@Berk wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@Berk wrote:If all you are concerned about is losing $150.00 in rewards points, then this card isn't for you in the first place. This card offers some of the best benefits out there in addition to points. I put all my point towards travel. The fact that you can get 3x the points for booking directly with the airline is wonderful. The extended warrently, the entertainment, concerts, sports, concierge service, travel agency, still earn miles when using your points for tickets. On and on I could go. Of course, being able to benefit from all this card has to offer requires you to have the disposable income to actually use the card for all its worth. I'm guessing that many people who got this card for the prestige of having it will get rid of it. For me, one plane ticket offsets the anual fee. I'll be keeping mine.
Not sure how much prestige there is to having this card. Also, I am unaware of a concierge service being offered via this product (there is a global assist service but that is not a concierge and has certain limitations) or how one plane ticket offsets an entire AF.Regardless of how much "disposable income" someone has I think there are clearly better cards out there. If I had significant amount of travel and was interested in perks I would be getting the amex plat over this card anyway.
I agree with you on the prestige issue. However, many people still strive for an Amex anything because of the perceived prestige of carrying the card - a gold card just makes it seem all that more impressive. I also agree that there are many other high end credit cards that offer as much and even more than the Amex PRGc does. They are credit cards though and not charge cards. Amex does not make any money off of you for having a charge card. Credit card companies make billions off off the average consumer because they carry balances on the majority of cards they hold. I still say Amex is pretty generous for giving you all these perks on a charge card with a reasonable yearly fee for the use of their money. Yes, I stand corrected on the concierge service. I will make back the AF when I redeem my rewards for a plane ticket. I do not think $175.00 at all excessive anyway. After all, it isn't the Stratus Rewards Visa. or Centurion.
Pretty sure Amex is still making money off you with all the swipe fees on top of the AF they are charging. I would never characterize the perks offered as generous in light of the AF. The card may hold some value, especially if a person is buying plane tickets on a regular basis or maybe has extremely heavy groccery spend, but for the most part I feel the vast majority of benefits can be gotten via other amex cards. I prefer credit cards to charge cards, so I don't see the fact that its a charge card being a positive per se.
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@mongstradamus wrote:
@jsucool76 wrote:
@mongstradamus wrote:I think in general both ed cards are going to kill off some of the amex charge cards I think ed kills off green card also
The green card is useless as well. The no AF ED card has better rewards, and no AF.
ed is pretty under rated. It's only mo af card that can transfer points to airline partners. That is without the 2x points on groceries
+1 For people who don't want AFs this is a strong rewards card.
@Berk wrote:But with the every day preferred card, the PRG is now all but obsolete. Definitely not worth the $175 a year really. You say they give you "all these perks on a charge card" but what perks are these? And most of a credit card companies money comes from swipe fees, not really interest on balances. What they offer in replacement of the $30k/15kMR is going to be important, because right now the PRG offers nothing you cant get elsewhere, cheaper.
No, the majority of a credit card company's money comes from the "revolver" - people who carry balances and continually pay interest. So, with that said, if you carry a balance month to month, you are not getting your rewards cheaper. You are getting them for much more than $175.00. Average household credit card debt is somewhere north of $15,000.00 - yes, 15 thousand! Call me old fashioned but I do not mind paying to use Amex's money and I like the rewards that I get for a charge (not to be confused with a credit) card.
I guess this assumes people are all going to carry a balance. I never carry a balance unless its 0% APR, so the logic doesn't work for me and probably many other people. People who are carrying credit card debt should not be using rewards cards to begin with.
@Berk wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@Berk wrote:But with the every day preferred card, the PRG is now all but obsolete. Definitely not worth the $175 a year really. You say they give you "all these perks on a charge card" but what perks are these? And most of a credit card companies money comes from swipe fees, not really interest on balances. What they offer in replacement of the $30k/15kMR is going to be important, because right now the PRG offers nothing you cant get elsewhere, cheaper.
No, the majority of a credit card company's money comes from the "revolver" - people who carry balances and continually pay interest. So, with that said, if you carry a balance month to month, you are not getting your rewards cheaper. You are getting them for much more than $175.00. Average household credit card debt is somewhere north of $15,000.00 - yes, 15 thousand! Call me old fashioned but I do not mind paying to use Amex's money and I like the rewards that I get for a charge (not to be confused with a credit) card.
I guess this assumes people are all going to carry a balance. I never carry a balance unless its 0% APR, so the logic doesn't work for me and probably many other people. People who are carrying credit card debt should not be using rewards cards to begin with.
Yes, the average household does carry a balance - to the tune of 15 thousand dollars. In my opinion, people who carry credit card debt should not be using credit cards period. My utilization is around 3%. I do not borrow money that I cannot pay back when the bill comes due. I did learn my lesson the hard way however. Took me almost 20 years to build my credit back up to where it is today.
Actually your wrong on your numbers. I take it your looking at the results from the Fed survey on credit card debt. However, that 15k number is not all households. Its only households that are carrying debt. The average across the country is more like $7,281 per household. So given these numbers it looks like a lot of people are paying off their cards on time.
Just saw this article and thought it does a good job of looking at the earning potential of the difference amex cards for MRs.
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/10/amex-membership-rewards-card-showdown-which-card-wins/
@red259 wrote:Just saw this article and thought it does a good job of looking at the earning potential of the difference amex cards for MRs.
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/10/amex-membership-rewards-card-showdown-which-card-wins/
that article is causing the itch for EDP since it looks to be best MR card all things considered like AF and bonus categories etc.
