Morgan Stanley Platinium Card

...decision to apply for a Morgan Stanley credit card was based on the cashback scheme. An important point I'd like to make before I start is that most cards that offer cashback have quite high interest rates (apr), so if you are not one that pays off your full balance at the end of each month these may work out to be quite expensive. It's important to look at the way you use credit card before you opt for a cash-back credit card over one with a low ...
...your advantage.

Morgan Stanley (MS) established in New York since 1935 are well known in the world of finance and investment banking throughout the world. I'd heard of them even in India as they have the largest private sector equity mutual fund in India. As far as credit cards are concerned however, Morgan Stanley currently offers 3 types of credit cards; the gold card, Platinum card and the buy and fly credit card. Only the Platinum ... more

When it comes to choosing a credit card many of us maybe attracted by low apr's, low or 0% balance transfers or maybe you have just stayed loyal to one company with which you signed up with. Other times the loyalty scheme; points or cashback ideally combined with a helpful customer service are a major factor.

For me, the initial decision to apply for a Morgan Stanley credit card was based on the cashback scheme. An important point I'd like to make before I start is that most cards that offer cashback have quite high interest rates (apr), so if you are not one that pays off your full balance at the end of each month these may work out to be quite expensive. It's important to look at the way you use credit card before you opt for a cash-back credit card over one with a low apr rate. Having had other cash back credit cards previously (like Egg, and Amex) I was familiar with how the scheme operates; when used carefully, it can work to your advantage.

Morgan Stanley (MS) established in New York since 1935 are well known in the world of finance and investment banking throughout the world. I'd heard of them even in India as they have the largest private sector equity mutual fund in India. As far as credit cards are concerned however, Morgan Stanley currently offers 3 types of credit cards; the gold card, Platinum card and the buy and fly credit card. Only the Platinum card offers cashback though the rate of balance transfers is higher (5.9% p.a.) than the other two cards, which currently have 0% p.a. on transfers done before 20th May 2005.


The Morgan Stanley Platinum Card has a generous 2% cashback offer currently still available till 20 May 2005, after which the cash back reverts back to 1%. This may seem like an unlimited quantity but if you read the small print Morgan Stanley only offer 1% on the first £2000 spent, after that its back to 0.5%. This seemed attractive at a time when most credit cards were offering a standard 0.5% cashback, apart from American Express Blue, which offers 1%. The cashback is payable annually from when you joined.


Application was easy - all done online without any problems. If you do have any problems, there is a freephone telephone number. My forms were posted back to me within a few days for verification and signatures. I received the card within 2 weeks. It was a chip and pin card, which means it, is encrypted with a microchip with an individual four-digit PIN. This means there is no need to sign. I was sent the pin number separately by post. As mentioned my route of application was online but with another added monetary bonus! I signed up via a link through the Greasypalm website which sends you to the Morgan Stanley site. Being a member of Greasypalm offers additional cash just for applying (even if unsuccessful) and £12.50 for successful application. If you need further details or referral link about the Greasypalm scheme, please leave me a message. I have heard comments from Users that applying for other cards such as American Express (Amex) has more restrictions, so if you were not successful with an Amex card and still favour cashback cards this card may be one to try.

The first time I used the card in the U.K, I had to enter the 4-digit number, which I did so correctly. I thought I would be given the chance to change my pin number when I first used it, but I wasn't offered that choice. The second time I used my card I forgot the pin number and entered something remotely similar I think; the transaction went through anyway. So, what's the use of a pin number? I didn't even have to sign. I personally liked signing. I don't think its safe entering pin numbers with a queue of people behind you. However, you are allowed to change the pin number through Morgan Stanley's online account management or by phone, whereby they would send you forms to fill and sign to confirm the change (after all we don't want online fraud do we?! where some hacker could log in to all these online credit card accounts).

So what exactly does the Platinum card do? There was a time when Platinum cards were seen as some sort of status symbol or one needed a reasonable income and good history to get one…those days are long gone and today perhaps the only advantage may be a greater credit limit. As with most cards these days, there is no annual fee. The card also offers an online fraud guarantee, so you won't be held responsible for any unauthorised purchases. Another big plus point on the platinum card is that it has a generous interest-free period; its 55 days, that's almost 8 weeks! This is far better than some other cashback credit cards such as Egg that only have 45 days interest free days before the payment is due.

To begin with, as with all Morgan Stanley credit cards it's a Master card. Morgan Stanley does not offer the Visa card. This shouldn't matter a great deal, as these are just the names of worldwide companies that manage the credit cards. Mastercard is widely accepted across the world, though you should check on acceptability if you are concerned with certain countries. A word of caution though using the Mastercard and most credit cards abroad does incur foreign handling charges. So I will straight away point out the bad: using this card abroad will result in a 2.75% handling fee shown as "forex commission handling charges" on your Morgan Stanley statement. I'd recently been on a trip to Dubai and India and spent on this card, sadly I forgot to check the T&C when I joined so have 2.75% added to my purchases. Some credit cards may have lower charges for usage within Europe, though most cards charge around 2.75% for foreign handling charges. The way credit card companies decide to show this 2.75% additional charges is up to them -some cleverly add it into the exchange rate of your foreign purchases so you never know whether its been added. Egg credit card do not display this charge separately on your statement of charges they hide it into the exchange rate, though their charge is 2.65%. Morgan Stanley I'm glad to say shows the charges very clearly on the statement. The only credit card I am aware of that does not charge commission for foreign transactions is Nationwide Visa card. So, my advice is if you travel abroad often and wish to limit your expenditure don't use this (or any) credit card to pay for your goods -you'd be better off paying cash, travellers cheques or using the Nationwide credit card.

APR's and Platinum Card

The Apr (Annual Percentage rate) i.e. the rate that determines how much your credit card debt will cost you each month is pretty high on this platinum card being 15.9%. I normally pay off the full amount on the card, so this rate didn't bother me. However, if you do not pay off your full monthly balance then another Platinum credit card you may like to consider is the "Capital One No Hassle" Platinum Mastercard, which currently has 6.9% apr on purchases all the time. I enjoy haggling and finance reviews so for anyone out there who really wants to save money on a Platinum card what about this: how would you like 0% apr for a year on a card? Well, Sainsburys are doing just that on their Sainsbury's Platinum card, after a year the apr is 15.9%. Other fees on Morgan Stanley Platinum card are about the same as most credit cards with late payment being £20, but would you pay late with such a high apr?!

The card also allows online management whereby you can check your transactions and statement. The statement shows detailed balances including commission charges if any (these are not hidden, like they are on the Egg card!). The statement also shows the level of cashback accumulated so far. You can also make payment to your Morgan Stanley card using debit card. Paper statements are also sent by post. Though my only gripe is Morgan Stanley, send statements out by Second Class Post, though keeping track online of purchases means this doesn't matter too much.

Customer Service

Here is one of the better points with Morgan Stanley; firstly, they are open 24 hours a day and it's free to call them on the 0800 number. It's free to call them even if you are outside the Uk you can reverse the call charges, they even ask you to do it! I've called them a few times in UK; on the first occasion, it was to query all those foreign transaction charges! Each time they were polite and helpful. I've called at peak times also like weekday evenings and if there is a wait/queue, they let you know the wait time e.g., "current call wait is 3 min" and when its 1 min they remind you and you are connected. I found this really helpful rather than some customer services where you are waiting forever and have no idea whether its 3 minutes or 30 minutes (like NTL or NTHell!)


Overall, do I recommend this card? Well, yes if you pay your balances off in full each month. The 1 (or 2% fIntroductory term) cashback could work well combined with the generous interest free period and no annual fee. I've rated this card 3 stars overall -although the cashback is generous I felt the interest rate is still not as competitive as it might be. If I were rating it purely on basis of cashback then I'd give it a 5 for first year and 4 for following years.

UPDATE 2006
As mentioned in this opinion, Morgan Stanley offer cashback which is paid annually - so I am happy to report 'true' to their word after a year I received my cash back in form of a cheque (£52*) quite quickly -which happened to be in January 2006.

UPDATE 2007
Morgan Stanley have bought Goldfish credit card business which is part of the bank Lloyds TSB, so now Morgan Stanley statement is called Goldfish card statement. So far, I haven't noticed any changes since I joined in 2005, apart from the fact I don't like the name Goldfish! There are however changes to the way in which cash back is handled - Read Below.

The only notable change since 2006 for me as this is a credit card that pays cash back is the way in which it is paid. Earlier cashback would automatically be credited by cheque annually on your joining date anniversary but now you have to personally request it. You can have it credited back into your Morgan Stanley (GoldFish) card instantly or request a cheque BUT if you want a cheque they claim it takes 3-4 weeks, earlier you would receive it in a week. They also want you to request the cash back in multliples of £15, so say you had £89 you would only be able to request £75 and the balance would carry over till next year.

I have made a request for a cash back cheque on 28 June 2007. This review will be updated when I actually receive the cheque since Morgan Stanley are now operating as Gold Fish.

Update: 18 July 2007
I have just received my cash back cheque dated 6 July 07 today. So it's taken almost 3 weeks to reach me. From that we can conclude that cheques are written in one week but it will take almost another 2 weeks in their internal system and the postal system to reach the customer. It will be far quicker to have the cash back just credited back to your Morgan Stanley card. If' it's cashback alone you are looking for and you're a high spender you may be better of with American Express who pay more (1 - 3% including Introductory offer) , the more you spend, just make sure you clear your balance each month.

* cashback will vary on your spending and offers available at the time.
Ref: American Express Blue, Egg, Sainsbury's Platinum card,
Capital One "No Hassle" Platinum Mastercard, Nationwide Visa.

An opinion of connoisseur_haggler ©ciao 2005, updated 2006, 2007 

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