Am I the only person that is NOT impressed with their Amex?!

[Anonymous]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Nah you aren’t the only one. Amex does a great job at making themselves seem like some super exclusive club but in reality, unless you’ve burned them in the past, everyone can get an Amex when their scores say so, Amex cards have less utility due to their lower acceptance rate, and they have little utility for people who don’t have travel expenses (business cards are an entirely different beast and have their own forum here). 

If you dont have travel expenses, a flat cash back card like the 2% offered by Citi DC or PayPal Cashback makes a lot more sense than any 1.5% card. 

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Well, AMEX acceptance has increased substantially recently. Granted several categories such as utilities, rent/mortgage payments and small restaurants are often not accepting AMEX, but in more and more cases, AMEX is usable.

Once you get into the travel rewards space, and travel perks, it's a different market from the Cash Magnet.

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While I agree that acceptance has increased, the fact that a VISA will likely be accepted most places around the world (as in, if they take cards, they almost assuredly take VISA) is something everyone should be cognizant of when going for a new card, especially if they will be traveling with that card. 

Its an insurmountable disadvantage if your card isn’t accepted. 

[Girlzilla88]

Agreed!

[Anonymous]

To be fair, I’ve traveled all over domestically for many years, for both personal travel using personal AMEX cards and corporate travel using corporate AMEX cards and I can’t recall ever running into an acceptance issue. Unless you’re visiting mom and pop convenience stores in the middle of no where, domestic travel with AMEX is a non-issue.

[wasCB14]

MF members may be unusual for often having 10+ cards, but the average Amex consumer is probably sophisticated enough to juggle a primary Amex and a backup V/MC.

Even if you can't use it 10% of the time, it can still be useful in the other 90% of transactions.

[Anonymous]

You should be getting a SUB of $150 after spending your first $1k in the first three months. When added to your 1.5% that gives you a return of 16.5% on that spend, which shouldn't be very underwhelming given the months of research you put into it. On top of that, you should also be getting 0% for 15 months, which is basically a free loan. Finally, now that you're in with AMEX all of the rest of your cards (should you choose to get any more of them) should be approved with SP's. 

Society is so demanding these days, geez.

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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While it is true that the $ difference between a 1.5 and 2% card is likely to be small, another way to put is that the rewards are a (massive!) 33% greater with a 2% card.   So either the rewards are insignificant anyway, or the 2% card is going to be a much better choice.  

Now, as in this case, the other benefits of the card might more than make up for the reduced cashback, but arguing that in general the difference is small seems misleading (while also being true in most cases!)

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Sure. I get what you're saying. I think we mostly agree.

The thing is 33% sounds like a huge difference, and it can be. However without context it's really just a number, and can be very misleading in itself. For example on $100 spend, you're looking at a $0.50 difference between 1.5% and 2%. If you're already getting 1.5%, is $0.50 a month worth worrying about? Probably not. It's not even enough to buy a soda in many cases. If you're spending $10,000 a month then that becomes a different story. It's all about context.

All of the info posted in this thread is great, and I love reading it. I just feel that it's important to remember that the value of a card can be measured in many different ways, and each of us does that differently. 

Personally, I have the Cash Magnet, and I'm not sure I will keep it long term. Most of the perks overlap with my BCP, so I have to ask if the 0.05% difference in general spend is worth it. I'll give it a year and see how it goes. If I didn't have the BCP I would probably hang onto it for quite a while just for purchases where the other perks and customer oriented service could come in handy.

[UpperNwGuy]

I had the Green Card and the Blue Cash Everyday.  I was not impressed with either card, so I closed them both.  I'm happier with a mix of cards from Chase, PenFed, and Navy.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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While it is true that the $ difference between a 1.5 and 2% card is likely to be small, another way to put is that the rewards are a (massive!) 33% greater with a 2% card.   So either the rewards are insignificant anyway, or the 2% card is going to be a much better choice.  

Now, as in this case, the other benefits of the card might more than make up for the reduced cashback, but arguing that in general the difference is small seems misleading (while also being true in most cases!)

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Sure. I get what you're saying. I think we mostly agree.

The thing is 33% sounds like a huge difference, and it can be. However without context it's really just a number, and can be very misleading in itself. For example on $100 spend, you're looking at a $0.50 difference between 1.5% and 2%. If you're already getting 1.5%, is $0.50 a month worth worrying about? Probably not. It's not even enough to buy a soda in many cases. If you're spending $10,000 a month then that becomes a different story. It's all about context.

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No, my point was more if the extra $0.50 isn't worth worrying about, probably neither is the base $1.50.   On small spends, rewards amounts are going to be small, so you either don't care about them (just noise) or decided to optimize by going for the biggest number.   It's like using say the Freedom on all spend, as the difference between the 1% you get on non-category is close enough to the 1.5% you get (with CFU or CM say).   But we rarely suggest that people make the Freedom their daily driver.....

[wasCB14]

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@UpperNwGuy wrote:

I had the Green Card and the Blue Cash Everyday.  I was not impressed with either card, so I closed them both.  I'm happier with a mix of cards from Chase, PenFed, and Navy.

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I think you said you're United 1K, and I know you do a lot of international travel, so I can totally understand the Chase preference.

That said, Green and BCE are about as disconnected from Platinum as Slate and CFU are from CSR.

[digitek]

I really like Amex as an issuer, solid all around. I am very happy with the 4 cards I have with them.

I don't really like Plat or Gold, though. Dodgy international acceptance with no categories outside the US. I am not a fan of increased AF offset by monthly coupons, either. I don't place much worth in the lounge access, but to some it is really important.