what is the point of Amex charge cards, when there's blue cash credit?

[FinStar]

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@enharu wrote:

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@Agent86 wrote:

The charge cards all have fees of at least $95, which is higher than the $75 for the Blue Cash Preferred; you only get 1 point per dollar on charge cards  (okay sometimes up to 3 on the gold preferred) vs. up to 6 cents per dollar on blue cash preferred, and the pay over time feature will apparently feeze your charging ability and possibly cause account closure, while blue cash cards are regular credit cards. I understand the platinum comes with fancy lifestyle perks like airport lounges, but in that case aren't you really just paying for a club membership rather than monetary incentives? I also understand that the psychological motivation of having to pay in full every month helps some manage their money and avoid a debt spiral, but you can still pay off your credit cards in full every month. What actual benefit do these charge cards offer?

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The charge cards are NPSL, while the revolvers are not. This is useful for people who need to make big purchases and have the ability to repay them back in full.

Using the pay over time feature will not freeze charging ability or cause account closure. It's just rumors.

Treat it as a club membership or a card membership or whatever you want to. The perks benefit certain group of people and there's really no wrong in having it.

Different cards also have different benefits and serve different purposes.

There's no one card that is suitable for everyone. Just because a card might suit someone more, or just because one card may seem more prestigious, may not necessarily mean it's the right card for everyone else. If you don't see a point in getting a charge card, then chances are the card isn't really going to suit you well and you should therefore not get it.

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+1

[n777ua]

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@Agent86 wrote:

and the pay over time feature will apparently feeze your charging ability and possibly cause account closure

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I'll never understand why people think this.  Amex isn't setting some elusive trap so they can fire their customers.  I've used POT many times to spread out large purchases over a few months...

[kampfer09]

The visa sig have both CL and NPSL as well.

[enharu]

Visa signature NPSL are set by the respective lenders themselves. Some might be really generous while some might give you like a 100 dollar wiggle room so that NPSL can be effectively useless in some cases

[boomhower]

To me there benefits are more in the business world than the personal world.  Being able to charge business travel on a charge card that you are reimbursed for rather than maxing out a personal card.  The higher level cards also offer nice travel perks that for a high mileage business person are well worth the yearly fee. 

[LS2982]

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@Agent86 wrote:

The charge cards all have fees of at least $95, which is higher than the $75 for the Blue Cash Preferred; you only get 1 point per dollar on charge cards  (okay sometimes up to 3 on the gold preferred) vs. up to 6 cents per dollar on blue cash preferred, and the pay over time feature will apparently feeze your charging ability and possibly cause account closure, while blue cash cards are regular credit cards. I understand the platinum comes with fancy lifestyle perks like airport lounges, but in that case aren't you really just paying for a club membership rather than monetary incentives? I also understand that the psychological motivation of having to pay in full every month helps some manage their money and avoid a debt spiral, but you can still pay off your credit cards in full every month. What actual benefit do these charge cards offer?

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Totally inaccurate. 

[LS2982]

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@n777ua wrote:

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@Agent86 wrote:

and the pay over time feature will apparently feeze your charging ability and possibly cause account closure

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I'll never understand why people think this.  Amex isn't setting some elusive trap so they can fire their customers.  I've used POT many times to spread out large purchases over a few months...

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[jamesdwi]

Power, Flexibility, Benefits far beyond what you can achive with Revolvers at any early stage of rebuilding, All it takes is a 650 fico and 6 months of credit experience, and decent income to get a Charge card, when you have a 650 FICO most people have credit cards that have at most $1000 CL when you are making 2-3k a month and want to charge $2000 a month you end up paying your bill 2-3 times a month perhaps more,   a Charge card and a good income can give you an internal CL of 3-5k and perhaps more in a few months. A  charge card used to pay bills allows you to not worry about when bills are due, $300 dollar phone bill due 3 days before you get paid no problem, put it on the charge card let it float (you collect the interest) till its due date, $300 on a $500 CL card is 60% UTL, take the DW out for dinner, and you are at 80% UTL, gas for the car at the wrong place $100 hold (cheap by many stations these days) oh your $500 CL is 100% taken of course when the Gas payment actually hits you are only $420 of the UTL and you are going to pay the bill that day anyway. Its all part of  Life with a $500 limit trying to get a few rewards. Travel always involves many holds for things that may never hit the bill,  $50-100 hold for incidentals at a hotel that will probpably never post, a full week auto rental hold for a 2 day rental.... All this can easily be handled with a charge card no questions or hassles, it just adjusts to your spending habbits and reported income. It can change daily or weekly because its internal no one notify when it goes up or down unless it goes lower than your typical spend.

If you ever feel you have to make multiple payments per month on a card because the CL is too low it may be time to look at a charge card.

[911GT3]

What CEOriginal said +1

[improvingmycredit]

Hello OP!
Besides all the various reasons listed- I find that one of the most valuable perks of a Charge Card over a revolver.... No effect to Utility allowing the balance to report. This is not true of revolvers be they siggys or not. This alone makes the charge card worth having.