Credit cards

[moneymaker]

Just looked at the American Express Platinum card and the annual fee is $450. The only thing they say is no interest because you pay off the card every month. Well what if you don’t? Then is the interest rate as bad as every other card? I’m sorry but I just don’t see the value in pre paying interest to the sum of $450, is it just a bragging thing to say you have a platinum card?

[Nazzy_17]

Yes, definitely just a status symbol and the only time it seems to get you something is when you check-in to a fancy hotel with the card-you can try and finagle an upgrade or when you book a trip through Amex there’s some type of upgrade – however, I’ve noticed that the prices on Amex is slightly higher than booking through Expedia – so an iffy benefit there.
When I was researching the card, it seems to benefit travellers – $200 annual airline credit(so depending on when you pay the annual fee and it crosses over into another calendar year you already get back $400 for bag fees, wifi, misc airline fees) and is a bonus to access lounges and priority boarding and bypass security checkpoints for international travel. Having said that I don’t travel enough to benefit from all of this and was lucky that my annual fee was waived because I got the card through Ameriprise-fee free for the first year. If they try and charge me the fee next year, I will cancel since I don’t reap the $450 back. THE BEST CARD HANDS DOWN IS AMEX BLUE CASH – I think they changed their rewards program but i basically get back around $2,000 year that I take as statement credits every month. They offer around 3 % for gas and grocery purchases (average after you cross the tiers).

[bearishgurl]

AMEX Platinum is not a “credit” card, per se. It is a “charge” card. Thus, it must be paid off every month.

The annual fees on the AMEX Gold and Platinum programs are only worth it if the cardholder:

-travels by air frequently (3x pts on flights
booked with airlines)
-travels first class on occasion
-travels overseas (no foreign transaction fees on
Platinum)
-makes use of airport lounges (depending on airline)
-doesn’t already have AAA or other Roadside
Assistance such as a plan with their insurance
carrier
-frequently stays in 4 and 5-star hotels where AMEX
offers fourth nights free and $75 food vouchers
-enjoys using the AMEX website to book (no-refund)
discount travel pkgs (run by travelocity)

I’m sure there are a few other “privileges” but nothing that Joe or Suzy 6P (that’s me) would need or want.

Road warrior that I am (who uses $45-$70 night motor lodges and friends/relatives back bdrms), the $150 annual fee for my Gold Card Plus didn’t pencil out for me at all.

The AMEX “privileges” of being able to get the best seats in the house sold by Ticketmaster and Live Nation are a joke. I’ve never had any luck getting any good seats with my Gold card, even while attempting to book immediately when the tix were released for sale. The persistent captcha copier can do just as well with any other CC.

And when I test-visited some of those 4/5 star hotel sites, I found that they offer the same fourth-night deals to the general public.

On amazon.com, AMEX points are only worth .70 per 100 points.

My annual Gold Card fee was due 9/8 so I have already canceled it after getting the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred card and have been using it the last three weeks.

https://www304.americanexpress.com/credi…

The two “Everyday” and two “Blue Cash” credit cards AMEX just came out with in April 2014 (2 w/membership pts and 2/cash back) are all see-thru plastic cards and mine DOES show “Member since 2009” on it just like ER stated it should here:

http://piggington.com/effect_credit_score_cancelingdowngrading_my_amex_card

Incidentally, my FICO score only dropped 3 points so far for downgrading (from 822 to 819), likely from the credit inquiry. It will be interesting to see if or how much more it moves due to the cancellation.

In addition, I am eligible for a sign-up bonus of $150 statement credit on the new card (because the Blue Cash a “credit card” and the Gold card was a “charge card”) after spending $1000 or more the first 3 billing cycles. This card’s main form of “reward” is statement credit (keeps things simple and less-costly for me) which is 3% cash back on standalone gas stations, 6% cash back on standalone grocery stores and 1% cash back on everything else. Its annual fee is $75 (half of Gold Card Plus) but I KNOW I will recoup all of it and much more in statement credit.

I’m very satisfied with the Blue Cash Preferred card so far.

I’ll pm ER and see what he has to say about the Platinum card and what he uses it for. He’s our resident “AMEX expert.” After reading many reviews on these cards, it seems lots of people just use the Platinum card to flash for airline upgrades/extra bags and entrance to select airport lounges but never actually put a dime on the card.

For these people, the $450 annual fee seems to be well worth it for those purposes only.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=Nazzy_17]Yes, definitely just a status symbol and the only time it seems to get you something is when you check-in to a fancy hotel with the card-you can try and finagle an upgrade or when you book a trip through Amex there’s some type of upgrade – however, I’ve noticed that the prices on Amex is slightly higher than booking through Expedia – so an iffy benefit there.
When I was researching the card, it seems to benefit travellers – $200 annual airline credit(so depending on when you pay the annual fee and it crosses over into another calendar year you already get back $400 for bag fees, wifi, misc airline fees) and is a bonus to access lounges and priority boarding and bypass security checkpoints for international travel. Having said that I don’t travel enough to benefit from all of this and was lucky that my annual fee was waived because I got the card through Ameriprise-fee free for the first year. If they try and charge me the fee next year, I will cancel since I don’t reap the $450 back. THE BEST CARD HANDS DOWN IS AMEX BLUE CASH – I think they changed their rewards program but i basically get back around $2,000 year that I take as statement credits every month. They offer around 3 % for gas and grocery purchases (average after you cross the tiers).[/quote]

Just saw this Nazzy (see post, above). The Blue Cash Preferred is a screaming deal offering 6% cash back at grocery stores (for up to $6K in purchases per yr but I would never buy that much). This card was just released on 4/2/14 (in its present form). You may want to switch yours out and pay its $75 annual fee:

https://www304.americanexpress.com/credit-card/blue-cash-preferred/28000?ccsgeep=28000&psccsg=CCSG__Google_Blue%20Cash%20Preferred_Exact

The only caveat is that you likely wouldn’t qualify for the $150 stmt credit after your first $1K on the card because you are already a “Blue Cash” cardholder.

edit: A “big box” store is not considered a “grocery store” by AMEX. They consider those “gen’l mdse” stores and thus only award 1% cash back on those purchases.

[earlyretirement]

Some one asked me to respond to this thread via PM so I am. I’ve been so crazy busy I haven’t had time to read the boards the past several months but happy to post about a topic I know well.

I’d have to strongly DISAGREE with those that say it’s a “status symbol” thingy. People often say that but don’t really understand all the benefits. Does it make sense for everyone? Nope it sure doesn’t. But for those that travel often or buy a lot of electronics it DOES make sense and the benefits are better than anything I’ve ever seen and I’ve had several cards over the years.

AMEX has moved to allowing to make minimum payments. Or they call it “pay over time” feature. I’m not sure what the interest rate is as I’ve always just paid all my credit cards in full every month.

For those that travel often (or even a few times a year) Platinum AMEX gives you a $200 rebate on almost every airline. You don’t even need to travel. You can even buy gift certificates and they will credit $200 per year. For example, I choose American Airlines and get $200 credited each and every year for purchases. So that takes the true cost down to $250 a year.

They give you a free membership to Priority Club for Airport VIP lounges. No foreign transaction fees for those of us that travel abroad frequently. They reimburse you the $100 TSA fee for Global Entry or SENTRI.

The extended warranty and Return Protection programs are AMAZING! Purchase protection as well is amazing! I can’t tell you how much I’ve saved over the years with those programs. Much more than the $450 annual fee. AMEX is simply the best. ( https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/card-benefits/ )

I not only have the USA AMEX Platinum card but I also pay $550 a year to have the Platinum UK card. The benefits are mind blowing. (Again NOT for everyone but if you travel there are some amazing benefits).

http://www.americanexpress.com/lacidc/iccsite/pdf/Platinum_Card_Summary_of_Travel_Insurance_Benefits.pdf

Check out some of those benefits. And they are amazingly great about it when you need it. I travel quite frequently for both work and also with my family and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken advantage of these amazing benefits from the declining ALL coverage on insurance and getting covered worldwide, to having luggage get lost or delayed and getting to spend $500, to even getting stuck in a blizzard and having AMEX pay for my hotel, rental car and all meals even when it was weather related.

Read some of the medical benefits when traveling. I’ve also had to take advantage of that benefit when on one vacation I had an incident where both of my kids had to be taken in ambulance to the emergency room. They covered everything. Thousands of dollars in expenses from the ambulance, to the ER doctor, to the hospital, etc. (Amazing to see how many separate entities bill you when there is a visit to the hospital in ambulance).

Read that link I posted above and especially read the Travel inconvenience section. Just amazing.

I’ve also had situations where just everyday stuff that I bought was lost, damaged, stolen and they covered it. Or the time I was in Bora Bora on vacation jetskiing and my wife’s $400 Prada sunglasses that she bought 2 months before fell off not to be recovered. No questions asked, they simply reimbursed us.

Again, not for everyone but I think it’s incorrect to say that it’s just for status because it certainly is not. I’d say the AMEX Black card would be more for status. I’ve been offered that card but it’s obscenely expensive and most of the benefits are covered by the Platinum card for a fraction of the cost.

I’d go so far to say that anyone that travels a few times a year would definitely get great benefit from the AMEX Platinum as well as people that buy a lot of stuff.

Also, I just wanted to point out that although I travel quite a bit I NEVER in 20+ years having an AMEX have I used any of the hotel booking, or travel booking services or events. I do all that myself so that isn’t a reason to get the card.

The main benefits are what I pointed out above. I have other cards including Black Mastercard along with several others and most of them are VERY painful to actually get them to cover a loss, warranty, etc. Tons of paperwork and hassles. AMEX is only an online website where you fill out the details and they have just credited back the full amount. Most times I never even have to talk to an agent.

If you buy something and the store won’t take it back because it’s past the 30 day return policy or whatever, AMEX will take care of it. I’ve had friends that have bought VERY expensive designer Italian shoes and they fell apart within like 40 days. The store wouldn’t take them back. She just called AMEX while she was at the store. And they told her to just leave them at the store and walk out. They credited her the entire cost.

Again, even if you aren’t a big spender most of us buy electronics, clothes, stuff and sh*t happens and they are a breeze to deal with on that stuff.

[moneymaker]

earlyretirement- I can understand the shoes, but why would you even ask Amex to cover sunglasses that your wife lost. This to me is either entitlement thinking or fraud. Nothing personal but I just don’t get it and I think that is what has been lost in our society, the sense of personal responsibility. I’m sure there are many that would agree with you, perhaps I’m old school but I would never have asked Amex to reimburse for something “I” lost. Stolen maybe. Wow, just looked up black card, also known as Centurion card. $7500 initiation fee with $2000 annual fee, I’m guessing not too many people have that one.

[earlyretirement]

Huh? See that’s what I mean. Many people don’t understand the benefits. It’s NOT entitlement or fraud! It’s simply the purchase protection benefit.

“Purchases made with the Platinum Card in the event they are accidentally damaged, stolen, or lost for up to 90 days from the date of purchase are covered”.

You have 3 months of coverage no matter if you accidentally damaged or lost or stolen. I’ve had many friends that bought expensive Armani shirts and then had ink stain it and AMEX bought them a new one.

It’s just one of those benefits. This has nothing to do with entitlement issues. This has everything to do with paying $450 a year annual fee to get a certain set of benefits including this amazing feature.

If you got fire insurance for your house and then it burned within 2 months and the insurance company covered it, I doubt you would expect people to say you have “entitlement issues”. You’d simply be taking advantage of your coverage.

[moneymaker]

Didn’t mean to ding your integrity ER, I guess if that’s what is covered then by all means go for it. Did you hear about the Chinese guy that bought a small tea bowl with a chicken on it for $36 million and used his Black Amex to pay for it.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=moneymaker]Didn’t mean to ding your integrity ER, I guess if that’s what is covered then by all means go for it. Did you hear about the Chinese guy that bought a small tea bowl with a chicken on it for $36 million and used his Black Amex to pay for it.[/quote]

Funny moneymaker! I thought you were kidding until I googled it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-18/chinese-gets-422-million-amex-points-with-36-million-cup.html

Oh no worries. You didn’t ding my integrity at all. I just think many people are clueless to the really rich benefits that they offer. Even people that don’t spend tons of money traveling typically buy stuff and I can tell you after being an AMEX cardholder for 20+ years. LOTS of stuff breaks 90 days into owning it. And most stores won’t take it back.

Or just stuff that gets lost or stolen. I think even the vast majority of AMEX cardholders don’t know all the benefits which is what AMEX is counting on. But certainly they definitely will reimburse you for any of these things that occur. And they don’t drop you as a cardmember even if you take advantage of it. Really amazing benefits at the Platinum level.

[Hatfield]

The AMEX thing looks like a pretty good deal if you do a lot of air travel, but not if you don’t and I don’t. I’ve had the Citibank AAdvantage card for about 20 years and I still have about 100k miles on American that I need to use before they expire. They’ve made it a lot harder to redeem them, and there’s a $100 annual fee, which is why I switched about a year ago to the Capital One rewards card. No fees, lots of standard benefits (rental car waiver insurance, double warranty, $500 reimbursement for purchases lost/stolen/broken in the first 90 days, etc) and 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Seemed like the best deal going at the time.

[cvmom]

[quote=Hatfield]I switched about a year ago to the Capital One rewards card. No fees, lots of standard benefits (rental car waiver insurance, double warranty, $500 reimbursement for purchases lost/stolen/broken in the first 90 days, etc) and 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Seemed like the best deal going at the time.[/quote]

Me too

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