Amex quietly increases Business Platinum employee card fee

Beginning June 1, the annual fee for authorized users on The Business Platinum Card® from American Express — also known as employee cards — will increase from $300 to $350 for each additional card (see rates and fees). Both the cardmember agreement and the section to add employee cards on the Amex website have been updated with new information regarding the fee increase.

The $350 annual fee per employee Business Platinum card is in addition to the $695 fee for the card (see rates and fees).

The advantage of adding employee Platinum cards is that it allows the employee to have most of the benefits of the Platinum Card, including their own elite status with Marriott and Hilton along with access to Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta) and Priority Pass lounges. There are sometimes targeted offers to receive bonus Membership Rewards points when adding employee cards to your account. Business Platinum cardholders can add up to 99 employee cards.

With the addition of a $50 fee for cardholders to bring a guest to the Centurion Lounge beginning on Feb. 1, 2023, it’ll be advantageous for your authorized user to have their own card if you frequently travel together and visit a Centurion Lounge seven or more times per year.

The annual fee will remain $45 for the employee Business Gold Rewards Card, and the employee Business Green Rewards Card will continue to have no annual fee. However, these cards do not receive the full slate of Platinum benefits.

For those with a personal Platinum Card® from American Express, fees for authorized users appear to be unaffected. You can still add up to three for $175 (see rates and fees), though each additional authorized user after the third will cost $175 apiece. And there continues to be no annual fee to add a Gold Card to a personal Platinum account.

Related: Why you should add authorized users on your Amex Platinum

Bottom line

If you have existing employee cards on your Business Platinum account, your next annual fee after June 1 will be at the increased amount of $350 per card. It may be worth reevaluating your needs and potentially downgrading your employee cards to Gold or Green.

Business Platinum cardholders who don’t currently have any Platinum employee cards — but have been considering adding them — will want to do so before May 31 in order to lock in the lower $300 annual fee for the remainder of your cardmembership year.

For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here

For rates and fees of the Business Platinum Amex Card, click here