Morgan Stanley Amex Platinum: How to Get a $695 Annual Bonus (Platinum CashPlus Bank Account)

Morgan Stanley’s Platinum CashPlus account offers a $695 Annual Engagement Bonus (previously $550) to cover the entire annual fee of the Morgan Stanley Platinum card from American Express.

The Platinum CashPlus account usually has a $45 monthly fee, but the fee can be waived if the average cash balance is at least $25,000 and at least $5,000 is transferred into the account each month.

This could be a good way to get the $695 annual engagement bonus, which can be used to pay the card’s annual fee.

Update 10/30/22: Looks like you can still sign up for Morgan Stanley Access Investing using the link below and continuing as guest.

How To Get The $695 Annual Engagement Bonus

To get the $695 annual engagement bonus, you have to do a few things.

Before you can get the card, you have to open an investment account with Morgan Stanley. Most people use the Morgan Stanley Access account to invest at least $5,000.

But if you want to sign up for a Morgan Stanley Access account, you only have until November 30, 2022. After that, you can’t open a new account and will have to get a regular Morgan Stanley investment account instead.

You can also open a CashPlus bank account if you have the Access account. The CashPlus debit card has no foreign transaction fees and will reimburse you for ATM fees anywhere in the world.

You can get a “$695 Annual Engagement Bonus,” which you can use to pay the card’s annual fee.

The Platinum CashPlus account is free as long as you keep a daily average cash balance of $25,000 and make monthly deposits of at least $5,000.

Morgan Stanley includes payroll, Social Security, Zelle, mobile check deposits, wires, and any outside transfers when they talk about monthly deposits, so this requirement should be easy to meet. Also, the $5,000 monthly deposit requirement will not apply if any amount of social security benefits are deposited each month.

The only bad thing about the CashPlus account is that it doesn’t pay much interest.

If you don’t meet the requirements each month, you have to pay $45 each month. But in February 2022, the monthly fee will go up to $55 per month.

Offer summary

1. Open a Morgan Stanley Access investing and maintain at least $5,000 in the account. Or, have another a Morgan Stanley investment account.
2. Open a Morgan Stanley Platinum CashPlus account. The fastest way is to do it over the phone or at a Morgan Stanley branch, since you might have to wait at least 30 days to open an account online after you’ve already made a Morgan Stanley investment account.
3. Register both accounts for online access.
4. Sign up for the Morgan Stanley American Express Platinum card. 
5. You will get the $695 Annual Engagement bonus about 12 months later if your only Morgan Stanley Investment account is Access Investing, or around 2 to 3 months later if you have a different Morgan Stanley Investment account.

Bottom Line

Great way to cancel out the annual fee of the Morgan Stanley Amex Platinum, but you’ll have to tie up at least $25,000 to waive the monthly fee of the Platinum CashPlus account.

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