How do you manage Amex Charge Cards?

[icyhot]

I don't carry a balance on every card, but for the ones I use the most frequently (BofA Cash rewards) I do. And it seems like you would have to spend a lot on say, the Gold card, in order to justify the annual fee. I don't see myself ever getting one unless I used it to pay bills and immediately transfered the money from my bank account. For those of you who have it, how much is your monthly spend and what are your common purchases? Is it worth it?

[Anonymous]

I can't say that I do justify having the card.  But one thing I do is take advantage of the online offers.  For instance, I believe you can get $10 off your Verizon plan for three months if you pay with Gold.  I also made a purchase at a sporting goods store that offered $20 cashback with a purchase of $100.  Right now there is also a promotion to spend $20 or more at Amazon and get $20 off.  That's the use I have found with the card lately [$70 savings in three months].  It's a pretty card to have in the wallet otherwise. 

[jamesdwi]

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@icyhot wrote:

I don't carry a balance on every card, but for the ones I use the most frequently (BofA Cash rewards) I do. And it seems like you would have to spend a lot on say, the Gold card, in order to justify the annual fee. I don't see myself ever getting one unless I used it to pay bills and immediately transfered the money from my bank account. For those of you who have it, how much is your monthly spend and what are your common purchases? Is it worth it?

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i have a zync card, thankfully its only a $35 AF, just monthly spend on the card doesn't justify its AF these days, but they offer small bussiness saturday that nets me $30 in credits. other deals/credits though out the year more than make up for it, and since it had back dating goodness, it appears on my report as one of my top 5 oldest cards. 

before the 2% catagories were shut down I typically was pushing about $1000 a month through the card, I used it as a learning tool, i made a charge and then kept the money in my checking account gaining interest and then made 1 payment either before or shortly after statement cut. It helped me learn to track checking account balance via a seperate spreadsheet and not rely on what the bank balance says ( i do reconcile them monthly). Also thanks to my Checking account I have I earn like 7.25% for the first $500 in my checking account and then .01% for the rest, so net result is I earn $2-$3 a month in interest. 

In short I recomend a charge card as part of rebuilding because it allows you freedom and power to pay your bills when they are due, and not worry that my paycheck is coming next week. Or deal with pain of temporary holds on cards for Gas, Travel, etc. when all your cards have sub $1000 limits, the charge card will most likely have an interal CL of 5 times that much. 

[Anonymous]

The PRG is pretty good and competitive to most AF cards out their and the dining will be hitting 2x soon. I got one to test out but with all of my other cards and a $195 AF, it will certainly be on the chopping block next year. If you already have cards that give 2x in groceries, gas, travel, dining, etc...It probably isn't worth it. The advantage I see with charge cards is that it doesn't factor into utilization so it's great if you're building credit or if you have a large amount of expenditures every month (because NPSL). I wouldn't get one purely for rewards.

The Platinum has a ton of travel perks which makes it worth getting if you travel a lot.

[Jamex]

I have a Green charge card. I got it when I was still in the early stages of rebuilding, and wanted a card I could use for big expenses that were going to be reimbursed (e.g., work expenses so that I could keep my own points, medical expenses that I could pay myself back with through my FSA, etc). It actually came in very useful when my car got hit in the parking lot by another driver, totally their fault, and I was able to turn the repair bill into MR points by paying up front with my Green and then paying myself back with the insurance check.

Now, that was mainly so useful because at that time my revolving limits were really low - so any major unplanned expense could have really messed up my utilization. Now that I have some cards with larger limits, I have been using my Green a lot less.

In my case, the only reason I will probably keep it is because it's backdated to 2004, and I think that kind of boost to my AAoA is worth $95/yr - at least until my rebuilding phase is complete.

[Anonymous]

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@icyhot wrote:

I don't carry a balance on every card, but for the ones I use the most frequently (BofA Cash rewards) I do. And it seems like you would have to spend a lot on say, the Gold card, in order to justify the annual fee. I don't see myself ever getting one unless I used it to pay bills and immediately transfered the money from my bank account. For those of you who have it, how much is your monthly spend and what are your common purchases? Is it worth it?

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I run a couple thousand per month on my Amex PG (Gold).

Here are my steps:

1. Charge

2. Review billing statement

3. PAY ALL OF IT DOWN TO ZERO BALANCE.

4. Rinse

5. Cycle

6. Repeat 

That's it. Follow these simple rules and the AF pays for itself plus I rack up tons of points to use for travel.

[DigitalArk]

I just got my PRG recently. I most likely will keep it even if I cannot justify the AF. I like to have the perks it comes with.

[Anonymous]

I just recieved my Platinum Card 2 weeks ago. I put $2800 on it, I could have put more but I needed to put things on my Venture too (to hit the sign up bonus).

The 100k rewards are worth 140k British Airways (40% bonus) avios points to me, which on certain flights can get between 3-5 cents a point since the rewards are distance based. I am planning to fly US to EU for 25k avios points and $120 fees and taxes with Aer Lingus return, that ticket is $1000+ for the same dates.

One MR point to me is worth about 0.03 cents, and with the British Airways transfer bonus (40% when it comes) its 0.42 cents per MR. Then bookings on AmEx Travel are double the MR, which means potentially 0.84 per dollar I spent on the AmEx Travel site.

Just based off MR and a spend of 2.5k a month (30k a year) I would get 30000 MR which is $900 in avios or $1260 (with the 40% bonus).

This doesn't include the statement credits of $200 a year on airline incidentals.

In 5 years I will have paid $2250 in annual fees, and made 250k MR plus $1,000 in airline credits which could equate to $10,500 in BA avios redemptions. Therefore an $9k profit for me. Which would finally equate to me making a profit of 6 cents per dollar I spent in the first five years (after fees and including the 100k bonus MR).

If you travel and use the AmEx charge cards well, you can really milk the rewards!

Spend, get bill, pay by "Please pay by" date, and repeat. It's simple.

[longtime_lurker]

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@DigitalArk wrote:
I just got my PRG recently. I most likely will keep it even if I cannot justify the AF. I like to have the perks it comes with.

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+1. Between AMEX offers and the premium roadside assistance (only other card that currently has this is Plat - I lock my keys in my key at least 2x a year....), I will be keeping my PRG. However, I will try and see what they say regarding retention bonus about the increased AF, just because

...don't tell them I'd likely not cancel it if not given something though

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I just recieved my Platinum Card 2 weeks ago. I put $2800 on it, I could have put more but I needed to put things on my Venture too (to hit the sign up bonus).

The 100k rewards are worth 140k British Airways (40% bonus) avios points to me, which on certain flights can get between 3-5 cents a point since the rewards are distance based. I am planning to fly US to EU for 25k avios points and $120 fees and taxes with Aer Lingus return, that ticket is $1000+ for the same dates.

One MR point to me is worth about 0.03 cents, and with the British Airways transfer bonus (40% when it comes) its 0.42 cents per MR. Then bookings on AmEx Travel are double the MR, which means potentially 0.84 per dollar I spent on the AmEx Travel site.

Just based off MR and a spend of 2.5k a month (30k a year) I would get 30000 MR which is $900 in avios or $1260 (with the 40% bonus).

This doesn't include the statement credits of $200 a year on airline incidentals.

In 5 years I will have paid $2250 in annual fees, and made 250k MR plus $1,000 in airline credits which could equate to $10,500 in BA avios redemptions. Therefore an $9k profit for me. Which would finally equate to me making a profit of 6 cents per dollar I spent in the first five years (after fees and including the 100k bonus MR).

If you travel and use the AmEx charge cards well, you can really milk the rewards!

Spend, get bill, pay by "Please pay by" date, and repeat. It's simple.

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Well analyzed!!!  Nice job.

I do agree that the AF does seem smaller when you use the card properly.

If someone who gets the card for looks. . . then sorry Charlie, that $450 AF will be VERY expensive just for you to flash that Amex Plat in front of your friends for the occasional beer and hot dog.