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 
@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.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
@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.
@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.
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
FICO 9: 
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
Filed Chapter 13 on 6/1/2017 after job loss. Discharged 6/1/2022.
Goal: Gardening!
@Revelate wrote:
@westcoastpirate wrote:
Amex Costco TE gets 2% back on restaurants.Oh hrm, looks like 3% even, ok nevermind my stupidity earlier please
Sorry dudes, mea culpa.
Fidelity Amex 2% on everything.