topic Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit in Credit Cards

Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

jake619 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:27:47 GMT

Anybody have any insight on this article from NW.com? Apparently it is to be heard this year.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:34:24 GMT

A few more details here: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20121109-714275.html

and filings/decisions to date at:

http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/american-express-co-v-italian-colors-restaurant/

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Revelate — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:28:16 GMT

Didn't read through the whole thing but:

"As it stands now, if AmEx does spice up its rewards, it may very well win out in the restaurant business, where 35% of the total dollar volume is charged through the AmEx network."

That's not only surprising but a staggering metric, I had always assumed that Visa/MC would still be ahead by a large margin... maybe that's why they absurdly approved my BCP, my Zync spending may well be utterly inline with their typical demographic... and perhaps one other reason they cancelled the Zync as I don't know any of the rest of their lineup where 2:1 points are garned for restaurants, especially when used as a reward accelerator linked to a higher tier charge card.

That's probably incidently why I rarely find a place which doesn't accept Amex out here, I mostly spend in restaurants

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Walt_K — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:37:24 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
Didn't read through the whole thing but:

"As it stands now, if AmEx does spice up its rewards, it may very well win out in the restaurant business, where 35% of the total dollar volume is charged through the AmEx network."

That's not only surprising but a staggering metric, I had always assumed that Visa/MC would still be ahead by a large margin... maybe that's why they absurdly approved my BCP, my Zync spending may well be utterly inline with their typical demographic... and perhaps one other reason they cancelled the Zync as I don't know any of the rest of their lineup where 2:1 points are garned for restaurants, especially when used as a reward accelerator linked to a higher tier charge card.

That's probably incidently why I rarely find a place which doesn't accept Amex out here, I mostly spend in restaurants

I highly doubt that had anything to do with them canceling Zync. If Chase can figure out how to offer 2x UR on dining with CSP, and Citi can offer 5x TY on Forward, I doubt 2x MR on dining was hurting Amex. I suspect that notwithstanding its popularity on this forum, Zync just wasn't that popular of a card offering.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

jake619 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:43:14 GMT

The BlueBird aspect is what I didn't consider. I don't know how to word this respectfully, but the BB component brings AMEX-branded banking and plastic to traditionally non-AMEX clientele. I think the BB end-game is to create more pressure for merchants to reconsider accepting AMEX, thus making it more universally accepted.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Revelate — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:49:37 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
Didn't read through the whole thing but:

"As it stands now, if AmEx does spice up its rewards, it may very well win out in the restaurant business, where 35% of the total dollar volume is charged through the AmEx network."

That's not only surprising but a staggering metric, I had always assumed that Visa/MC would still be ahead by a large margin... maybe that's why they absurdly approved my BCP, my Zync spending may well be utterly inline with their typical demographic... and perhaps one other reason they cancelled the Zync as I don't know any of the rest of their lineup where 2:1 points are garned for restaurants, especially when used as a reward accelerator linked to a higher tier charge card.

That's probably incidently why I rarely find a place which doesn't accept Amex out here, I mostly spend in restaurants
I highly doubt that had anything to do with them canceling Zync. If Chase can figure out how to offer 2x UR on dining with CSP, and Citi can offer 5x TY on Forward, I doubt 2x MR on dining was hurting Amex. I suspect that notwithstanding its popularity on this forum, Zync just wasn't that popular of a card offering.

Perhaps, but note that 2x on restaurants is a default Chase factor, Citi reward structures I'm not familiar with though admittedly the Forward is pretty sweet (and note being changed); however, look at it from the other angle - 35% of aggregate restaurant spend is through the Amex network.

That's a staggering amount of money, and paying that out at 2:1 vs. 1:1 everywhere else isn't nearly as profitable as they could be for people that had the Zync linked. Further, and this is a curiosity question, is there any Amex network transaction card from any other vendor which gives rewards on restaurant spend? All the others I'm passingly familiar with are either Visa or MC backed.

I likely agree there were other reasons, but I incredibly doubt that the Zync was cancelled for one reason alone; popularity was low because it was a marketing experiment that was never pushed in the mainstream media, that's not the card's fault and is easily corrected if they so chose. Legal action + profitability would be the two ones I'd bet on, and I suspect the restaurant pack was highly popular on the Zync out of the paid ones.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

westcoastpirate — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:53:41 GMT

Amex Costco TE gets 2% back on restaurants.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Revelate — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:56:33 GMT

@westcoastpirate wrote:
Amex Costco TE gets 2% back on restaurants.

Oh hrm, looks like 3% even, ok nevermind my stupidity earlier please I completely miss that card every time I think about Amex.

Sorry dudes, mea culpa.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

webhopper — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 04:26:01 GMT

This reminds me of a dinner I had with 3 friends. 2 of us paid with an amex; the other two paid with debit card. I had zync; the other guy had either gold or BCE

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Walt_K — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 04:28:19 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@westcoastpirate wrote:
Amex Costco TE gets 2% back on restaurants.
Oh hrm, looks like 3% even, ok nevermind my stupidity earlier please I completely miss that card every time I think about Amex.

Sorry dudes, mea culpa.

Fidelity Amex 2% on everything.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Open123 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 04:43:32 GMT

I'd say 90% of all my dining goes through Amex cards. Virtually all business dining goes through Amex. For our business dining, unless they take Amex, we will not use them for company functions. There's only one exception, and it's only because they can prepare a certain delicassy better than anyone else in town.

If there's one change I'd like to see in Amex, it would be to have a 2X MR card, such as was offered in the Zync. I thought the $25 restaurant pack and the 3X airlines were the best features of Amex cards.

I've often wondered why Amex doesn't offer 2X MR on their charge cards, like the CSP; but, realize since they already have the market, why offer more? Even at a single point, all of our dining still goes through Amex.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 05:12:22 GMT

Yes, pretty sure that the very impressive figure for Amex market share is because of business expenses, and nothing/little to do with c"onsumer preference or reward programs etc.

Simply, Amex is deeply embedded into corporate expense processes, if you have a medium/big company, Amex is probably going to be your T&E card.

Not that has to stay that way for ever, Blackberry used to be the only "real" corporate smartphone and that has changed, despite the huge embedded base. But Finance is even slower to move than corporate IT, so I would expect the situation to stay this way for quite a long time.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

kekrre — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 07:40:56 GMT

@Open123 wrote:
I'd say 90% of all my dining goes through Amex cards. Virtually all business dining goes through Amex. For our business dining, unless they take Amex, we will not use them for company functions. There's only one exception, and it's only because they can prepare a certain delicassy better than anyone else in town.

If there's one change I'd like to see in Amex, it would be to have a 2X MR card, such as was offered in the Zync. I thought the $25 restaurant pack and the 3X airlines were the best features of Amex cards.

I've often wondered why Amex doesn't offer 2X MR on their charge cards, like the CSP; but, realize since they already have the market, why offer more? Even at a single point, all of our dining still goes through Amex.

Until Amex decides to offer a core product with it, you can always pick up the $95/yr Amex MB credit card - 3x MR on gas, 2x MR on dining - obviously not for business.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Open123 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:31:35 GMT

@kekrre wrote:
@Open123 wrote:
I'd say 90% of all my dining goes through Amex cards. Virtually all business dining goes through Amex. For our business dining, unless they take Amex, we will not use them for company functions. There's only one exception, and it's only because they can prepare a certain delicassy better than anyone else in town.

If there's one change I'd like to see in Amex, it would be to have a 2X MR card, such as was offered in the Zync. I thought the $25 restaurant pack and the 3X airlines were the best features of Amex cards.

I've often wondered why Amex doesn't offer 2X MR on their charge cards, like the CSP; but, realize since they already have the market, why offer more? Even at a single point, all of our dining still goes through Amex.

Until Amex decides to offer a core product with it, you can always pick up the $95/yr Amex MB credit card - 3x MR on gas, 2x MR on dining - obviously not for business.

I never realized it offered 2X on dining and 3X on gas. Will look into this, since I was thinking about leasing a benz this year.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

navigatethis12 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:05:36 GMT

For anyone involved with corporate or business American Express cards, do you knwo why the company prefers them? I am just curious because a lot of people talk about having them, and it looks like their corporate cards have no rewards; unless I missed it.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Open123 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:13:01 GMT

@navigatethis12 wrote:
For anyone involved with corporate or business American Express cards, do you knwo why the company prefers them? I am just curious because a lot of people talk about having them, and it looks like their corporate cards have no rewards; unless I missed it.

From what I've seen, it's mainly two reasons.

1. Most companies started using them, since Amex was really the first to break into the corporate market.

2. Their statements and year end summaries makes it much easier to organize especially when charges become extensive making things much easier during accounting season and/or audits.

Some companies (mainly smaller ones) have switched over the Visa/MC, because of lesser fees or greater rewards. Several of the firms we've dealt with over the years have switched over to using a Visa for the business expenses.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:17:23 GMT

For a year or two my company switched from Amex to GE Visa, but then switched back. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me why!

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

navigatethis12 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:23:37 GMT

@Open123 wrote:
From what I've seen, it's mainly two reasons.

1. Most companies started using them, since Amex was really the first to break into the corporate market.

2. Their statements and year end summaries makes it much easier to organize especially when charges become extensive making things much easier during accounting season and/or audits.

Some companies (mainly smaller ones) have switched over the Visa/MC, because of lesser fees or greater rewards. Several of the firms we've dealt with over the years have switched over to using a Visa for the business expenses.

That is one thing I like about American Express authorised users. You can easily seperate the charges from the main persons. Chase does this with their Ink cards, as I added myself as an employee and it shows the transactions seperately. I do not know if that can be considered a corporate card, though. I do know that it seems American Express charge allowances grow quickly, but I would imagine a Visa or Mastercard issued from a bank would raise the limit for a big corporation.

@Anonymous wrote:
For a year or two my company switched from Amex to GE Visa, but then switched back. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me why!

I was unaware General Electric offered business credit cards.

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:54:16 GMT

navigatethis12 wrote

bs6054 wrote:

For a year or two my company switched from Amex to GE Visa, but then switched back. Unfortunately, they didn't tell me why!

I was unaware General Electric offered business credit cards.

OK, that made me look and everything was explained! Amex bought GE Corporate Payments, which I guess is why things switched to Amex but we used the same website as before to report expenses.

http://www.businesstravelnews.com/Expense-Management/Amex-Buys-GE-Corporate-Payment-Services/?a=trans

Re: Pending AMEX Class Action Lawsuit

navigatethis12 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:38:13 GMT

bs6054 wrote

OK, that made me look and everything was explained! Amex bought GE Corporate Payments, which I guess is why things switched to Amex but we used the same website as before to report expenses.

http://www.businesstravelnews.com/Expense-Management/Amex-Buys-GE-Corporate-Payment-Services/?a=trans

Interesting. I am sure Mastercard was not to happy about the sale.