For what they offer, are the Amex charge card AF justified?

[Denny33142]

I was having a conversation with my brother about credit cards and he told me that he cancelled his PRG because the AF was too high and that he already has a Chase Sapphire with similar benifits but no AF.

This got me thinking, There are many cards out there with no AF that offer similar or better rewards than the AMEX charge cards, Even the CSP which is the top tier Chase card has a lower AF than even the Amex Gold.

So if you have an annual income of <30K why would you want a charge card? It would seem to me like you would need to spend a good amount of your income just to break even with Green/Gold/PRG....probably more than you could spend if you made less than 30K. I would say that out of all the Charge Cards the Zync would be the only one that would have truly been worth it, Since you would only need to spend about 2.5K to break even.

Really from what i have gathered there are 2 reasons why you would want to have an Amex Charge Card:

Backdating

The sense of Prestige

Keep in mind that this thread is about people who have a charge card with a lower income, obviously if you run $50K+ through your card then this thread wouldn't make too much logic to you, Also i am not making this thread to bash AMEX in any way.

[navigatethis12]

I suggest you put your thick skin on; I reckon you will need it.

[GaTech]

I was wondering the same thing. Except when they have those juicy sign up bonuses of 25k MR points or higher w/ annual fee waived for first year.  I guess you could always cancel before the annual fee hits and wait 13 months to repeat the cycle...

[Swapmeet]

I am not sure that the Amex charge cards were designed for people who make les than 30k per year.

[chnceit]

Dont forget to add current cardmembers are SPd if denied for another card and revolvers 3Xs CLI at 61 days never heard of with other lenders 

I believe they made different levels of Charge cards for income reasons. IMO. 

[jsucool76]

Even if you are pushing 50k+ through your charge card, there are still MUCH better options. Obviously cards like the plat, you pay for benefits/perks, not rewards, but with the green, gold, and even PRG, no matter how much you spend on them you can still get better rewards elsewhere, cheaper.

[navigatethis12]

---

@chnceit wrote:

revolvers 3Xs CLI at 61 days never heard of with other lenders 

---

The thing with American Express is that you can only get an increase of up to three times the current limit. On a 1000 card that is only 3000, while with other lenders you can ask for any amount you want and most will counter with something, but they do not restrict you to just three times the limit. Many lenders let you request an increase whenever you want, not making you wait sixty-one days from opening the account. Their six month rule per cardholder is also rubbish in my opinion. With General Electric I went from 1000 - 10000 in one month. This was through normal customer service channels, not the analyst number. With American Express that would have taken over one year. This is on a card that can be used anywhere, not just Dillards.

[Open123]

If you have lots of MR points accrued, you must have a charge card (or, fee MR Open card) to transfer points to airlines.

[ryanbush]

You're paying more for the buying power and the protections that come with the cards than you are the rewards.

most average people can charge more on their AMEX Charge cards than they can on their personal credit cards, at the time I got mine my highest limit was 1200$ and my total limits were around 4k.  I was able to Charge over 4k on my card in just my second month of having it.  It's a great option for people who travel for work and get reimbursed, you are no tying up your personal credit or money and it doesn't count against your utilization so it's not affecting your credit score like a normal card would

[jsucool76]

Yeah but if you're travelling a lot for work, chances are between that, and your personal spending, you're spending enough to offset the AF.