for additional American Express® Gold Card authorized users

The Value of a Welcome Bonus Offer

The Amex Platinum card consistently offers an outsized welcome offer, and the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card generally follows the same welcome offer as the Amex Platinum card.

You’ll earn a welcome offer denominated in Membership Rewards points, which are worth around 2.2 cents per point by our valuations — however, this valuation is achieved by strategically transferring points to travel partners and booking award travel.

If you’re not interested in that or aren’t savvy enough to find award availability, you can book flights through the Amex Travel website for around 1 cent per point. We’ll cover redeeming points in a later section.

Lastly, we’d like to note that welcome offers change from time to time, so be sure to double-check the details before applying for the card.

Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 125k (or 150k) points with the Amex Platinum. The current public offer is 80,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)

Application Guidelines

To qualify for the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card, you’ll generally need to be a client with at least $10 million in assets under management with Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management (GS PWM).

Earning Potential

The earning structures for the Amex Platinum card and Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card are identical. You can expect to earn up to 5x Membership Rewards points on purchases according to this array of categories:

• Earn 5x points on flights booked directly with the airline or Amex Travel (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1x points)
• Earn 5x points on prepaid hotel bookings made through Amex Travel
• Earn 1x points on other purchases

Redemption Options

If you’re earning Membership Rewards points, you’re already ahead of the game. That’s because Membership Rewards points are some of the most valuable points you can get your hands on — and both the Amex Platinum card and Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card earn Membership Rewards points.

Here are the main ways you can use Membership Rewards points:

• Transfers to airline and hotel partners (recommended for maximum redemption value)
• Book travel using Pay With Points via Amex Travel
• Use points to bid for flight upgrades on existing bookings through Upgrade With Points
• Purchase gift cards, online shopping, statement credits, make charitable donations

When redeeming your points with airline and hotel partners, you can truly get the best possible value — on a per-cent basis — from your points. For example, if you live in New York and want to book a British Airways flight in business class to London, you might notice flight prices are around $3,000 one-way and up to $8,000 round-trip. If there is award availability, you could transfer your points to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles where the same round-trip business class flight costs 122,000 points + ~$600 in taxes and fees, netting you a redemption value of 6.1 cents per point!

Travel Benefits and Protections

The Amex Platinum card is famous for offering exclusive luxury travel benefits, and the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card’s suite of travel benefits and protections is the same as the standard Amex Platinum card. Here is a breakdown of what you should expect from these 2 cards:

• Access to the American Express Global Lounge Collection (1,400+ airport lounges around the world), which includes Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (when flying on a same-day Delta flight), and Priority Pass Lounges (upon enrollment)
• Access to Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection benefits such as 4 p.m. late checkout, complimentary breakfast, and room upgrades when available
• Hotel and rental car elite status with Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, National Emerald Club, and Avis Preferred
• Annual statement credits, including up to $200 in airline incidentals; up to $200 in prepaid hotel credits; up to $200 in Uber Cash; up to $189 for CLEAR Plus
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credits
• Fantastic travel insurance, including trip interruption and cancellation insurance, trip delay insurance, and baggage insurance plan
• No foreign transaction fees (rates and fees)

Bottom Line:

Although there are plenty of additional travel benefits and protections, we felt it was necessary to highlight these fantastic inclusions you get just for holding either the Amex Platinum card or the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card.

Shopping Benefits and Protections

When you hold the Amex Platinum card and the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card, you’ll enjoy a series of fantastic shopping benefits and protections even outside of travel.

Here’s a taste of what we’re talking about:

• Annual statement credits: Up to $240 for digital entertainment, up to $100 in Saks credits, up to $155 for Walmart+
• Global Dining Access by Resy
• Cell phone protection, which reimburses up to $800 per claim for covered damage and theft with up to 2 approved claims every rolling 12 months ($50 deductible per claim)
• Purchase protection, which covers eligible purchases that are lost, damaged, or stolen within the first 90 days after the purchase date (up to $10,000 per item and up to $50,000 per calendar year)
• Extended warranty, which covers eligible items that have an original manufacturer’s warranty of 5 years or less and extends the warranty by 1 additional year (up to $10,000 per item in coverage and up to $50,000 per calendar year)
• Return protection, which covers up to $300 per item and up to $1,000 per calendar year against eligible returns that are denied by the original merchant

Additional terms and conditions may apply for each of these benefits.

Annual Fees and Authorized Users

Annual Fee

The 2 cards have the same annual fees:

• Amex Platinum card: $695 annual fee
• Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card: $695 annual fee

Authorized Users

Both the Amex Platinum card and Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card allow you add authorized users for $195 per card.

However, you can add basic Gold cards and basic Green cards for both of these cards for no additional cost.

The basic Gold card will not have any airport lounge access benefits or other major benefits besides the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit.

Final Thoughts

Even though the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card is so much harder to qualify for, the Amex Platinum card is almost identical. One major exception is a potential additional bonus for those who meet spending requirement on the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card.

Because the Amex Platinum card is available to the general public for applications, we recommend you apply for this version to get around the strict requirements for the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card.

We’d only recommend you apply for the Goldman Sachs Amex Platinum card if you already have $10 million in assets invested with Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management. Otherwise, it’s not necessarily worth pursuing.

We hope that this guide has been helpful in discerning the differences between the 2 card products.

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For the trip delay insurance benefit of the Amex Platinum card, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

For the return protection benefit of the Amex Platinum card, with return protection, you may return eligible purchases to American Express if the seller won’t take them back up to 90 days from the date of purchase. American Express may refund the full purchase price excluding shipping and handling, up to $300 per item, up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year per Card account, if you purchased it entirely with your eligible American Express^® Card. Purchases must be made in the U.S. or its territories. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details.

For the purchase protection benefit of the Amex Platinum card, purchase protection is an embedded benefit of your card membership and requires no enrollment. It can help protect covered purchases made on your eligible card when they’re accidentally damaged, stolen, or lost, for up to 90 days from the covered purchase date. The coverage is limited up to $10,000 per occurrence, up to $50,000 per card member account per calendar year. Coverage limits apply. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the extended warranty benefit of the Amex Platinum card, when an American Express^® card member charges a covered purchase to an eligible card, extended warranty can provide up to one extra year added to the original manufacturer’s warranty. Applies to warranties of five (5) years or less. Coverage is up to the actual amount charged to your card for the item up to a maximum of $10,000; not to exceed $50,000 per card member account per calendar year. Eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For the cell phone protection benefit of the Amex Platinum card, coverage for a stolen or damaged eligible cellular wireless telephone is subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of liability of this benefit. The maximum liability is $800, per claim, per eligible card account. Each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per eligible card account per 12 month period. Eligibility and benefit level varies by Card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.

For the baggage insurance plan benefit of the Amex Platinum card, eligibility and benefit level varies by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express, click here.