What Are The Differences Between Silver, Gold And Platinum Credit Cards?

Status: Making others envious

Undoubtedly, Silver credit cards, gold credit cards, and above all Platinum Credit Cards bestow an idea of status to the cardholder much like a luxurious car, a yacht, expensive clothing, jewels and other onerous possessions.

There is nothing wrong with that, but one may wonder if that is sufficient reason for requesting a financial product or paying substantially more money for it. If there is no other useful feature, or as we want to point out in this article, there is a tendency to reduce the differences as to real financial advantages between these products, we see no reason to pay excessive issuing costs and maintenance fees just because of the color or material of a credit card.

Credit Limit

At the beginning of the credit cards’ story, the main difference between these credit cards was that the amount of money you could spend with them differed substantially. Platinum Credit Cards had a credit limit much like a classic credit card, gold credit cards had higher limits and Platinum Credit Cards claimed to have no limits at all (we say claim because there was not and there isn’t such thing as no limits. However, to be honest the credit limit is high enough to consider that claim to be true.).

However, lately the limits of platinum cards and gold cards have come close enough to judge the difference insignificant. Thus, it seems to be no reason to pay the higher charges of gold cards if that is the only difference between them. Moreover, as both limits are increasing and reaching considerable amounts, platinum credit cards and their no limit feature begins to be less appealing.

Income implications

Since there were income requirements to qualify for these credit cards, being a cardholder of a silver credit card meant you had certain income, being a gold credit card holder meant your income was higher and so on. This could be an easy way for others to know how much you made without you talking about it. Store Card accounts could be opened without credit checks, etc.

However, the qualification requirements’ differences have also been reduced and even platinum credit cards which where a type of credit card that could be obtained by invitation only are now offered to anyone who can qualify for it and qualifying is not that harder than qualifying for a gold credit card.

Membership Fees

The only substantial difference between these credit cards seem to be the membership fees, renewal fees, issuing fees, etc. Thus, as stated above, it seems as you are paying higher amounts just to make it clear that you can pay higher amounts. The benefits of having a higher grade credit card seemed to have banished and thus it might be advisable to think twice before accepting an offer from a bank that includes this kind of cards.