@Anonymous wrote:
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Moi.
But you don't have to pay a fee for the first year for the Green and Golds!
Lets say that these specific cards didn't report on a CR at all, is there any benefit to having them year after year for a person that doesn't travel? I see them often and wonder why people pay the fee when clearly they don't use them for business or travel. I don't think they are spending over $30k a month, or maybe they are? Besides no preset limit any other advantages?
Besides this anyone can apply for the no fee revolving Amex cards for the credit advantage. What makes green, gold special. Platinum is different because of additional benefits. So lets stick to green and gold only.
I was just wondering if some people get them, keep them paying fees just to look cool or if I missed an advantage of having them?
I have gotten pm's from some who maybe just do one big trip a year, but they use their charge cards a lot to generate points, which they redeem through the AmEx shopping mall. If you're really focused and self-disciplined in your shopping, AND you do a lot of shopping, they can apparently pay for themselves via discounts.
Whereas I have way too much crap lying around my house (except for books; there's always room for books), and I would probably physically attack anyone who tried to bring another printer through the door.
And I suppose some people still appreciate them for what might be termed their elegant simplicity. They are what they are. No temptation to carry balances, except briefly while out of the country or something, and the customer service, other than when they're leading you to the guillotine, is up among the best. The fee on a Gold Plus Rewards works out to 40 cents/ day, and the fee on the Plat works out to $1.23/ day. Lord knows I piddle that much away by nine each morning. I would just choke at paying it all at once.
The Amex shopping mall. Didn't look through it. Just looked at air line tickets and trips. I wasn't able to calculate more than 1% in point or cash rebates to make it worth while. I guess I didn't miss anything.
I went through the benefits for traveling with all the instant upgrades and well, yes that is worth the annual fee easily. But that's for someone that travels more than once a year. If I traveled I would get the gold card for sure.
The platinum card, lol, I'd love to have one but would never have a need for the services. I hope that one day I can call up a service like that and just say, get me this and that and put it on my card while they take the time to shop around for me. That being the difference I found between gold and platinum.
As for green don't really see too many benefits but the color is pretty. Yep, ok no benefit for me to get one then. Thank you.
Amex just keeps wearing me down with applications and I start to feel guilty by not applying after a while. WaMu got me that way.
I went through the benefits for traveling with all the instant upgrades and well, yes that is worth the annual fee easily. But that's for someone that travels more than once a year. If I traveled I would get the gold card for sure.
The platinum card, lol, I'd love to have one but would never have a need for the services. I hope that one day I can call up a service like that and just say, get me this and that and put it on my card while they take the time to shop around for me. That being the difference I found between gold and platinum.
As for green don't really see too many benefits but the color is pretty. Yep, ok no benefit for me to get one then. Thank you.
Amex just keeps wearing me down with applications and I start to feel guilty by not applying after a while. WaMu got me that way.
" I see that you down graded guessing from gold to green? What do you like about Amex to pay any fees ongoing? Thank you. "
I actually downgraded from Gold rewards plus, to Blue. I don't spend enough $$ with the card to put the membership rewards to any good use. I transfered what I had over to my Continental one pass account, but overall, I couldn't buy a pack of gum with the rewards that I was able to accrue spending 100-150 per month.
I paid the membership fees for many years. I've been a cardholder since 1991. I'll be able to keep my "member since" date with the Delta card, so I'm not losing any age. Over the past 2 years,I have paid off a significant amount of CC debt, and I finally have my head above the water. I will no longer spend $$ unnecessarily. IMHO, having to come up with the 150 fee this year, would be wasting $$ that I could put to better use.
Just my opinions. YMMV.
Message Edited by Ishmael109 on 08-27-2008 07:35 AM
AmEx TE gives 2% cash back on travel!
And if you just treat it like a charge card instead of a credit card and PIF on-time every month, it's one of the best cards out there.