American Express Black

[Anonymous]

BillR, I appreciate your post. You were able to articulate the veiw without sounding condescending. The $1/4MM annual spend is a top 3% gross adjust household income. It may be fair to say the majority of rebuilders do not fit the category - along with most in the world. If we did, the roads would be full of Ferrari LaFerrari's and I would have lost my license by now

Amex has done a brilliant job of marketing the card. For most it is the pinnacle, a status symbol of being ultra rich. As you alluded, if you have the resources/need to utilize the benefits - it may be well worth it. To each thier own. Thanks for sharing your experience.I can only dream of the points you must rack up each year.

[jsucool76]

Just saw on Tpg that someone got a 180k point sign up for 20k spend. Dope.

[L0RDAVENTAD0R]

BillR - Nice explanation. I'm not sure why there are so many who dismiss the card...

Assuming one has to spend ~ $250,000 at a minimum to even get invited in the first place, the first year fee would be 4% ($10,000 / $250,000) of their relative spending, and then 1% ($2,500 / $250,000) for the second year, and so on and so forth assuming a similar spending pattern.

Relatively speaking, the yearly fee for the CSP is 2% ($95 / $5,000 minimum limit) or 1% for someone with a $10,000 limit.

So Person A paying AMEX $2,500 a year for the black card is relative to Person B paying Chase $95 a year for the Sapphire Preferred. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not to mention the $2,500 AF and the $7,500 initiation fee you have to pay just to have the card... Bahahaha. #PoorSouls 

All you have to do is run up $250,000 on an AMEX card in a year and you get an invitation. I know a guy who makes $35k a year working in sales but puts business supplies on his AMEX card for the owners that buy from him and he got an invitation. It's a myth that you have to have such and such million dollar quotas in assets to own one. It's actually not too hard to get. 

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That's probably how much my car worth right now - I can get a "new" POS honda civic every year. Yay!

[sjt]

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@BillR wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Just you can spray it. It just won't weigh the same. Any card that need a 10000 fee isn't worth it.

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No disrespect intended but the fee wasn't $10,000. It was $7,500 first year ($5,000 Initiation and $2,500 annual fee) and then requires a $2,500 annual fee each year after that. I think many people commented on the Benefits are comparable to the Platinum card and thus cant see the reason to pay the higher Black Card fee and for many that is the right call. For myself however, I have found that utilizing the Travel Concierage with Centurion so far has resulted in my being able to book their Fine Hotels and Resorts at a savings that exceeds my annual fee. Now, if you dont travel or you prefer to stay at more economical properties then this benefit would likely be a waste and again the Platinum may be a better fit for you. Finally, we each get to decide what we spend our money on and if its worth it or not. I would offer you the parallel of buying a car. I think most folks choose to buy a car that is far more expensive than the very bottom base model that could just as easily get them from point A to point B and at a cost of several thousand dollars less then the model they likely chose. Why, because they felt it was worth it ( leather seats, HP, Color, Navigation ) and thats their right but the end result is they will have spent thousands of dollars more than they had to for transportation and they will never get it back. I on the other hand have saved more than my annual fee back in the form of lower travel costs and thus for me I believe it is worth it.

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FYI The Iniation Fee went up to $7,500. The annual fee of $2,500 remains the same. So the first year its $10,000.