topic Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card?? in Credit Cards

Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

TWMAZ — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:10:10 GMT

Is this card officially cancelled? I can not find it on the Amex website anywhere? Anyone know why it was cancelled?

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

webhopper — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:29:36 GMT

Yes. Plug is pulled. I can only assume that it was unprofitable.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

corymcd88 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:38:29 GMT

Is our card going to change?

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

Link2k — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 04:49:37 GMT

webhopper wrote:
Yes. Plug is pulled. I can only assume that it was unprofitable.

More likely this card was the one cited in age discrimination. It wad pulled within a week of this CFPB decision and I didn't see anything from Amex that would lead me to believe the card was not profitable.

http://consumerist.com/2012/10/01/american-express-to-pay-out-85-million-to-customers-for-variety-of-consumer-violations/

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

trumpet-205 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:14:27 GMT

Zync never was a full fledge product to begin with. Back when it was introduced it was in piloting stage. AMEX wanted to see how people would like the idea of low AF charge card.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

logan_720 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:21:34 GMT

I'm sort of sad to see it go, just because I know that it enabled a lot of younger people with shorter credit history establish great reputation with Amex. I was lucky to get it and less than 6 months later, have the ability to get approved for their Hilton Surpass card. I can only hope that they are working on a replacement.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

webhopper — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:35:57 GMT

So the zync card used an applicants age to determine approval status. That stinks. I also noticed that the zync CSRs were not integrated into CSRs for other cards.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

Cageym — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:38:49 GMT

I kind of like my Zync, not a bad looking card. And as far as age discriminatoion I'm 48 and I got the NPSL with only a $750 Cap1 reporting, my NFCU hadn't even started yet. In a few months when everyone forgets it existed and those of us that still have them whip them out we can respond "Oh, it is a limited edition" or "Very exclusive.LOL. And I'm not sure if I would like to be one of the peopl ethat have an Amex because it was forced down Amex's throat to give them one.LOL! "Consumers who were promised their debt would be forgiven and who were denied new credit cards because the debt was not really forgiven, will receive $100 and a pre-approved offer for a new card with terms the CFPB and the FDIC find acceptable. If the consumer already paid the waived or forgiven amount in order to get a new card, they will be refunded that amount plus interest."

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

Link2k — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:57:28 GMT

Cageym wrote:
I kind of like my Zync, not a bad looking card. And as far as age discriminatoion I'm 48 and I got the NPSL with only a $750 Cap1 reporting, my NFCU hadn't even started yet.

For a period of time, the bank did not fully implement the system for applicants over the age of 35. This violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act because it requires credit scoring systems that take age into account to be properly designed and implemented.

:) it looks like you were getting the benefit of the age discrimination. I agree however that the card looks cool and I'm a little sad I missed out on getting it although I had no justification for it other than the nice look.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

Revelate — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 05:59:52 GMT

Link2k wrote:
webhopper wrote:
Yes. Plug is pulled. I can only assume that it was unprofitable.

More likely this card was the one cited in age discrimination. It wad pulled within a week of this CFPB decision and I didn't see anything from Amex that would lead me to believe the card was not profitable.
http://consumerist.com/2012/10/01/american-express-to-pay-out-85-million-to-customers-for-variety-of-consumer-violations/

The actual text of the finding is as follows:

Discrimination on the Basis of Age. Between February and October 2010, AECB
used a partially implemented age-split score card that functioned as an improper second look for
card applicants age 35 years old and under in violation ofECOA and Regulation B ("Staged
Age-Split Scorecard").

It doesn't make much sense to cancel a product because of infringements from 2 years ago assuming that the card is still profitable going forward, and presumably with the end-date found by the investigation, the issue had already been remediated.

I think it's as Trumpet suggests, and that the experiment just didn't work out for whatever reason.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

TWMAZ — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:03:19 GMT

So, should I continue charging on this card? I have three packs on it, or should I switch to my Green Card for all charges now. I wish they would have sent something in the October statement about this. It seems weird to drop a product line and not tell your customers what they can expect. Now, I really want the Platinum card!

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

logan_720 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:13:26 GMT

TWMAZ wrote:
So, should I continue charging on this card? I have three packs on it, or should I switch to my Green Card for all charges now. I wish they would have sent something in the October statement about this. It seems weird to drop a product line and not tell your customers what they can expect. Now, I really want the Platinum card!

It always seems like when cards are disctoniued, the card issuer/bank replaces the card with another in the lineup. I'm sure charginf to it will be fine. I'm holding off though until I hear more. mine has been SD'd for a few months now.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

thom02099 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:23:57 GMT

Having been recently spanked by the "powers that be", you can bet that AMEX will play by the rules when it comes to the Zync card.

Since there's nothing official yet, no press releases or website announcesments, no mailings and actually conflicting info from their own CSR staff, it's safe to presume that it's business as usual with the Zync card until told otherwise. In other thread discussions, there was mention that the card could go on ad infitum if AMEX chooses, or it could be replaced by another card (possibly something new?), or simply a product change to a different AMEX product . I will continue to use my Zync card until I'm told by AMEX that I can't, and then will hold on to it as a collectors' item!

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

CS800 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:34:29 GMT

The Zync is special to me since it was the first card I got in my rebuilding phase. Prior to that I only had a Cap one with a $1100 and that was it.

When I appled for the Zync, I got approved instantly for NPSL and I beleive that this opened the door for me with other creditors (I assume that creditors always look at your card lineup to see who offered you credit). I used it extensively but after I got the Discover and the Chase Freedom, the card sat in my safe not doing anything.

I'm sure we can still charge on it until AMEX says we can't. As it stands with the packs gone, it's just a regular charge card with no perks so AMEX knows that the use of this card will go down drastically. Would be interesting to know how they deal with the 'phase out' for this card.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

TWMAZ — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:39:50 GMT

I just got the email below this morning from American Express:

I assure you that you may use your Zync Card as long as you wish to use it.
However, we are no longer accepting new enrollments into Zync Packs.
We welcome you to our American Express family and wish to serve you for many more years to come.

Sincerely,
Email Servicing Team American Express Interactive Services

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

CS800 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:41:01 GMT

TWMAZ wrote:
I just got the email below this morning from American Express:
I assure you that you may use your Zync Card as long as you wish to use it.
However, we are no longer accepting new enrollments into Zync Packs.
We welcome you to our American Express family and wish to serve you for many more years to come.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXX Email Servicing Team American Express Interactive Services

Howdy, can you remove the name of the person in your message? Just a heads up :)

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

TWMAZ — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:40:11 GMT

Removed!

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

TWMAZ — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:42:06 GMT

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

Repo-ed — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:27:57 GMT

Yup, my first prime card in my rebuilding phase as well. I use it 99.9% of the time, except when grocery shopping at Aldis (they do not take CCs - only debit, cash, and check)

People look at it odd when I give it to them, and I intend to keep using it for a while to come. In fact, as I've stated in another thread - I had intended to app spree in jan (especially for AMEX product(s) due to backdating), but I think I'm going to wait until my repo falls-off in 2 years.

Re: Did American Express officially pull the plug on the Zync card??

Razeus — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:37:11 GMT

I'm holding onto my Zync card FOREVER. That was a great moment in my financial and credit history. The first credit card I've been approved for in a very long time.