FoundersCard vs Amex Platinum in the UK
Amex Platinum is fairly well known. It’s a charge card with a high fee that gives you a bunch of mostly travel-related perks. In my view, the card and the perks are separate products. You buy in to an Amex charge card at the Green fee (£60 p.a.) and optionally choose to pay a bit extra for added perks. I previously wrote about how I think the UK Amex Platinum card doesn’t offer good value for money in my opinion.
The market for premium credit cards is getting more crowded all the time. I recently noticed something that stood out, though.
FoundersCard
FoundersCard is a bit like the Platinum Amex offer but without the charge card element. In other words, it’s just a collection of perks for an annual fee. The annual fee, is $395 USD using the link above (otherwise the normal price is $495).
It’s mainly aimed at the US market, where is sits nicely alongside the US Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire and others, with a similar annual fee and similar perks. However, because it’s not a credit product, the exact same product is offered internationally. For folks like me in the UK, who are used to companies changing $ signs to £ signs, it means a more competitive offer. However, this must be balanced with the fact that most of the perks are rather US-centric.
The perks change regularly so if you’re curious, I’d advise registering for the preview, to see the current set, for free. However, here are the headline offers right now:
| Category | Company | Offer | UK Amex Plat. Equiv. | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel | Hilton | Gold Tier Status | Gold Tier Status | Free breakfast! |
| Hotel | Mariott/Starwood | Gold Tier Status (3 months only) |
Gold Tier Status (Ongoing) |
Benefits are fairly limited |
| Hotel | Caesars | Diamond Tier Status | N/A | Huge range of benefits. Must-have if you travel to Vegas. |
| Car Hire | Avis | N/A (US only) | Chance of Upgrade | |
| Car Hire | Hertz | N/A (US only) | Five Star Status | |
| Car Hire | Sixt | Platinum Tier Status | N/A | |
| Car Hire | GroundLink | $30 off first trip then 15% off |
N/A | Good if you want to rent a limo in the US |
| Car Hire | Zipcar | Free Signup | N/A | |
| Flight | Cathay Pacific | Marco Polo Tier Status | N/A | Cathay Pacific are a good choice if you travel with a company that insists on an Economy ticket but you want to upgrade. |
| Networking | FoundersCard | Regular networking events in London |
N/A | |
| Software | Harvest, Hive, HelpScout, Namecheap & many others |
Percentage discounts. Better than generally available coupons. |
N/A | Most are only for new accounts. |