ZYNC Gone???

[Pworld]

I was going to wait until january to apply when i first get on my credit score addiction. THANK GOODNESS i decided to stick my foot in the door with AMEX early before that door closed. lol. 

Interesting to see what happens next. THe zync customer service sucks. Not the people but just how you call a general number, then they have to TRANSFER YOU TO THE ZYNC specialist. That always adds about 2 minutes to the call time. Alot of it felt kind of half efforted in execution. But all good. I love the card itself. 

[Anonymous]

A poster once asked me a while ago "How long can CCC's afford to continue with some of these rewards cards?" My answer was, "Until they are no longer profitable". It costs a lot to keep a dedicated call center open (even if it is outsourced overseas), as well as the entire Zync program running.

My guess is the Zync, in general, has always been on the brim of hardly being profitable since it was released. As many posters said, who has actually seen once of these cards in the public. In all honesty, I have been the only person I have ever seen in my area that carries a Zync - (I see a TON of Golds and a handful of Platinums). But the Gold (including PRG) seems to be "the card" for most. Because it is "rare" to see, when you use it in public people actually think you are someone special because they have never seen the card before. This might have made Amex a little earrie as well, that a card that was supposed to be the on the low end was often confused for a card that was rare (poor platinum)! lol...

It was very well known that when the Zync released it was marketed to the younger crowd - but I think a lot of younger adults did not bother to apply knowing the Amex reputation is for people with excellent credit so they often overlook Amex as Amex does not distinctly have a card for students.

[Tommy5746]

This just makes me excited to see what Amex launches next...

I did read in another forum that Amex was burned a lot with the zync... It did give out credit to the younger crowed.. and as a lot of us here know we can be irresponsible in our youth.. not that everybody who is 18-24 is irresponsible, but you know what I mean.. That could be a reason why they stopped?

[Anonymous]

Being burned sounds like a very viable reason - which would also explain the PSSL's that started appearing. When I app'd for the Zync, I never even heard of PSSL's with Amex charge products.

Members could have been using their cards responsibly for a few months, so Amex increased their internal limit. Next, month the member charges 5k in charges and does not pay. That is worse than say if Amex gave out a revolver with a 1k limit and they only had to charge off 1k vs. 5k. As a matter of fact, that actually makes complete sense they started approving some app's with PSSL's rather than the usual NPSL as the risk was very high (but as a prime lender, I'm surprised they even approved in the first place - no offense to anyone I know you are all working very hard on your credit scores/reports and I fully support you all . They must have been really pushing to get the Zync some member base). But, the whole idea of PSSL's on charge cards really kind of makes the card worthless (other than getting your foot into the door). The idea of an Amex charge card was the ability to charge thousands a month and pay it off never having to worry about maxing out or coming close to maxing out a credit limit which is why people who spend A LOT a month tend to favor their charge cards with the bonus of MR points added.

[Anonymous]

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@Tommy5746 wrote:

This just makes me excited to see what Amex launches next...

I did read in another forum that Amex was burned a lot with the zync... It did give out credit to the younger crowed.. and as a lot of us here know we can be irresponsible in our youth.. not that everybody who is 18-24 is irresponsible, but you know what I mean.. That could be a reason why they stopped?

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Me too!!!

[shakalaka]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Tommy5746 wrote:

This just makes me excited to see what Amex launches next...

I did read in another forum that Amex was burned a lot with the zync... It did give out credit to the younger crowed.. and as a lot of us here know we can be irresponsible in our youth.. not that everybody who is 18-24 is irresponsible, but you know what I mean.. That could be a reason why they stopped?

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Me too!!!

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All of us

[TheConductor]

Yes, on this board the card was very popular, but in the general public it was not at all. I have never seen anyone use the Zync card before. In all honest, Amex charge products are not ment to be for entry level or rebuilding. Charging enough to make the fees and rewards worthwhile, as well as paying in full each month often isn't conducive to people who are borderline for a prime card.

This is a strong point, and I think cuts close to what is likely the real issue with this card. It had its arena of popularity - rebuilders and credit newbies who found them via communities like this - but that popularity was not with the true target market for the card,  It was an aim and a miss.

For example, as I noted earlier, I love the card and I suspect I am pretty much their ideal target market for it (perhaps slightly older by age bracket, but definitely in the target group according to lifestyle).  However, I learned about the card not from their marketing, but from lurking on these here forums. To me, that says their marketing was not effectively reaching the people it needed to reach.  If you were to ask me who is their ideal customer for Zync, I'd say "employees 200 through 2000 at Facebook" is a good example. Young, upwardly-mobile, but not a jet-setter or a business executive who travels 50%+.

I don't think they actually reached those people, but that's partly because their effort at "alternative" marketing was a wimpy half-hearted effort. 

[Revelate]

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@espnjunkie wrote:

http://creditcardforum.com/american-express/1105-american-express-zync-card-review-important-warning...

I'm sure this has been posted before, but I think it's a fair assessment of the Zync card. There is no signup bonus or waived first year annual fee for the Zync, and to make the card worthwhile you have to add packs to it which boost the cost significantly. MRE points cannot be converted 1:1 for airline miles like MR points either. There care caps on all bonus categoeies as well. When digging at the Zync rewards you really notice how they fall short of other Amex products. By the time you add restaurant pack (25.00), go pack (20.00), etc. the Zync costs nearly as much as Green.

Yes, on this board the card was very popular, but in the general public it was not at all. I have never seen anyone use the Zync card before. In all honest, Amex charge products are not ment to be for entry level or rebuilding. Charging enough to make the fees and rewards worthwhile, as well as paying in full each month often isn't conducive to people who are borderline for a prime card.

In response to RockinRay, I understand people might be saddened to see the opportunity for an "in" with amex leave, but I do wonder how many people who were offered a hard limit Zync ever became an amex revolver cardholder? Getting a Zync w/hard limit is one thing, a revolver has much stricter requirements. I'd like to see Amex tweak their chrage productsa to make them more appealing and rewarding. Amex touts travel rewards so much, yet still continues to hammer it's customers with forex fees, even on the 175.00 AF PRG card! I feel that they should look into having charge cards have no annual fees. Even my starter Capital One card doesn't charge forex fees...

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Is this review the reason you've been so disparaging of the Zync historically espnjunkie?

The Zync works(ed) for some folks, if it doesn't for you, that's OK and not a problem.   The rewards structure is simply *different* it doesn't nececssitate that it sucks as a result; the Plat doesn't work for me at all rewards wise, that doesn't mean it's a terrible card.  If you don't travel, you can earn more points on the Zync than pretty much any other card, and since the Gift Cards are mostly the most attractive option I'm guessing from the younger generation folks I worked with, where's the problem?

Also to be fully accurate: the base Zync AF is absolutely waived for the first year; what is not is the Zync Pack fees which are assessed immediately, but Amex also includes several gift cards of some value which may or may not be useful to folks (vis a vis the $25 gift certificate for a restaurant that only has 10ish locations across the US in go figure, expensive areas).

Also when we're on the topic of rewards in response to CreditScholar: yes the Citi Thank You points are better for restaurant dining; however, I can't obtain that card in my current credit strata, and oh yes, Citi doesn't backdate.  Keeping the discussion purely to the cards in Amex's portfolio, the Zync is a more than acceptable option for me; however, I don't understand the fascination with $0 AF's: I'm wasting more money right now on this forum instead of billing another hour than my Zync AF, and while that's an extreme case (I really should stop being lazy), I suspect almost everyone here wastes more money per annum than an AF spent on a useful card.  However you define useful.