Am I the only one who dislikes my ZYNC?

[ryanbush]

Same here, almost all of my spending goes on the green...   this way it's not factored into utilization and doesn't affect my scores

[flowfaster]

Why would you care about util more than cash back? Unless you are applying for something every month. You are losing potential cash back every time u swipe that Amex and the green in my opinion is the worst of all.

[ryanbush]

Becasue most of the time I decide to buy something it is in a limited time span...  like i know most of the time about when I am going to buy a new car (i trade every 12-18 months) but I like to wait until the incentives are optimal and I don't want to have to wait until my utilization is just right to have to apply

Also I convert all of my MR points to Delta when they have bonuses, so in reality it comes out to better than any of my cards (even my 2% CB cards)

[lithium78]

I am not impressed by AMEX at all.  Their high level cards have nice perks if you are somebody who spends ridiculous amounts of money, but for the average person they just aren't competitive.  Also, they randomly run FR, which would irritate me so much.  I get a lot more in rewards from Discover and that card has never given me any issues whatsoever.  It seems like most people just want an AMEX so they can impress their dates.  LOL!

[espnjunkie]

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@flowfaster wrote:
Why would you care about util more than cash back? Unless you are applying for something every month. You are losing potential cash back every time u swipe that Amex and the green in my opinion is the worst of all.

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I have to disagree with you on this. MR points have the potential to be worth much more than 1% cash back when converted into frequent flyer miles. For example as I said earlier, Delta and British Airways often have transfer bonuses of 30-50%. I would much rather have 25,000 frequent flyer miles and purchae a round trip domestic flight that would cost me $300-400 than just $250 cash back. I use my BCP for bonus categories like department stores and groceries.

For me the green is not the worst because it has the lowest annual fee, full mr points, I cannot justify going for the prg gold because I use the bcp for groceries, my employer pays for my gas as part of its benefits package, and I don't purchase enough flights per year that are not business expenses to justify the 175.00 af

Green has all the same features except gold destination, which I could care less about, and bonus categories. It has no impact on my utilization and I pay in full every month anyways so apr doesn't matter

[espnjunkie]

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@lithium78 wrote:

I am not impressed by AMEX at all.  Their high level cards have nice perks if you are somebody who spends ridiculous amounts of money, but for the average person they just aren't competitive.  Also, they randomly run FR, which would irritate me so much.  I get a lot more in rewards from Discover and that card has never given me any issues whatsoever.  It seems like most people just want an AMEX so they can impress their dates.  LOL!

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It depends on what your spending pattern is like and what rewards you are looking to get. If you travel and want miles amex is arguably the best because you have the ability to transfer points into airline miles with 19 different carriers. I trust amex more than other lenders in the event of a dispute to have it resolved on my side. Their purchase protection, return protection, and extended warranty are also top notch compared to other companies.

Their business model is on spend centric customers who pay in full. FR are not common unless unusual circumstances arise.

[lithium78]

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@espnjunkie wrote:

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@lithium78 wrote:

I am not impressed by AMEX at all.  Their high level cards have nice perks if you are somebody who spends ridiculous amounts of money, but for the average person they just aren't competitive.  Also, they randomly run FR, which would irritate me so much.  I get a lot more in rewards from Discover and that card has never given me any issues whatsoever.  It seems like most people just want an AMEX so they can impress their dates.  LOL!

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It depends on what your spending pattern is like and what rewards you are looking to get. If you travel and want miles amex is arguably the best because you have the ability to transfer points into airline miles with 19 different carriers. I trust amex more than other lenders in the event of a dispute to have it resolved on my side. Their purchase protection, return protection, and extended warranty are also top notch compared to other companies.

Their business model is on spend centric customers who pay in full. FR are not common unless unusual circumstances arise.

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I never have to pay for my own airfare, so I have no interest in miles.  The purchase protection, etc. has been matched by Discover, so that's not really unique to AMEX anymore either.  I suppose if you are a high rolling jet-setter AMEX might have some value, but I still think it isn't a good card for the average consumer.

[espnjunkie]

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@lithium78 wrote:

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@espnjunkie wrote:

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@lithium78 wrote:

I am not impressed by AMEX at all.  Their high level cards have nice perks if you are somebody who spends ridiculous amounts of money, but for the average person they just aren't competitive.  Also, they randomly run FR, which would irritate me so much.  I get a lot more in rewards from Discover and that card has never given me any issues whatsoever.  It seems like most people just want an AMEX so they can impress their dates.  LOL!

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It depends on what your spending pattern is like and what rewards you are looking to get. If you travel and want miles amex is arguably the best because you have the ability to transfer points into airline miles with 19 different carriers. I trust amex more than other lenders in the event of a dispute to have it resolved on my side. Their purchase protection, return protection, and extended warranty are also top notch compared to other companies.

Their business model is on spend centric customers who pay in full. FR are not common unless unusual circumstances arise.

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I never have to pay for my own airfare, so I have no interest in miles.  The purchase protection, etc. has been matched by Discover, so that's not really unique to AMEX anymore either.  I suppose if you are a high rolling jet-setter AMEX might have some value, but I still think it isn't a good card for the average consumer.

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There is no one perfect card for everyone. Discover has upped its game with the It card in terms of purchase, price and return protection, no forex fees, no annual fee, etc. My issue is that I find many merchants outside of the USA do not accept discover making it a less than ideal travel card. The discover country acceptance listing is a bit misleading because many merchants in those countries don't accept link, diners club, jcb, etc. Also having a npsl is a nice feature because it doesn't impact your utilization and internal limits for charge cards tend to be much larger than hard limit credit cards.

Again there is no one card for everyone, if a person wants airline miles amex is a competitive offering.

[Cdnewmanpac]

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@ryanbush wrote:

Same here, almost all of my spending goes on the green...   this way it's not factored into utilization and doesn't affect my scores

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A word of caution: it doesn't factor in to utilization, but it does count as a card with a balance. Both are part of the fico scoring algorithm. So while it may not increase your utilization to have a balance post, it can lower your fico (depending upon your bucket).

As to the original topic, my zync was very useful over the past year. For much of that year, it was the only card I had that earned bonus points on restaurants. It was also the only card I could use at costco. Since I spent over 20k at costco this past year, that was a real value. I paid the cost of the restaurant pack on small business saturday and paid the AF with a credit from costco.com. So I got about 30k in MRE points that I would not have gotten without the zync.

That being said, as my limits grow and now that I have the costco TE, I'm using it less frequently. I'm waiting until March (when AF is due) and will either close the card, cash out my remaining MRE points with a home depot gc (1cpp), use it to book a hotel through the amex web site (1.2cpp) or get a platinum and then convert to american or BA when a bonus is offered. Really depends on if I get a targeted sign up offer for platinum. I have enough trips coming up on American that the 200 airline credit will get used. Now that DIA has Precheck, I'd use the global entry. So if I can get an offer of at least 35000 mr points, it will be worth upgrading.

Or I might just keep the zync for nostalgia and for the occasional statement credit offer. Either way, it has been more than useful to me.

[espnjunkie]

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@Cdnewmanpac wrote:

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@ryanbush wrote:

Same here, almost all of my spending goes on the green...   this way it's not factored into utilization and doesn't affect my scores

---

A word of caution: it doesn't factor in to utilization, but it does count as a card with a balance. Both are part of the fico scoring algorithm. So while it may not increase your utilization to have a balance post, it can lower your fico (depending upon your bucket).

As to the original topic, my zync was very useful over the past year. For much of that year, it was the only card I had that earned bonus points on restaurants. It was also the only card I could use at costco. Since I spent over 20k at costco this past year, that was a real value. I paid the cost of the restaurant pack on small business saturday and paid the AF with a credit from costco.com. So I got about 30k in MRE points that I would not have gotten without the zync.

That being said, as my limits grow and now that I have the costco TE, I'm using it less frequently. I'm waiting until March (when AF is due) and will either close the card, cash out my remaining MRE points with a home depot gc (1cpp), use it to book a hotel through the amex web site (1.2cpp) or get a platinum and then convert to american or BA when a bonus is offered. Really depends on if I get a targeted sign up offer for platinum. I have enough trips coming up on American that the 200 airline credit will get used. Now that DIA has Precheck, I'd use the global entry. So if I can get an offer of at least 35000 mr points, it will be worth upgrading.

Or I might just keep the zync for nostalgia and for the occasional statement credit offer. Either way, it has been more than useful to me.

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What kills the Discover It for me is that you only get .25% cash back until you hit $3,000.00 in spending each year. Chase, Amex, US Bank, Citi all offer similar products that don't have that minimum to start earning rewards of any significance. Heck even my starter cap one card gives a full 1% cash back all year round. Unless the Discover card is your primary spending card it probably isn't the most useful for this reason.

^^^using a charge card shouldn't impact you much so long as balances on other cards are kept low. Charge cards are designed to be primary spending cards and not hit you on utilization.