@kdm31091 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I don't want to get too far off topic here, so I'll just say a new AMEX card would be pretty exciting, as long as it has a few benefits not seen in the industry by their competitors. I like how AMEX offers a 6% cash back on groceries card, so lets see if they can bring this card out with something similar... Say something like 5% back at book stores (including Amazon) and 5% back on restaurant purchases (up to $3,000 per quarter, 1.5% after) and then 1.5% on all other purchases--I think that would be a card to catch a particular group of people's eyes.
I never get these sort of proposals, made in the absence of economic data indicating whether this is viable or not. As I suggested to an earlier proposal of yours, if this is such a win, get funding and issue it yourself! I mean, a 10% back on everything card would be great! So would a 20% one. And..... But there are financial constraints that the banks operate under which we do not know.
5% cash back isn't unusual at all. Discover and Chase both have cards with 5% rotating categories, with caps of course. What I suggested had a cap of 5% up to $1,000 a month for both categories combined. There's also cards out there where the benefits can cost the bank $1,000's a year but the annual fee is only $450 a year---this card wouldn't have those kind of benefits.
You're also forgetting AMEX charges many merchants a higher % per transaction and is their own bank... So I think they can afford to give out a card like the one I proposed. Add in a higher minimum APR, and this card could easily be given out by them... It's like saying AMEX can't afford to give out the BCP, PRG, or the Platinum, none of which are cost effective to them if the cardholder uses the card to the fullest potential.
Sometimes you have to eat into some of your profit margins if you want to have an eye-popping product on the market. It's not like AMEX wouldn't have any other cards to bring in money, and the competition is heating up fast.
The competition is heating up maybe (although most recent new cards have been very similar to one another), but not so much for 5% cards. Most 5% cards have gotten narrower/more restrictive over time or gone away completely. It seems doubtful Amex is going to come out with a 5% bookstore card. You have to remember that the "bookstore" Amazon thing is just a side effect, not really an intentional thing. None of the "bookstore" cards mention "works on Amazon!"; it just happens to.
I'd love to see a 5% dining card, but it seems banks don't favor dining much as a category. I think they feel most people spend more on groceries/gas than eating out and if you cut your budget you're going to cut dining before groceries in most cases. For whatever reason there aren't a lot of super compelling dining cards. Discover and Freedom do 5% dining one quarter at least, though of course there's no guarantee that will continue.
I think issuers feel that most consumers prefer flat rate structures, and few complications, in getting their rewards, which is why you see so many new flat rate cards. This means I don't think we will see a card with categories coming out soon. But, you never know, just seems that flat rate is the trend. Most consumers don't want to be bothered with remembering categories.
AMEX has a card that gives 6% back on groceries, up to an (average of $500 a month) or $6,000 a year, with a $95 annual fee of course. They also have a card already with three categories of 5% back on purchases between $6,500 and $50,000 in spend during the course of the year. (supermarkets, gas stations, and drugstores) while providing 1% on everything else.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/site/card/blue-cash/25330?linknav=US-Acq-CCSG-Prospect-VAC-BlueCash-CardTitle
I stand by what I said and I think AMEX could afford it.
With that said, I understand the previous poster meant traditional rewards (ie: points, miles, & cash back).
