Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express offers up to $120 in statement credits each year for U.S. wireless telephone service. This Amex Business Platinum wireless credit comes as $10 monthly credits, which offset payments made to a wireless phone bill. If you pay your cell phone bill with your Business Platinum card, these wireless credits are almost as good as cash.
Even if you get a discount for paying your phone bill automatically with your debit card or checking account, you can make one-time payments online using a credit card. In my experience with T-Mobile, one-time payments don’t affect your eligibility for an autopay discount.
If you only have one Business Platinum card, use it to auto-pay your cell phone bill. Once you set up auto payments, you’ve effectively locked in a $10 dividend each month. If you have multiple Business Platinum cards, set a reminder for the first of each month to make partial payments toward your cell phone bill.
Terms apply to all benefits. Be sure to see your cardmember agreement for complete details.
How to use the credit
You must enroll to use the credit.
Before you charge your wireless bill to your American Express Business Platinum card, you must enroll in the wireless credit benefit. If you charge your wireless bill to your card and do not enroll in the benefit, your charges will not be reimbursed.
To enroll on the website, click on “Rewards & Benefits” at the top of the page. Select “Benefits” from the secondary menu in blue. Be sure that the card you want to enroll is selected in the upper left-hand menu and then click on “Enroll” under “Refine by Category.” This will pull up a list of any all enrollable benefits on your Business Platinum card.
If the $120 Wireless Credit benefit shows “Enrolled,” you are all set. If it does not, click on “Get Started” or “Enroll Now”
To enroll in the mobile app, select your card on the home screen and click on “Membership.” Under benefits, you can scroll through the benefits until you see the $120 wireless credits. Alternatively, you can click “See All” and select “Enrollable” under “All Benefits.” If you see “Enrolled” under the $120 Wireless Credit benefit, you’re good. If you see “Enrollment Required” then click on the benefit panel to complete the enrollment process.
What does the wireless benefit cover
According to American Express, the $120 wireless credit is valid “only on purchases for monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the United States and U.S. Territories.” The credit explicitly excludes purchases of hardware and equipment, purchases from third-parties/resellers and bundled services. In short, you must use the wireless credit to pay for your wireless telephone service.
In practice, the wireless credit gets applied to many merchants that submit their transactions to Amex with the same merchant code as wireless providers. Historically, some people have reported getting prepaid services like Mint Mobile, Tello, Google Fi, Ting, and Tracphone to work.
When do you receive the credit?
The terms and conditions state that it may take 6-8 weeks to receive a wireless phone credit. In my experience and the experience of others in my network, Amex wireless credits post within a week of the wireless phone bill charge.
What is the best way to use the credit?
The American Express Business Platinum card offers a competitive cell phone protection benefit. If you have only one Business Platinum card, use the card to automatically pay your cell phone bill every month. That ensures that you earn the wireless credit and are protected against damage or theft of your cell phone.
Amex Business Platinum credit and auto-pay discounts
Many cell phone companies offer discounts for customers who set up AutoPay on their account. Verizon and T-Mobile, in particular, only offer this autopay discount when you use a debit card or bank account to make your automatic payment each month. You might think that this makes you unable to use your credit if you are a Verizon or T-Mobile customer.
Fortunately, you can still use your Amex Business Platinum credit and qualify for an auto-pay discount if you make a one-time payment to your phone bill account.
One time payments
Many carriers allow you to make partial payments to your cell phone bill, even before your monthly bill is generated. I have found that making a $10 payment toward my mobile phone bill triggers the credit. Here are a few links that may be useful:
- AT&T allows you to pay without signing in.
- T-Mobile lets you make a guest payment to a wireless bill.
- Verizon lets you make a one-time payment to your account online, but you must sign in.
One-time payments can be useful if you get an auto-pay discount for paying your monthly bill from a debit card or bank account. One-time payments can also be useful if you have multiple Business Platinum cards. By making multiple payments through a cell phone provider’s one-time pay feature, you may be able to earn the credit on multiple Business Platinum cards.
American Express terms and conditions of the Platinum Wireless benefit
If your question wasn’t answered in this article, you can access the terms and conditions of the Platinum Wireless benefit here.
Frequently Asked Questions
According to a thread on Reddit, prepaid plans like Cricket and Boost Mobile qualify for the wireless credit.
Users on Reddit report that Amex has confirmed Google Fi charges are eligible for the wireless credit. Still, may times the credits are not always applied automatically. Some Google Fi charges code as “business internet” rather than “wireless services.” If you are on Google Fi and don’t get your credits applied automatically, contact Amex customer service.
In practice, the wireless credits post if you make a one-time payment to your account. Historically, cardmembers holding multiple Business Platinum cards have been able to get a credit to post on each account by making multiple payments.
Simply set up your monthly autopay using your bank account and make one-time payments to your account using your credit card.
Bundled services offered by wireless companies for TV, Internet and VoIP and VoIP services are explicitly excluded in the offer’s terms and conditions.
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.