A brief luxury credit card comparison
Credit Card | Annual Fee | What you need to spend to pay for the card |
---|---|---|
The Platinum Card® from American Express | $695 |
|
Chase Sapphire Reserve® | $550 |
|
Luxury Card Mastercard® Gold Card™ | $995 |
|
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There are a lot of luxury credit card options, but most are cobranded airline or hotel credit cards. If you’re looking for a reward redemption freedom, these are the top luxury cards to consider:
The Platinum Card® from American Express | Luxury Card Mastercard® Gold Card™ | Chase Sapphire Reserve® | Citi Prestige® Credit Card | U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Annual fee | $695 (Terms apply, see rates & fees) | $995 | $550 | $495 | $400 |
Welcome offer | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Reward program | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Airline credit | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Intro APR period on balance transfers | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Can carry your balance | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
CLEAR® credits | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Uber credits | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Luxury credit cards offer perks above and beyond standard credit cards at the cost of high annual fees and demanding membership requirements. Benefits range from access to exclusive airport lounges and travel rebates, to rewards rates that outpace standard cards.
Whether a luxury credit card is worth its yearly price tag depends on how you want to use it. The high costs associated with owning a luxury card can be a tough pill to swallow, especially since annual fees can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars. These fees can be made up in some cases, but only by taking full advantage of its premium perks.
Many luxury credit cards share standard features, often with leveled-up benefits:
There’s only one way to make a luxury card pay off: use enough of the card’s perks to overcome the card’s large annual fee. No matter how much you enjoy using the card, if you’re not creating enough value through perks to meet or exceed the card’s annual fee then you’re needlessly spending money.
To do this, you’re going to want to look at the entirety of your card’s features. The best way to do this is to sign in to your card account page and find the section on card benefits.
Looking at The Platinum Card® from American Express as an example, you’d need to get more than $695 in value through card perks to make using this card worth it each year. Looking at the card benefits, we can see the Amex Platinum Card offers a $200 airline fee credit, a $200 hotel credit, as well as a $200 Uber credit. If you travel frequently, you should have no trouble earning what amounts to $600 each year without much effort.
From there, you’d just have to create an additional $95 in value. Your remaining options include a few stays at the Centurion Lounge (valued at $50 per stay), using your $100 credit at Saks Fifth Avenue, or using your $240 digital entertainment credit. This card also offers a $300 Equinox credit and a $189 CLEAR® credit. So if you use the perks of this card, it more than pays for the annual fee.
Card perk | Monetary value | Card annual fee |
---|---|---|
Annual airline fee credit | $200 | |
Annual Uber statement credit | Up to $200 | |
Annual hotel credit | $200 | |
Annual digital entertainment credit | Up to $240 | |
Annual Equinox credit | Up to $300 | |
Annual CLEAR® credit | $189 | |
Saks Fifth Avenue statement credit | $100 | |
Total | $1,419 | $695 |
Clearly, luxury cards spare no expense when it comes to perks – this isn’t even counting the base reward rate of using the card on travel purchases. But to make using any luxury card worth it, you have to remember to leverage those features.
Here’s a brief comparison of a few luxury cards and what perks you’d have to use to make them worth the spot in your wallet.
Credit Card | Annual Fee | What you need to spend to pay for the card |
---|---|---|
The Platinum Card® from American Express | $695 |
|
Chase Sapphire Reserve® | $550 |
|
Luxury Card Mastercard® Gold Card™ | $995 |
|
Applying for a luxury credit card is the same as applying for any other type of credit card, though with stricter requirements. You can submit your application online or over the phone. It may also take longer to be approved for a luxury credit card, since most approval processes aren’t automated.
Most luxury cards require you have a history of excellent credit for consideration.
Some cards take luxury to the next level. Invite-only credit cards not only sport great luxury benefits, but enormous credit limits. Examples include the Centurion® Card from American Express and the JP Morgan Reserve Card.
With great credit and confidence in your spending habits, the right luxury credit card can offer you benefits that far outpace the hefty annual fee. Take a more in-depth look at these luxury cards to find the one that’s perfect for you.
For less expensive cards, you can check out more cards with travel benefits.
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A credit building card held back by fees.
A strong business hotel card for a surprisingly low price.
Build credit without the need for a credit history.
Earn up to 2.62% back depending on your Preferred Rewards membership.
Earn up to 6% back through your everyday spending.
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