Community Chat

[Snowpuppy]

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@FrostyBabe1 wrote:

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@KingstonsMom wrote:

Nope, I have the black (now called the Centurion') Am Ex card, no fees, no need for 'bargaining'.

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So you received an invitation and got the card without paying the intiation fee? And no annual fee? Interesting, because I know for a fact that those fees  do exist and how much they are. Very interesting. 

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@FrostyBabe1 those fees alone are eye popping! 🤤

I'll hug my Blue Cash with 0 fees. 

[Carmie]

If you carry large balances from month to month on your CC's wcancelling one of them will impact your FICO score.

If all your cards are paid off, it won't lower your credit score if you cancel one or some.

I recently had two CC's cancelled because I didn't use them for about two years.  My credit score wasn't touched.

I cancelled an AMEX card several years ago, because of the fees and because I didn't use it enough to merit any benefits.  AMEX fought with me and begged me not to cancel.  I was adamant and told them I couldn't afford the yearly fee. We finally came to a mutual agreement to cancel the Platinum and instead open a no fee Clear card. My score was not lowered.

I don't use it often, but try to use it at least once a year to keep it open.

[shoekitty]

I have had the amex gold reward card for 30 years. I gave 4 of my grandkids a card off my acct. We were offered and took the platinum card for 2 years a while back.  I found no difference in benefits, except higher yearly fee, so I went nack to Gold as it was a few hundred less a year.    I have the thick metal gold card and love it.  Amex is te only card we use, and we spend a high figure.  I justdidnt sethe benefit of Platinum.   Especially this last year , since we haven't been able to travel much.  We have no spending limit.  I have paid for a carwith amex, a wedding, everything we own, for the points.  Lol yes I am a point tramp, LOL.   I have the money in my acct for what I buy, then pay off after I get points.  

Can those of you with Platinum cards share with me the benefits you receive or like better than Gold?  Thanks,!

[FrostyBabe1]

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@shoekitty wrote:

I have had the amex gold reward card for 30 years. I gave 4 of my grandkids a card off my acct. We were offered and took the platinum card for 2 years a while back.  I found no difference in benefits, except higher yearly fee, so I went nack to Gold as it was a few hundred less a year.    I have the thick metal gold card and love it.  Amex is te only card we use, and we spend a high figure.  I justdidnt sethe benefit of Platinum.   Especially this last year , since we haven't been able to travel much.  We have no spending limit.  I have paid for a carwith amex, a wedding, everything we own, for the points.  Lol yes I am a point tramp, LOL.   I have the money in my acct for what I buy, then pay off after I get points.  

Can those of you with Platinum cards share with me the benefits you receive or like better than Gold?  Thanks,!

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The Platinum card is really geared towards those who travel on a regular basis. If you only take 2-3 trips per year, it's not for you. Here's an article from Investopedia that outlines some of the comparisons:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/011215/gold-vs-platinum-amex-card.asp 

In past years, I've always used up the $200 available for ancillary travel fees. I don't have to pay to check a bag, but I've used it to cover the costs of TSA PreCheck, change fees, etc. 

Additionally, the Platinum card offers complimentary SkyClub access for the card holder when traveling on Delta, Centurion lounge access when traveling on other airlines and Priority Pass membership. It offers high level membership with Hertz. There is a monthly Uber credit available, both for rides and food delivery. 

I'm sure there are other differences, but the bottom line is that the Platinum card is really geared towards travelers. Exclusive of 2020, I've more than recouped the annual fee in benefits received. 

There's a much more comprehensive comparison of the cards on a website called The Points Guy if you're interested, but I can't post a link to that due to advertising on the site.

[JasoninBoston]

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@FrostyBabe1 wrote:

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@shoekitty wrote:

I have had the amex gold reward card for 30 years. I gave 4 of my grandkids a card off my acct. We were offered and took the platinum card for 2 years a while back.  I found no difference in benefits, except higher yearly fee, so I went nack to Gold as it was a few hundred less a year.    I have the thick metal gold card and love it.  Amex is te only card we use, and we spend a high figure.  I justdidnt sethe benefit of Platinum.   Especially this last year , since we haven't been able to travel much.  We have no spending limit.  I have paid for a carwith amex, a wedding, everything we own, for the points.  Lol yes I am a point tramp, LOL.   I have the money in my acct for what I buy, then pay off after I get points.  

Can those of you with Platinum cards share with me the benefits you receive or like better than Gold?  Thanks,!

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The Platinum card is really geared towards those who travel on a regular basis. If you only take 2-3 trips per year, it's not for you. Here's an article from Investopedia that outlines some of the comparisons:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/011215/gold-vs-platinum-amex-card.asp 

In past years, I've always used up the air travel credit available for ancillary travel fees. I don't have to pay to check a bag, but I've used it to cover the costs of TSA PreCheck, change fees, etc. 

Additionally, the Platinum card offers complimentary SkyClub access for the card holder when traveling on Delta, Centurion lounge access when traveling on other airlines and Priority Pass membership. It offers high level membership with Hertz. There is a monthly Uber credit available, both for rides and food delivery. 

I'm sure there are other differences, but the bottom line is that the Platinum card is really geared towards travelers. Exclusive of 2020, I've more than recouped the annual fee in benefits received. 

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In addition to some benefits mentioned in the article linked above, over the past year they gave account credits for payments to your cell phone and streaming as well as many other offers. One I ended up using quiet a bit was a credit for small businesses and they give a statement credit for  5 dollars for those purchases.  But that ended December 31st.

This year they added the PayPal credit of 30 dollars each month until June.  I had always wanted to try tee shirts from Mack Weldon so I just linked my AmEx card to PayPal and selected PayPal at check out and the tee shirt was 32 dollars with free shipping.  The charge did appear on my card but a few days later there was transaction listed as a PayPal bonus for $30.  So the shirt ended up costing 2 dollars.

They have offered this year something similar for Home Depot purchases and many others.What's hard is sometimes I just justify getting things I don't really need just to use up these credits!!  And it ends up being quite a bit to keep track of!!

With the gold cards I know you get bonus purchase points for use in grocery stores and that seems great, however, I do end up using my Chase card for those purchases giving me 5 times points for that!! 

I do really like the Mack Weldon stuff so maybe I'll just continue to get more tee shirts each month through the end of June to use up that credit and a few other of the new bonuses like the Instacart credit (even though I live across the street from a grocery store and usually just walk there through an underground parking lot that's connected to my building)!

In the end, I am thinking it's easier to just keep it!  And maybe just look at some of these new offers as an opportunity to try a few new things here and there!!  But it's good to know as well that cancelling wouldn't impact my credit score since my balances aren't carried forward on my Chase card!!

[riley1]

We canceled our Amex card as the fees were so high. Yes, they did try and have us switch cards. We just kept saying no thank you.

[Snoopp]

@JasoninBoston  I'm pretty sure it will ding your credit if you close it out.  Downgrading the card shouldn't affect it the same way.  

Am Ex wouldn't lower my fee either.

[sunshine45]

as a business owner, i have to say that we small businesses hate when people use their american express cards! your benefits are being paid for by the fees charged to the merchants. they charge us more AND they take more time to deposit that money into our account.

please use your visa, mc, or discover!

[teganslaw]

I've always wondered why many places don't accept American  Express cards. As previously stated, it sounds like merchants are charged more with AmEX than with other cards. In that case, I can understand why they're not accepted as easily. 

[FrostyBabe1]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

as a business owner, i have to say that we small businesses hate when people use their american express cards! your benefits are being paid for by the fees charged to the merchants. they charge us more AND they take more time to deposit that money into our account.

please use your visa, mc, or discover!

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Why not just decline to accept AMEX if you feel it costs you too much? If a merchant accepts the card, I'm going to use it.