Good morning everyone.  A few months ago, I wrote American Express Business Platinum Card Changes: $179 CLEAR Credit & Centurion Lounge Guest Access Policy when AMEX introduced the $179 CLEAR Credit on their personal and business Platinum Cards.  Last month, I wrote My CLEAR Experience: Reactivating Membership, Adding Family Member, & Airport Biometric Process where I explained the issues regarding reactivating my old/dormant CLEAR membership and my wife’s experience with the airport biometric process (it was pretty easy at the Seattle airport).  CLEAR gave me a 2 month trial period in order to get our CLEAR accounts set up and my charge finally went through last week.  I wanted to document the process and show how quickly the CLEAR credit posted on my American Express Business Platinum Card.  The $179 CLEAR Credit shows up in the benefits section of your personal or business Platinum Card and does not require activation.  The benefit says that the statement credit will appear 2-4 weeks after your CLEAR membership is charged to your card.

Here are the complete terms and conditions of the $179 CLEAR Credit:

You can earn up to $179 in statement credits per calendar year when you use your Business Platinum Card to pay for your annual CLEAR membership. Enrollment in CLEAR is required. CLEAR memberships automatically renew each year unless canceled and CLEAR will charge the applicable membership fee to the Card CLEAR has on file. American Express has no control over the application and/or approval process for CLEAR, and does not have access to any information provided to CLEAR by the Card Member or by CLEAR to the Card Member. American Express has no liability regarding the CLEAR program. If a Card Member’s application is not approved by CLEAR, CLEAR will refund the charges. If the statement credit benefit has been applied before CLEAR refunds the charges, that statement credit will be reversed. Purchases by both the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on the Card Account are eligible for statement credits. However, the total amount of statement credits for eligible purchases will not exceed $179 on the Card Account per calendar year. For additional information on the CLEAR program, including information regarding membership, eligibility, and for a list of participating locations, as well as the full terms and conditions of the program, please go to www.clearme.com. The CLEAR program is subject to change, and American Express has no control over those changes. Please allow up to 2-4 weeks after a qualifying CLEAR transaction is charged to your Card Account for the statement credit to be posted to the Account. American Express relies on accurate transaction data to identify eligible CLEAR purchases. If you do not see a credit for a qualifying purchase on your eligible Card after 4 weeks, please call the number on the back of your Card. Card Members remain responsible for timely payment of all CLEAR charges. To be eligible for this benefit, your Card account must not be cancelled or past due at the time of statement credit fulfillment. If a charge for an eligible purchase is included in a Pay Over Time feature balance on your Card Account, the statement credit associated with that charge may not be applied to that Pay Over Time feature balance. Instead, the statement credit may be applied to your Pay In Full balance. For additional information, call the number on the back of your Card.

If you do not have a personal or business Platinum Card, you may see a similar AMEX Offer that is offering up to $179 back on a CLEAR membership.  This offer appeared on my American Express Gold Card.  The terms of this AMEX Offer states that the statement credit will appear within 90 days after October 30, 2021, so you might be waiting a few months for your CLEAR statement credit to post.

1 month before my CLEAR renewal, I received a reminder email on August 20.  The price was $119 for me due to having an AMEX Delta credit card and $50 for my wife, for a total of $169.  The standard CLEAR membership cost is $179, so I got a 2-for-1 price by going through the Delta CLEAR page.

A few days ago on September 18, the $169 CLEAR purchase was charged to my card.

The purchase posted on September 19 and the CLEAR credit posted 2 days later on September 21.  I love when AMEX credits show up quickly.

Since my trip to Hawaii in July, I haven’t been to an airport that CLEAR partners with, so I haven’t used my CLEAR membership since.  I know there are certain airports and sporting events where CLEAR saves you some time in line, so I look forward to using CLEAR at those locations.  If you have any questions about CLEAR, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!