Amex Earnings Top Estimates as Platinum Card Demand Surges

Summary

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Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast

Episode: Amex Earnings Top Estimates as Platinum Card Demand Surges

Date: October 17, 2025

Hosts: Scarlet Fu and Paul Sweeney
Primary Guest: Ben Elliott, Bloomberg Intelligence Consumer Finance Analyst
Special Guest (segment): Roz Brewer, Interim President of Spelman College
Segment Reporter: Keith Norton, Bloomberg News Auto Reporter

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Overview

This episode of the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast dives into American Express’ (Amex) latest earnings, with a focus on surging demand for its Platinum Card—particularly among Millennials and Gen Z. The conversation touches on competitive dynamics in the premium card business, the financial impact of Amex’s updated card perks, industry-wide credit quality, and broader consumer finance trends. Later in the episode, the team explores auto loan delinquencies as an early indicator of economic health, and wraps with a discussion on higher education, highlighting a major philanthropic gift to historically black colleges.

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American Express Earnings & Platinum Card Momentum

[01:39–07:50]

Key Discussion Points

• Record Platinum Card Demand Among Younger Consumers

  • Amex’s revamped Platinum Card, now with an $895 fee, is experiencing exceptional traction, especially with Millennials and Gen Z.
    • Quote [02:11]:

      "Their new Platinum card product … is getting great traction amongst Millennials and Gen Z. Amex says they're getting two times as many applications and new card accounts after the refresh."
      — Ben Elliott

• Benefit Package and Cost Structure

  • Rich new perks like $400/year in dining credits, plus credits at Lululemon and Saks, drive applications and customer interest.
  • Despite the cost, variable customer expenses remain about 40% of revenue; operating expenses up 10%, in line with long-term growth targets.
    • Quote [03:20]:

      “The costs are real … but that number is pretty flat actually, despite the introduction of some of the new benefits … over time you'll see that fee increase start to amortize into earnings and that should more than offset the increase in costs.”
      — Ben Elliott

• Amex vs. Competitors (Chase Sapphire, Citi Strada)

  • Amex holds an advantage because it captures both cardholder fees and network swipe fees, making its premium model more lucrative than those of Chase or Citi.
  • 64–65% of new Platinum cardholders are Millennials and Gen Z; many are entering the premium card market for the first time.
    • Quote [04:05]:

      "Amex is always going to have a little bit of an advantage here because they capture all of the economics … the value proposition to Amex is always inherently higher."
      — Ben Elliott

• AMEX Ecosystem Strength and Customer Loyalty

  • Growing customer interest not just in the Platinum card, but in multiple Amex products (Platinum, Gold, Green card etc.), leading to deeper customer engagement and cross-selling—like high-yield savings accounts.
    • Quote [05:32]:

      "People love to be in the AMEX ecosystem ... That's kind of the ultimate goal, to pull people fully into the ecosystem, capture 100% of the economics of these super prime, super high income customers."
      — Ben Elliott

Memorable Moments

• Reddit Board Mania

  • Hosts and Ben reference active online communities obsessing over points maximization, with some people holding 10+ premium credit cards.
    Host [05:12]:

    “I'm on these Reddit threads ... some people have like 10 credit cards in their wallet.”

• Playful Banter About Card Fees

  • Co-host jokes about his old-school Amex Green Card and money clip, leading Ben to ask:
    Ben Elliott [06:11]:

    “What's the fee on that cash exactly?”

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Credit Quality Across Card Issuers

[06:14–07:50]

Key Points

• Amex displays strong credit quality, with limited signs of consumer stress. Delinquencies are improving, projecting good credit performance at least six months ahead.

  • Quote [06:22]:

    “Amex is incredible, right? They have almost no signs whatsoever of stress ... even the less prime companies that are doing things like point of sale, retail credit cards even, they are continuing to see an improvement in credit.”
    — Ben Elliott

• Capital One preview: expected to also post positive results, though their business focuses more on less-prime borrowers, leading to higher net interest margins versus Amex and Chase, who make more from fees and swipes.

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Segment 2: Auto Loans as an Economic Indicator

[10:09–14:27]

Key Insights

• Rising Delinquency in Auto Loans

  • Consumers are in the most precarious position since the last recession; auto loan delinquencies (60+ days late) have risen by 50% in 15 years, making car loans the riskiest credit product.
    • Quote [10:38]:

      "Consumers are actually in their most precarious position since the last recession ... 60 days past due and more have gone up by more than 50%."
      — Keith Norton

• Soaring Auto Loan Balances and Car Prices

  • Average auto loan balances up 57% since 2010; new car prices now exceed $50K, driven by automaker focus on high-margin SUVs/pickups.
    • Quote [11:35]:

      "The average price of a new car is topping $50,000 for the first time ... you can spend over $100,000 for a Ford F series pickup truck."
      — Keith Norton

• Shrinking New Car Market

  • High prices increasingly limit new car access to wealthier households, risking long-term market shrinkage.
    • Quote [13:09]:

      "It shrinks the new car market to just kind of the wealthiest households. It really excludes mainstream consumers."
      — Keith Norton

• Used Car Market Trends

  • Used cars also expensive (avg. near $30,000); average car age on U.S. roads over 12 years, indicating longer hold times and affordability challenges.
    • Quote [14:01]:

      "It's over 12 years … such a change from the days of our youth ... cars are built to really go the distance."
      — Keith Norton

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Segment 3: Higher Education and Philanthropy—Arthur Blank’s $50M Gift

[16:46–23:14]

Key Insights

• Arthur Blank’s $50M Gift to Four HBCUs

  • Focused on small grants that help students overcome last hurdles to graduation—sometimes a few hundred or thousand dollars is all it takes.
    • Quote [17:17]:

      "When all four colleges said what our needs are, it was exactly the same thing. It was grants to students to help them finish college get over the line."
      — Janet Lauren

• Student Financial Burdens (Spelman College)

  • Typical Spelman College student is Pell-eligible, from families making $150K or less.
  • Tuition, room, and board at ~$56,000; graduating debt often $32K–$40K.
    • Quote [19:25]:

      "A typical student at Spelman ... is Pell eligible ... tuition, room, and board ... is roughly $56,000 and a young woman from Spelman could graduate with as much as 32,000 to $40,000 worth of student loans alone."
      — Roz Brewer

• Bigger Picture: Higher Ed Policy & Innovation

  • HBCUs face lower graduation rates, largely due to the high proportion of lower-income, Pell-eligible students.
  • Roz Brewer discusses importing corporate best practices to higher ed: bringing new business models, seeking partnerships, balancing budgets, and monetizing services.
    • Quote [22:12]:

      "One of the things I've committed to this board of trustees at Spelman College is that I will try to bring as much business to this institution as I possibly can ... We're proud at Spelman that we actually balance our budget … for the last 20 to 25 years."
      — Roz Brewer

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Timestamps Reference

• [01:39] Start of Amex earnings segment
• [02:11–06:02] Ben Elliott on Platinum Card, perks, and customer segments
• [06:14–07:50] Credit quality, Capital One preview
• [10:09–14:27] Keith Norton on auto loans and car market trends
• [16:46–23:14] Higher education, Arthur Blank’s donation, and Spelman College

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Notable Quotes

• Ben Elliott [02:11]: “Amex says they're getting two times as many applications and new card accounts after the refresh.”
• Ben Elliott [03:20]: “Variable customer expenses … run about 40% of the revenue … that number is pretty flat actually, despite … new benefits.”
• Ben Elliott [04:05]: “Amex is always going to have a little bit of an advantage here because they capture all of the economics of a premium credit card because they're also the network, right?”
• Keith Norton [10:38]: “Consumers are actually in their most precarious position since the last recession … delinquencies … have gone up by more than 50%.”
• Keith Norton [13:09]: "It shrinks the new car market to just kind of the wealthiest households. It really excludes mainstream consumers."
• Janet Lauren [17:17]: "One of the most intractable problems in higher education is students completing college. These types of grants literally help them get to the next semester and to finish."
• Roz Brewer [22:12]: "I've committed … to bring as much business to this institution as I possibly can … strong fiduciary responsibility."

---

Conclusion

This episode delivers a multifaceted look at consumer finance in 2025: American Express continues to defy expectations with robust demand for its Platinum Card—even amid higher fees—powered by younger, affluent segments and an intense credit card points culture. Credit quality remains strong across major issuers, while the auto loan market shows stress signals linked to soaring car prices and loan balances. The closing segment profiles philanthropic efforts in higher education, focusing on the persistent affordability challenge and innovative approaches to supporting students at historically black colleges. The episode is data-rich, practical, and peppered with engaging real-world anecdotes.

Transcript

[Host]

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[Ben Elliott]

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[Roz Brewer]

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[Co-host / Interviewer]

We had some earnings, we had American Express and some numbers out there and bringing together the or bringing to the forefront just this whole credit card business, which is such a competitive business in terms of fees and the service card space, premium card space. Exactly. And kind of what services they provide you. I know people are really aggressive in kind of managing the points and really trying to take advantage of that. Ben Elliot, Bloomberg Intelligence consumer finance Analyst Ben, talk to us about American Express. The numbers that they reported today. What did you see and what are some of the takeaways?

[Ben Elliott]

So I think what really jumped out to me today is their new Platinum card product, which made a bunch of headlines for raising the fee. It's like 900 bucks a year now, is getting great traction amongst millennials and Gen Z. Amex says that they're getting two times as many applications and new card accounts after the refresh. So how that translates to Amex's earnings, you see their expenses go up right away because people get all these new benefits, all these new credits that they have access to with the new card. But the fee sort of amortizes in over A year or two. But the growth engine is still there. People are still clamoring for this card and the business is really sustaining an incredible level of growth.

[Host]

Okay, so they raised the fee to $895. And even more people applied for this card because there's a bunch of these new perks. Do these perks actually cost American Express a lot of money? I mean, we're talking about $400 a year of dining credits. There's also like free credits at Lululemon and Saks. And these are all things that people get really obsessed over on Reddit threads. Reddit boards, Yeah.

[Ben Elliott]

I mean, so the costs are real, right? They call them variable customer expenses. Typically they run about like 40% of the revenue of the company, but that number is pretty flat actually, despite the introduction of some of the new benefits. But so, you know, their expenses are up about 10%, which is sort of their in line with their long term revenue growth target. But, but over time you'll see that fee increase start to amortize into earnings and that should more than offset the increase in costs.

[Host]

And how does the pickup in new customers compared to its biggest competitor, which is the Chase Sapphire card, and as well Citigroup coming out with a new Strada card, its own elite card offering. How would you stack them up against one another?

[Ben Elliott]

You know, it's interesting. Amex is always going to have a little bit of an advantage here because they capture all of the economics of a premium credit card because they're also the network, right? So they're in addition to earning the fee, they're also earning a swipe fee every time customers use that card. So the value proposition to Amex is always inherently higher than it would be to Chase or to Citi to increase the benefits they provide to the card and to drive more customers there. I think what's really interesting is that Millennials and Gen Z are driving this. I think it's like 64, 65% of the new customers are Millennials and Gen Zs. And it's interesting, the CEO was saying today on the earner's call that they're looking into how many of these people are coming from other premium cards or how many people are just coming to a premium card for the first time because they're so attracted to this new offering that Amex has out on the market. So it looks like there's appetite for this. It's probably driven by social media and sort of new forces in our society that are driving interest in premium credit cards. And it looks like it has legs.

[Host]

It looks like it has legs. And people don't just get one amex platinum card. That's the other thing, right Ben? I mean, they often get the Amex gold card and the AMEX green card. I'm on these Reddit threads, I've been spending a lot of time on them because I'm trying to decide which card I should keep or use. And what struck me is how some people have like 10 credit cards in their wallet.

[Ben Elliott]

Yeah, they're very proud of how, how the platinum and the, and the gold and some of their other cards work together. And people love to be in the AMEX ecosystem and they actually had a lot of strength in their high yield savings account growth this quarter as well, which kind of goes along with people sort of Amex is able to meet all of their needs right from travel down through dining down through sort of everyday spend on groceries. And that's kind of the ultimate goal, is to pull people fully into the ecosystem, capture 100% of the economics of these super, super prime, super high income customers.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Ben, I'm holding in my hand my money clip cash.

[Host]

I mean, he pulls it out right, pretty regularly.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

I got the green card, I'm old school.

[Ben Elliott]

What's the fee on that cash exactly?

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Hey Ben, talk to us about just the credit quality. What are the card companies you follow? What are they saying these days about their consumer and credit quality?

[Ben Elliott]

So Amex is incredible, right? They have almost no signs whatsoever of stress. There's a little bit of stress. Last quarter airline spending was down. That's sort of like the top, top, top of the wallet kind of front of cabin spend was down. But by and large the companies I follow, even sort of the less prime companies, the synchronies and breads of the world that are doing things like point of sale, retail, credit cards even, they are continuing to see an improvement in credit. And the interesting thing about credit card charge offs is you see people go delinquent first and then you can kind of look six months into the future when they'll charge off and delinquencies are still improving. So as far as we can tell, six months in the future, credit card charge offs still look good.

[Host]

So what does this say for what Capital One is likely to report, which I believe is on the 21st of October?

[Ben Elliott]

I would expect the read across to be positive for Capital One as well. You know, they're interested in this top of wallet competition with, with Chase and, and Amex, but they're sort of the perennial third player. So it'll be interesting to see if they lean more into that through their marketing spend and some of the other expenses. But ultimately Chase's Bread and Butter or sorry, Capital One's bread and Butter is kind of the less prime borrower and that flows through in a much higher net interest margin versus Chase and Amex, which are more focused on fees and swipe revenue.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.

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[Host]

The fundamentals underpinning this economy and the buoyant financial markets is this idea that the consumer is resilient. But a new study shows that all is not well in car loans. Keith Norton is Bloomberg News's auto reporter in Detroit, and he joins us now. And Keith, auto loans is really a good leading indicator of the economy because people will continue to pay their car loans because they need their car to get to work. So when they're not paying their car loans, that's a sign that something's not going well. What are we learning about car loans right now?

[Keith Norton]

Yeah, you know, the authors of this study say that consumers are actually in their most precarious position since the last recession. You're absolutely right, Scarlett. Normally the car loan and the mortgage payment are the priorities, particularly the car loan, because you need to get your kids to school, get to work, all the things you need from a car. But what we're seeing is over the last 15 years, delinquencies, so 60 days past due and more have gone up by more than 50%. So that has made car loans actually the riskiest consumer credit product out there, more so than mortgages, credit cards and personal loans.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

So, Keith, another data point that jumped out at me is the average auto loan balance has grown 57% since 2010, outpacing all other credit products. I mean, it's getting crazy out there. The average cost for an average new car is I think north of $50,000 now. I mean, what's the industry saying?

[Keith Norton]

Yeah, so that's also news of this week is that the average price of a car, of a new car is topping $50,000 for the first time. This is all part of a shift that the industry has made to more high priced, high profit vehicles, especially sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. You know, the industry, particularly the Detroit automakers, have sort of moved away from the bare bones economy models you might remember coming straight out of college. And now it's all about these very well equipped, very well appointed cars. You can spend over $100,000 for a Ford F series pickup truck.

[Host]

Keith, You've spent about 40 years tracking the auto industry, covering it in great detail. When you get a report this, how do the automakers respond? How do they capitalize on this or how do they modify their offerings in response to this?

[Keith Norton]

Yeah, you know, there is a lot of talk and some movement lately toward coming out with affordable models. Again, they really had kind of disappeared from the market. Cars under $30,000. In fact, one of the Kelly Blue Book people recently said the $20,000 car has basically become extinct. So there is some focus, including in the electric vehicle space, but we've yet to see that materialize in a big way.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Scarlett well, what Matt Miller tells me, Keith, is that they're going to continue to make these cars because people are these high priced cars and which are very high margin because people are buying them.

[Keith Norton]

Yes, they are. What it does though is it shrinks the new car market to just kind of the wealthiest households. It really excludes mainstream consumers if everything is priced above $50,000 and you can cause trouble down the road if your market keeps shrinking.

[Host]

So how do you think this plays out in the second secondary car market, the used car market then?

[Keith Norton]

Used car prices are also high. You know, they're close to $30,000 on average. So a lot of those first time car buyers or budget minded car buyers are going to the used car market and they're finding, you know, the sort of three year old used car, the classic goodbye is more expensive than it used to be.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

And what's the, this is the stat that gets me. What's the average age of a car these days out there on the roads?

[Keith Norton]

It's over 12 years.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Wow.

[Keith Norton]

Which is such a change from the days of our youth when a car would never last past 100,000 miles. Now cars are built to really go the distance and so that's another factor in this affordability crisis. A lot of people aren't even going after the used cars. They're just, you know, sticking with the clunker that they have for as long as they can ride it.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.

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[Host]

Let's talk a little bit about higher education. It has been in the spotlight and not always in a good way. But for four historically black colleges this week, it's been a very good week because the family foundation of Arthur Blank, who owns the Atlanta Falcons and was the co founder of Home Depot, gave a very generous gift to four of those schools. I want to bring in now Roz Brewer. She is the interim president of Spelman College in Atlanta. And Janet Lauren, Bloomberg News higher education finance reporter. Janet, why don't you just set the scene for us here.

[Janet Lauren]

Thanks for having me. So Arthur Blank, as you mentioned, is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, his adopted hometown, and he decided to give a $50 million gift to four historically black colleges. And what I found pretty remarkable is that when all four colleges said what our needs are, it was exactly the same thing. It was grants to students to help them finish college get over the line. And in some cases it's just a couple of hundred dollars. It could be a couple of thousand dollars. But one of the most intractable problems in higher education is students completing college. And these types of grants literally help them get to the next semester and to finish and to realize the economic benefit of college rather than leaving and having loans, which is the worst outcome.

[Host]

All right, so Roz, can you walk us through how the schools came up with this idea to give students small grants to finish their degrees, what the conversation was like with Arthur Blank?

[Roz Brewer]

Absolutely. I think if you know Arthur Blank and his family foundation, they are deeply committed to the Atlanta community, but he also has a great commitment to accessible education and he's made that very clear to us over the years. This is actually the second grant that we've received at Spelman College from the Arthur Blank Family Foundation. The first one was a $10 million grant towards our center for the Innovation in the Arts. He named the Innovation Lab after his family and himself. But this was really a combination of discussions around how we both believe the game changer of education through accessibility and affordability. And he stepped right in. This wasn't an easy grant, let me just say, because we wanted to make sure that this was mutual and that we would meet his expectations.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Ross, talk to us about the typical student at Spelman. What's the financial burden on them these days? We hear and read and we all experience the spiraling cost of higher education. Talk to us about maybe a typical student at Spelman.

[Roz Brewer]

Yes, a typical student at Spelman actually is what we call a Pell eligible student, usually coming from a family of roughly about 150,000 DOL or less of income and has more than one child in the family. And so when you think about the cost of higher ed, tuition, room and board at an institution like Spelman College is roughly $56,000 and a young woman from Spelman could graduate with as much as 32,000 to $40,000 worth of student loans alone. And so when you think about that, that sometimes a non starter, especially if they're thinking of going on to graduate school.

[Host]

Janet, just put this into context for us because President Trump in his second term has boosted funding for historically black colleges and universities while taking aim at higher ed. Has he followed through on that funding?

[Janet Lauren]

The details of that I don't know. But typically historically black colleges do not have as high graduation rates as other colleges. And part of the reason are large populations of Pell eligible students, lower income students where potentially just a hundred couple of hundred dollars, a couple of thousand dollars can get them again to that next semester to graduate.

[Co-host / Interviewer]

Ross, just kind of follow up a little bit on that. President Trump and this administration have taken aim at some very high profile large research universities, including Harvard and Columbia. As an educator yourself, how are you viewing this environment?

[Roz Brewer]

Well, you know, it is a tough environment in higher ed right now because, you know, on the early Onset of this administration, we saw deep cuts in research funding. And the one thing that I know for sure, you know, having a corporate background now combined with higher ed is that research funds a lot of innovation and technology that happens at the corporate level, which becomes commercial opportunities. So I think, you know, more understanding of cutting off the lifeline of innovation in this country is something that should be explored. I will, you know, agree with Samantha that, you know, we don't know what these new funds are that are directed towards HBCUs, and we're interested to learn more.

[Host]

And of course, Roz, with your background leading Walgreens, leading Starbucks as CEO and of course CEO of Sam's Club, what kind of best practices can you take from the corporate boardroom to the academic institutions that you're now running to Spelman College, for instance, that would kind of dispel some of those concerns that people have about higher ed not knowing how to run their institutions efficiently.

[Roz Brewer]

Yes. You know, one of the things I've committed to this board of trustees at Spelman College is that I will try to bring as much business to this institution as I possibly can. And that would be through a new financial or business model. You know, we live off of very few sources of revenue, but if we looked at our institutions through the lens of what we could monetize, things like our online learning programs, that right now, through the number of, you know, high school students that need certifications, could we provide those? So there are some avenues that we're researching right now in terms of how we look at monetizing the things we do on our campus. I would also say strong fiduciary responsibility. You know, we're proud of ourselves at Spelman that we actually balance our budget, really for the last 20 to 20, 25 years. But that takes discipline and also too looking at unique partnerships. You know, I reflect on my corporate career and said, you know, when we wanted to venture into a new category, we oftentimes select a partner to go with.

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[Amazon Business / Hiscox Announcer]

Small Business Insurance knows there is no business like your business. Across America, over 600,000 small businesses, from accountants and architects to photographers and yoga instructors, look to Hiscox Insurance for protection. Find flexible coverage that adapts to the needs of your small business with a fast, easy online [e-mail]. that's his C O X com. There's no business like small business. Hiscox Small Business Insurance.