@redpat wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:AMEX might as well just label the card as a revolver and put down an interest rate instead of saying, "no interest because you pay your balances in full every month."
The charge cards are classics and AMEX should keep it the way it's been in order to use them for marketing purposes. People who still want the feeling of old fashioned AMEX should be able to get a charge card and be able to use it as it was originally intended... But these cards now appear as less prestigous and classic now that you're able to pay over time. Of course AMEX doesn't have to give a pay over time feature to any cardholder... They just make it look like a card for a person with a below average income by letting people pay over time rather than for those who have an income well above what the average American makes per year. AMEX showing more flexibility than ever makes them look less prestigous, and it's both embarassing for them, and also disappointing for some of us.
I don't know, I guess I'm just caught up in the old fashioned thing, and you do make a good points about collecting interest from cardholders. I like to see a premium company in every category of item, and AMEX has slipped quite a bit since the old days.
Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so let's not go down the road of who's right and wrong here.
(Reply was to takeshi74, sorry quote box is giving me a hard time tonight).
Amex is all about getting their cards swiped, they have the highest merchant charges in the industry and if they can get some interest from their cardholders who want this all the power to them. As for prestige, I never thought so, travel and perks always came first.
Everyone tries to compete with Plat but they end up nerfing their perks later on, i.e. citi prestige. Now Chase is taking a shot with Reserve and already underwhelming out of the box thus far, we shall see.
Don't be so sure on the highest merchant rates in the industry. For a smaller business, they can be super competitive. A few years back, they were matching Discover (which was my lowest), with no transaction fee. I have also had friends with small businesses on a really nice flat fee deal as well - working out to well under 1.25% with no trans fee... It all depends on the deal tha tyou work out with AMEX as a merchant
@UncleB wrote:
Later when I found out they have been offering folks a promo for adding it I got annoyed with myself. Of course there's no way of knowing if I would have been offered the promotion, but at least there would have been the chance.
That's OK, though; live and learn...
I didn't know that there was a promo either, I have activated mine as well without the promotion. 
There is another recent thread about Amex POT and it is my understanding that the POT balance does not report, which would be an advantage to some.