Why Amex???

[quickstrike]

I'd say if you tend to use the credit benefits such as purchase protection, extended warranty, etc....Amex is a much better and less hassle experience compared with others.  

[Anonymous]

Why Amex? Hmm...
- 5% on gas/groceries/drugstores with OBC (limited to $50k/y, most other gas/grocery cards have 2-3% and are limited to some 1.5k/quarter and have no drugstore bonus)
- 6% on groceries with BCP (same $6k limit as other grocery cards but double the yield)
- more or less automatic 3x CLI (show me ANY other card that you can do this with!)
- Amex Sync offers yielding usually 20%, sometimes up to 40%
When I opened my Amex cards I didn't even know that they backdated anything. It didn't matter as the perks are far superior to me than on any other card I have. Prestige for having an Amex? This went down the drain like 2 decades ago.

[onstar]

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@CYBERSAM wrote:

So I was thinking,why Amex? Why should I care about getting Amex anymore?

I was planning to get Amex Blue or other Amex by the end of the year, for couple of reasons. 1st for prestige of having Amex and 2nd for back dating! Now that Amex has stopped backdating what would be the reason to go for Amex?

Visa Signature and World MC are in same class as Amex prestige wise, so what else? I do have Amex for Business and I can say that their CS is good, but same as CapOne or others that I have dealt with. So I don’t see any advantage there at all!

As far as perks and bonuses, there are many Visa and MCs that have similar or better incentives vs. Amex! So no advantage there either!

Now as far as negatives about Amex, we all know that they are NOT accepted everywhere, also they don’t offer free FICO score as many Visa and MC cards do!

Just to be clear I’m not trying to knock Amex and I respect many fans that they have, but what would be the reasons for me and others like me that want to consider Amex in the future should even care to have it? What do we get for less perks by having Amex that we can’t get from Visa or MC?

Just thinking out loud!

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I don't care about prestige at all, but I don't consider the above bolded to be true at all. Maybe in forums like this, but out in the wild, Amex is clearly a more prestigious brand than Visa or MC, even with Signature or World. No one knows what those even mean (again, to the general public, not in these forums).

For me, I still favor Amex for two reasons. (1) Service. In the 20 years that I've been with Amex, they have had the best customer service. It's not even close. I'm not just talking about the phone CSR; that is a small part of the whole service. What I get back in return for being a member is something that I value. (2) Amex Offers. In the past 6 months, I got back about $100.

[Anonymous]

When I was younger and could only get approved for Capital one cards I was in awe of anyone who had an Amex. Now I honestly could care less. They just don't appeal to me anymore. I like Chase products better. The only reason I have an Amex is because I have the Costco executive membership. When they start accepting Visa, I will have no use for whatever replacement card they give me.

[cashnocredit]

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@TheGardner wrote:
Only problem with npsl is if you don't use it often it may be set lower. I only use for maybe 2k a month and imagine my other cards would go higher than my npsl with amex (other limits up to 28k)

But would keep one no AF Amex just for sake of having one from each issuer. Although if you spook one Amex will likely be the one.. or follow shortly after so eh

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Could be but my median Amex spend isn't that high - only about 3k/mo. I don't spend >50k very often. Maybe once every 18 months or so. I probably don't even spend more than 10k but once or twice a year. My median Amex spend is virtually the same as my median (and average) spend on my Freedom. I think the chance I could even spend 25k without a decline on my Freedom is pretty small even thoough it technically is NPSL as well. However, people report running into problems once you hit 10 to 20% over the CL on Siggys and World cards. Not a lot of data because people tend to stay below stated CLs which means banks don't have much data to approve much larger spends on either.

I've only checked a couple times when I was going to charge >3x any previous Amex balance and I've always been approved. I haven't even checked in years.

[longtime_lurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:
For me us bank is my new favorite. High credit line without the red tape Amex is known for. Also it's a visa so it has higher acceptance so as each day goes by I'm finding less reason to even carry an amex.

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US Bank fraud declines me 35 miles away from my billing zipcode, when I meet my mother for lunch - then have them approve over 3k in charges from someone in guatemala. while I can travel accross the country with my AMEX and have it approved no questions asked. I very rarely run into a place w/o AMEX acceptance...might me geographical.

Also, I'm curious to know what red tape you're referring to? FR? Happens to a very small base of AMEX cardholders, and it's a chance to show AMEX that it's justifiable. If US Bank doesn't like something on your profile, they will auto CLD/AA. US Bank would never match my CL's that I have with AMEX.

I'm happy to hear you like US Bank, and frankly I don't have negative things to speak of persay regarding them, but your experience (like mine) is one drop in the bucket of data. 

[pipeguy]

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@quickstrike wrote:

I'd say if you tend to use the credit benefits such as purchase protection, extended warranty, etc....Amex is a much better and less hassle experience compared with others.  

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I'll say up front I have a bias against AmEx (been over it lots of times), but for a good 20 years I carried several Platinums (regular and Optima) with $25k plus credit limits on each and we're talking 1984 to 2004 so way back when a Platinum card was actually "special" and limited. That said I know when I stopped flying in 2005 I still had over 500,000 miles on Delta, again just to say I traveled a lot, and I used my AmEx cards a lot (well over $100k a year).

And the point of all this is......I don't think I ever once used purchase protection or extended warranty or AmEx travel related services which I could always do cheaper myself and upgrade at the gate through Delta - I did use the airport lounges on occation, but they were limited to card holders only - no guest which included the wife so you know that didn't go well at times.. 

I've got one small limit backdated card to 1978 today which I never use and I keep just for the back-date.

[Anonymous]

I guess "now hun, I'll stay here in centurion lounge, while you wait by the gate like rest of the peasants" don't fly well with your spouse. But then again... Can't you just add her as an AU? Which means she's also a card holder, therefore access to the lounge?

[cashnocredit]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I guess "now hun, I'll stay here in centurion lounge, while you wait by the gate like rest of the peasants" don't fly well with your spouse. But then again... Can't you just add her as an AU? Which means she's also a card holder, therefore access to the lounge?

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I've been to the Vegas C. lounge a few times including with an unrelated guest. It's all free. Good mixed drinks too. Limits on other lounges vary I suppose.

[jay0]

They DO provide a free FICO score from experian, also the 3x CLI after 61 days is pretty generous.