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Another reason why Amex may have discontinued this card is that they are now really focusing on Bluebird and their other prepaid cards / quasi debit products as a way to grow their customer base. The advantage for them is that there is no credit risk and there is no cost associated with credit card rewards going this route.
@Alcibiades wrote:Another reason why Amex may have discontinued this card is that they are now really focusing on Bluebird and their other prepaid cards / quasi debit products as a way to grow their customer base. The advantage for them is that there is no credit risk and there is no cost associated with credit card rewards going this route.
I agree with this. AMEX charge cards are designed to bring in most of their money from merchant card fees, not interest, which assumes that their cardmember base are big spenders. I think this just didn't work out with Zync, which was targeted towards a younger, presumably less weathly, demographic. Their prepaid cards fit this model just as well as Zync IMO.
@pizzadude wrote:
@Alcibiades wrote:Another reason why Amex may have discontinued this card is that they are now really focusing on Bluebird and their other prepaid cards / quasi debit products as a way to grow their customer base. The advantage for them is that there is no credit risk and there is no cost associated with credit card rewards going this route.
I agree with this. AMEX charge cards are designed to bring in most of their money from merchant card fees, not interest, which assumes that their cardmember base are big spenders. I think this just didn't work out with Zync, which was targeted towards a younger, presumably less weathly, demographic. Their prepaid cards fit this model just as well as Zync IMO.
It is just as easy to get a NPSL green, gold, or plat AMEX for a young person as it would be to get a Zync.
Maybe the Zync just didn't carry a high enough AF for their liking. Not profitable enough.
The timing is suspect. Even if i did an analysis it may not answer the question. My guess is that Amex factored in all reasons before canceling Zync. The possibility of another adverse legal action would had been a component of it.
@Revelate wrote:
@Dustink wrote:They canceled it right after legal action was taken against them for the discrimination.
Maybe the courts made some odd ruling that forced them to discountinue that product base upon the passed discrimination.
That almost certainly would've been made public in this case? Where's Duncan for the legal analysis?
@Duncanrr wrote:The timing is suspect. Even if i did an analysis it may not answer the question. My guess is that Amex factored in all reasons before canceling Zync. The possibility of another adverse legal action would had been a component of it.
Good points, hadn't thought of additional potential issues. Many thanks for the quality response!
@Dustink wrote:It is just as easy to get a NPSL green, gold, or plat AMEX for a young person as it would be to get a Zync.
Maybe the Zync just didn't carry a high enough AF for their liking. Not profitable enough.
Yep, the underwriting standards for charge cards seem to be fairly similar ~ although I believe that they tweaked the Zync to allow borderline approvals, a la the infamous Hard Limits Zync.
I think it was likely a combination of the low AF and lower spending customers that killed the Zync.
The possibility of another adverse legal action would had been a component of it.
That's about what I said. So... +1
Just so many things doomed that product.
Although, the merchant fee's alone were enough to sustain the product. The merchant fee's would cover the rewards and the litigation.
But....Amex isn't there to sustain a product, they are there to make money.