topic Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers. in Credit Cards

Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 00:50:25 GMT

I realize there are rewards cards with the best rewards per category and some high net worth exclusive cards, think JP Morgan Palladium, Amex Centurion, and the like.

For mainstream high benefit cards and frequent travelers, the Amex Platinum makes sense considering it comes with Centurion lounge access at the airports along with other benefits. For Visa, you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and other Visa Infinite cards. Mastercard has the Black Card which seems to be the highest end Mastercard I believe that one can apply for. I believe this may be an upmarket World MasterCard Elite with added features. Discover seems to be devoid of any higher end features. It has things like fee and payment flexibility and expedited card services but no special benefits.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

UpperNwGuy — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 01:29:52 GMT

What are you asking us to respond to? What point are you trying to make? Your post leaves me hanging.....

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

wasCB14 — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 01:54:47 GMT

Barclays Black/Gold/Titanium/former Luxury Cards are generally considered by card enthusiasts to be quite inferior to CSR and Platinum. It's about marketing a luxury image, not providing a superior product.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

K-in-Boston — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 02:48:24 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Barclays Black/Gold/Titanium/former Luxury Cards are generally considered by card enthusiasts to be quite inferior to CSR and Platinum. It's about marketing a luxury image, not providing a superior product.

+1000 I wouldn't even consider adding those to my wallet. There are some other quite good cards that often fly under the radar, such as the City National Bank Crystal Visa Infinite which offers up to a $550 annual statement credit for lounge membership (enough for ALL of the legacy carriers) with $50k spend. For those that have a lot of annual spend, the American Express Delta Reserve (at $30k, $60k, and for those that are targeted again at $90k) and Starwood Luxury (at $75k) cards can make elite status possible, or enhance existing elite status.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 05:21:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Discover seems to be devoid of any higher end features. It has things like fee and payment flexibility and expedited card services but no special benefits.

I imagine this is because it's not their target market segment. Considering how competitive the premium card market is currently, I don't know if Discover would be able to keep up as effectively with the one-upmanship that larger banks / established players are able to do. Signs of strain can be seen even in Amex what with benefits always having some kind of a caveat or condition (staggered credits for dining/Uber/Saks and 'conditional' credits like airline incidental charges) whereas large banks can afford, even at a loss, to simply throw around large chunks of statement credits and benefits. I imagine Discover doesn't quite have the resources to be able to do compete effectively, or even if they did, I'm guessing they've come to the conclusion that the endeavour might not really be worthwhile.

From the looks of it, Discover looks like they're comfortable with their current target segment. They shed whatever 'higher end' cards they had ages ago, and now they're stripping whatever perks their cards did have to replace it with a magazine

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

NRB525 — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 05:22:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I realize there are rewards cards with the best rewards per category and some high net worth exclusive cards, think JP Morgan Palladium, Amex Centurion, and the like.

For mainstream high benefit cards and frequent travelers, the Amex Platinum makes sense considering it comes with Centurion lounge access at the airports along with other benefits. For Visa, you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and other Visa Infinite cards. Mastercard has the Black Card which seems to be the highest end Mastercard I believe that one can apply for. I believe this may be an upmarket World MasterCard Elite with added features. Discover seems to be devoid of any higher end features. It has things like fee and payment flexibility and expedited card services but no special benefits.

Yes, those cards can provide top tier benefits, even the Barclays Black Card. However the cards themselves only provide some perks, like lounge access and in some cases insurance.

If one really wants to be treated as “top tier” it is best to spend a lot of money at hotels, airlines, and rental car agencies. Those are the actual companies that provide the services. The cards link you up with Fine Hotels and Resorts, for example, but you’ve still got to pay the bill.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

wasCB14 — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 06:06:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Discover seems to be devoid of any higher end features. It has things like fee and payment flexibility and expedited card services but no special benefits.

Discover has dabbled in the premium space with Premier and Premier Plus. However, I don't think they have added new premium customers for some time, and they may have "demoted" existing ones back to the regular IT.

Not that either card was ever particularly good.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 07:54:49 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Discover seems to be devoid of any higher end features. It has things like fee and payment flexibility and expedited card services but no special benefits.
Discover has dabbled in the premium space with Premier and Premier Plus. However, I don't think they have added new premium customers for some time, and they may have "demoted" existing ones back to the regular IT.

Not that either card was ever particularly good.

Yes, and all that for a meager $40,000 annual spend

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

wasCB14 — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 08:32:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Discover seems to be devoid of any higher end features. It has things like fee and payment flexibility and expedited card services but no special benefits.
Discover has dabbled in the premium space with Premier and Premier Plus. However, I don't think they have added new premium customers for some time, and they may have "demoted" existing ones back to the regular IT.

Not that either card was ever particularly good.
Yes, and all that for a meager $40,000 annual spend

Better to just get a 2%+ card and use the extra cash back to pay for a Platinum!

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 10:16:20 GMT

The palladium card is basically the CSR, and the Centurion card doesn't really offer anything over the Platinum that is appealing unless you do happen to spend hundreds of thousands a year on it: it's intrinsic, because only those that qualify for it can really benefit from it.

I'd point out the Hilton Aspire, since that gives you their Diamond status right off the bat, and the Citi AA Executive if you value Admiral's Club access. Best MasterCard (in this context) might be the Citi Prestige. CNB Crystal is also cool for its unique benefits. Basically the 'known' and dominating $400-$550 annual fee cards are just about the top tier for anyone that isn't spending 6 figures or more a year. The Luxury Black MasterCard is crap lol.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 12:31:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I imagine this is because it's not their target market segment. Considering how competitive the premium card market is currently, I don't know if Discover would be able to keep up as effectively with the one-upmanship that larger banks / established players are able to do. Signs of strain can be seen even in Amex what with benefits always having some kind of a caveat or condition (staggered credits for dining/Uber/Saks and 'conditional' credits like airline incidental charges) whereas large banks can afford, even at a loss, to simply throw around large chunks of statement credits and benefits. I imagine Discover doesn't quite have the resources to be able to do compete effectively, or even if they did, I'm guessing they've come to the conclusion that the endeavour might not really be worthwhile.

From the looks of it, Discover looks like they're comfortable with their current target segment. They shed whatever 'higher end' cards they had ages ago, and now they're stripping whatever perks their cards did have to replace it with a magazine

Discover has far less revenue than amex, and they come out with the similar net income. These two may be targeting different market, the end result is similar. lol

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

redpat — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 15:53:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I imagine this is because it's not their target market segment. Considering how competitive the premium card market is currently, I don't know if Discover would be able to keep up as effectively with the one-upmanship that larger banks / established players are able to do. Signs of strain can be seen even in Amex what with benefits always having some kind of a caveat or condition (staggered credits for dining/Uber/Saks and 'conditional' credits like airline incidental charges) whereas large banks can afford, even at a loss, to simply throw around large chunks of statement credits and benefits. I imagine Discover doesn't quite have the resources to be able to do compete effectively, or even if they did, I'm guessing they've come to the conclusion that the endeavour might not really be worthwhile.

From the looks of it, Discover looks like they're comfortable with their current target segment. They shed whatever 'higher end' cards they had ages ago, and now they're stripping whatever perks their cards did have to replace it with a magazine
Discover has far less revenue than amex, and they come out with the similar net income. These two may be targeting different market, the end result is similar. lol

I could careless, I don't use Disco, I use Amex. Also, about a $637 million difference in net income, I don't think that is similar.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

UpperNwGuy — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:01:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Signs of strain can be seen even in Amex what with benefits always having some kind of a caveat or condition (staggered credits for dining/Uber/Saks and 'conditional' credits like airline incidental charges) whereas large banks can afford, even at a loss, to simply throw around large chunks of statement credits and benefits.

Yep. The signs of strain are definitely showing at Amex. There are very few benefits that don't have a caveat, a condition, or a string attached, usually to encourage breakage. They also have little tricks to delay payouts.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:28:49 GMT

American Express is actively building out new airport lounges including the 15,000 square foot JFK lounge at Terminal 4. The lounges get high reviews as well which are accessible with Platinum and Centurion. Other cards seem to partner with lounge programs but it seems as though American Express is the only card issuer to actually have their own airport lounges that I know of. In the old days the Diners Club card was competitive as a high end card but they aren’t accepting applications for their cards while the highest end is based off the World Mastercard Elite and I believe the last issued Diners Club may have been based off of Priority Pass lounges. One wonders if Chase will ever build out airport lounges for its Sapphire Reserve to compete against American Express if additional lounge space at some airports is possible or if other card issuers will evolve on lounge offerings.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:35:27 GMT

@redpat wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I imagine this is because it's not their target market segment. Considering how competitive the premium card market is currently, I don't know if Discover would be able to keep up as effectively with the one-upmanship that larger banks / established players are able to do. Signs of strain can be seen even in Amex what with benefits always having some kind of a caveat or condition (staggered credits for dining/Uber/Saks and 'conditional' credits like airline incidental charges) whereas large banks can afford, even at a loss, to simply throw around large chunks of statement credits and benefits. I imagine Discover doesn't quite have the resources to be able to do compete effectively, or even if they did, I'm guessing they've come to the conclusion that the endeavour might not really be worthwhile.

From the looks of it, Discover looks like they're comfortable with their current target segment. They shed whatever 'higher end' cards they had ages ago, and now they're stripping whatever perks their cards did have to replace it with a magazine
Discover has far less revenue than amex, and they come out with the similar net income. These two may be targeting different market, the end result is similar. lol
I could careless, I don't use Disco, I use Amex. Also, about a $637 million difference in net income, I don't think that is similar.

Nobody demands you caring about those, lol. whats the fuss.

OFC its similar in the grand scheme of things, considering AXP has a total revenue of 30+B, while net income is 2.7B. This is comparing to DFS's 11B/2.1B.

This simply demonstrates the fact that AXP has way more spending than DFS, with similar profit, perhaps because AXP is targeting a more expensive market segment. This obviously is not a comment on if each company has the right strategy. Fact is as long as they are making billions of profit, I doubt their sharholders care how they do it.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:38:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
American Express is actively building out new airport lounges including the 15,000 square foot JFK lounge at Terminal 4. The lounges get high reviews as well which are accessible with Platinum and Centurion. Other cards seem to partner with lounge programs but it seems as though American Express is the only card issuer to actually have their own airport lounges that I know of. In the old days the Diners Club card was competitive as a high end card but they aren’t accepting applications for their cards while the highest end is based off the World Mastercard Elite and I believe the last issued Diners Club may have been based off of Priority Pass lounges. One wonders if Chase will ever build out airport lounges for its Sapphire Reserve to compete against American Express if additional lounge space at some airports is possible or if other card issuers will evolve on lounge offerings.

They should build one in ATL, claiming itself to be the businest airport in the whole white world. lol

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 16:38:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
American Express is actively building out new airport lounges including the 15,000 square foot JFK lounge at Terminal 4. The lounges get high reviews as well which are accessible with Platinum and Centurion. Other cards seem to partner with lounge programs but it seems as though American Express is the only card issuer to actually have their own airport lounges that I know of. In the old days the Diners Club card was competitive as a high end card but they aren’t accepting applications for their cards while the highest end is based off the World Mastercard Elite and I believe the last issued Diners Club may have been based off of Priority Pass lounges. One wonders if Chase will ever build out airport lounges for its Sapphire Reserve to compete against American Express if additional lounge space at some airports is possible or if other card issuers will evolve on lounge offerings.

Not sure what point you're trying to make here? Considering that having Centurion lounges is about the one main point of differentiation for Amex Platinum, of course they're pursuing it. A ten-year lease of lounge space for $20 million to entice customers is a great way to set yourself apart compared to, say, paying a recurring annual credit of hundreds of dollars per customer to however many customers you may have, which costs far more. The point still stands that the reason for Amex benefits always having some sort of a condition or caveat is because it may be financially straining to compete with the larger banks who simply have more capital at disposal, and are able to do things even at a loss in the short term just to pressure the competition. This is likely the reason why Discover may not see it as a worthwhile pursuit to try to enter this market segment.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:23:59 GMT

The airports that American Express is building out lounges in are Denver, Los Angeles, JFK in New York, London Heathrow and Charlotte in North Carolina. La Guardia airport in New York is being redone so I presume that a new replacement will be built during the airport reconstruction. Obviously various factors determine where they build out lounges, but the current additional buildouts are in major hub airport areas and really make sense. Chicago is a major hub and has no existing lounge or one being built out as of now by Amex. Newark airport in NJ is also not on the list. I will say the latest set of additional lounges are in key areas as JFK and LAX alone have enormous traffic and CLT is experience growth as well which has lots of ongoing connection flights. London has always been popular. I presume Denver is like the Charlotte of the West Coast in terms of airport connections. The new lounges by Amex make it vastly more likely people who travel often will be able to utilize them and makes the Amex platinum extremely more valuable.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

wasCB14 — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:30:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
American Express is actively building out new airport lounges including the 15,000 square foot JFK lounge at Terminal 4. The lounges get high reviews as well which are accessible with Platinum and Centurion. Other cards seem to partner with lounge programs but it seems as though American Express is the only card issuer to actually have their own airport lounges that I know of. In the old days the Diners Club card was competitive as a high end card but they aren’t accepting applications for their cards while the highest end is based off the World Mastercard Elite and I believe the last issued Diners Club may have been based off of Priority Pass lounges. One wonders if Chase will ever build out airport lounges for its Sapphire Reserve to compete against American Express if additional lounge space at some airports is possible or if other card issuers will evolve on lounge offerings.

They should build one in ATL, claiming itself to be the businest airport in the whole white world. lol

But ATL has nine Delta Sky Clubs and three Priority Pass lounges. Delta has 72.54% of ATL's passengers (wikipedia). There are no free guests at the Sky Clubs, but most Amex Platinum customers have lounge access already.

I fly JFK-LAX often and like the JFK T4 Sky Club. Having a Centurion will be even better. There it's not quite so redundant, though, as T4 handles not just west coast and international Delta flights, but also a few other airlines.

Re: Cards with top benefits for top tier customers.

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:52:39 GMT

thats an excellent point. You can't do a layover at ATL and not see one skyclub somewhere, lol.

I heard citi prestige and CSR also have decent lounge access?