Excellent credit not needed

[digitek]

I don't know why you all gave the OP so much heat, I understood exactly what he was saying and he made it clear it wasn't some status thing.

I was just checking out an Audi S8 Plus on their website yesterday.  The car is so beautiful I almost wept.  I will never be able to afford it.  For almost anything in life you want to buy there is a top tier that is generally out of range of most normal people.  Mikimoto pearls, H&K assault rifles, Rolex watches...

I think the OP was just pointing out that there really isn't anything like that in the CC market.  Some kid at McDonald's no matter how good his financial house is in order, will not be driving a 2018 Audi S8 Plus.

The reason their is no super-tier credit card for people with stellar credit scores is for the reason that everyone else already said in this thread, and that is kind of unwritten but pretty messed up truth to Credit Cards......any perk or benefit you get is on the back of some sorry fool who has no idea of personal finance and is carrying balances and paying ridiculous amounts of interest.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the comments. I have thick skin so no comments will offend me.
I understood right off the start that the CC companies make money off of the people who carry a balance (i was one of them for a while too).
Im just thinking back to my parents day to where if you had an AMEX it was for those with EXTREMELY good credit. My parents never made it to that level during the 80s and 90s.
Now no matter if its BOA, chase, wells fargo, amex none of them care if you have excellent credit in fact they want you to carry a balance.
That is also the reason i bring up AMEX, the charge cards are PIF so why cant they become more like they were in the 80s and 90s. Its funny that
The ultra rich can get the centurion card but to me if a person had a amex green card back in 1985 that would say more to me than a rich 20 something millionaire with a black card.
FYI my card lineup is
37k Chase Ritz
30k Chase Reserve (AU wifes card)
30k Barclays Ring
27.5k amex delta platinum
25k wells fargo amex propel
10k rooms to go (10 year old card)
2k walmart (10 year old card)

[Remedios]

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wrote:

I don't know why you all gave the OP so much heat, I understood exactly what he was saying and he made it clear it wasn't some status thing.

I was just checking out an Audi S8 Plus on their website yesterday.  The car is so beautiful I almost wept.  I will never be able to afford it.  For almost anything in life you want to buy there is a top tier that is generally out of range of most normal people.  Mikimoto pearls, H&K assault rifles, Rolex watches...

I think the OP was just pointing out that there really isn't anything like that in the CC market.  Some kid at McDonald's no matter how good his financial house is in order, will not be driving a 2018 Audi S8 Plus.

The reason their is no super-tier credit card for people with stellar credit scores is for the reason that everyone else already said in this thread, and that is kind of unwritten but pretty messed up truth to Credit Cards......any perk or benefit you get is on the back of some sorry fool who has no idea of personal finance and is carrying balances and paying ridiculous amounts of interest.

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A smart kid working at McDonald's will most likely be driving a beater car, because he/she is smart. That is how one keeps their finances in order, by not becoming a sorry fool.  Some day, they might buy it with cash. It's just a matter of being smart between now and then. 

Bottom line here is  (or at least for me), there are luxury products all around. If one wants to feel special, they can take out a super duper special 800+ card (with sizable membership fee, of course), buy a $1999.00 towel. Instant happiness. 

I'll take that same money and invest it. 

It just struck me as funny to complain about lack of prestigious status based on score....on a forum where majority of members are either recovering from previous mistakes or have recovered but are gracious enough to offer advice and guidance. 

[HeavenOhio]

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wrote:

Most normal people will never see a score of 800+ without gaming the scoring system.

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We've found from reports in the scoring forum that 800 is pretty common without any special effort. Building up some history, spending safely within one's limits, and having a perfect payment record will do it.

One of my friends was pleasantly surprised when a lender told her that she had a FICO of 827. She had done nothing extraordinary to achieve this. At the time, she had three or four cards, a loan, a mortgage, and a long history. But she wasn't doing anything other than paying her balances in full and on time.

The bottom line is that 720 is plenty for almost all cards, and the high 600s is good for many. The best mortgage rates can be gotten at 740, and the best rates on private mortgage insurance can be gotten at 760. Beyond that, it's gravy. The advantage of scores higher than 760 is that you have a cushion if you'd like to take some inquiries, add accounts, report higher than usual utilization, etc.

I'm not sure that playing by known rules would qualify as gaming. FICO tells us not to have too many cards with non-zero balances, to keep utilization low, and to have a mix of credit. People who've tested and offered data points confirm this information and offer more detail. There's nothing wrong with following these guidelines. I think to qualify as gaming, you have to be playing on the periphery of the rules and maybe doing some of the things that we're not allowed to advocate here.

[Anonymous]

At a certain point, excellent credit can only get you so far. Income is also a factor. The Amex Centurion and JP Morgan Reserve are very prestigious cards, but you need the income to get those cards. Barclay has the Gold and Black cards, but you'll need to pay the annual fees to receive the cards. They're $995 and $495 a year. There are premium cards. It's just that most people can't get them, or don't want to pay the high annual fees to get them.

[Anonymous]

There are 'super exclusive' credit cards out there, like the Amex Centurion card. The problem with these cards is you pay for the services with an annual fee ($2,000 for the Centurion), because how else can the issuer pay for the perks? But since you could also take the annual fee and just buy the things and services you specifically want, in many cases for less money, it's questionable whether these cards are a good deal. That is why few people pay for them. A lot of people who hold these cards probably do hold them mainly to impress people when they take the card out of their wallet (doubtless, not all).

[Anonymous]

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wrote:

There are 'super exclusive' credit cards out there, like the Amex Centurion card. The problem with these cards is you pay for the services with an annual fee ($2,000 for the Centurion), because how else can the issuer pay for the perks? But since you could also take the annual fee and just buy the things and services you specifically want, in many cases for less money, it's questionable whether these cards are a good deal. That is why few people pay for them. A lot of people who hold these cards probably do hold them mainly to impress people when they take the card out of their wallet (doubtless, not all).

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I think that’s somewhat true. But since it’s for the extremely wealthy, I think the other benifit is huge credit limits or none at all. So they can do all their spending on one card. Once you get rich enough I think cashback isn’t that important for many. But do it all concierge services becomes a huge benifit. Having someone book and do everything for one is common in their lives. The fees are to help pay for these people’s salaries lol. 

[steelers1]

Quite honestly if you see a young person working at McDonald's strapping an Amex Platinum the kid is probably an AU on their parents card. What kid at McDonald's could and would pay the annual fee Haha Lol

[Anonymous]

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wrote:I think that’s somewhat true. But since it’s for the extremely wealthy, I think the other benifit is huge credit limits or none at all. So they can do all their spending on one card. Once you get rich enough I think cashback isn’t that important for many. But do it all concierge services becomes a huge benifit. Having someone book and do everything for one is common in their lives. The fees are to help pay for these people’s salaries lol. 

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That's true, concierge services can be useful, and credit card companies may (or may not, but may) be better at providing them than competitors (like travel agents, who will work for anyone for much less than $2,000/year). But let's just be clear what is happening at this point: someone is paying a company that just happens to provide credit cards for a service other than a credit card, that happens to be bundled with a credit card. The service is being paid for in cash (annual fee), not credit card usage, fees, or balance interest, and has really nothing to do with the creditworthiness of the customer, beyond his ability to pay the annual fee.

[coldfusion]

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Keep in mind that for AMEX to even consider extending an invitation to apply for a Centurion card,  one needs to have established a pattern of spending a minimum of $250K/yr on an AMEX Platinum. At that level $2K is going to be a mere drop in the bucket.