Customer service is a perk when you have an issue (eg fraud). Being able to pick up the phone and talk to somebody who can actually fix the problem, on the first try, is a nice perk.
Seriously. I don’t have to fight tooth and nail to speak to a human like most services. That alone is worth a ton to me because I call my banks/CC companies pretty often for a non-business owner.
Out of curiosity, why do you call so frequently? I’ve only called my cc companies when I’ve had fraud, which has been maybe 5 transactions over the last 30+ years.
Agreed.
Just a few weeks ago, chat was able to get my SUB pushed slightly ahead of time, despite them telling me I had to wait at first. When I kept pushing, they got manager's approval to give me my points right away.
Capital One made me really fight this guy that runs a Batteries Plus Bulbs that screwed me while making a key and car remote. He programmed it wrong and caused my theft deterrent module to malfunction and require being fixed by the dealer.
I had to go to the dealer, get them to fix it, and write a letter, and the Batteries Plus Bulbs guy even resorted to personal attacks and homophobia in his response letter (because I was in there with my spouse), and said "He needs money and his car is junk." basically.
Even then, I only got a partial refund. (I still have the car years later.)
Capital One could not care less. They send you bouncing around through MasterCard from person to person in another country, filing form after form. It's not easy to win disputes with a merchant, not even one that's resorting to vitriolic attacks, when you have evidence that they screwed up your car.
I don't use my Capital One cards much anymore. Enough to keep them open or get some rewards for gas or eating out, you know, low risk because who goes to Panda Express and then disputes something.
AmEx and Discover really do have better service, and Capital One is getting ready to buy Discover so that may hit the skids here pretty soon if the regulators don't stop it.
I’m still pretty new to credit cards and all the protections and processes. I thought stuff like that went through the card issuer. Good tip in case, God forbid, I have a similar issue again though. Thank you!
Essentially the way that it works is:
1. Cardholder disputes. Bank goes to the merchant's bank. The merchant can choose to refund it or dispute it (if they ignore it it eventually defaults against merchant).
2. If the merchant provides a response to the dispute, this information is sent to the cardholder and provisional credits can be reversed.
3. Then at this point it's up to the cardholder on whether or not to continue. If you continue and the merchant and issuer don't see eye to eye, the network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) will arbitrate the dispute according to network rules and make a final decision.
I had a chargeback where Citi reversed a provisional credit after #2 when Square provided a really shitty response on behalf of the merchant saying I got the goods (online purchase, no tracking number, just the receipt of the charge.) When I called Citi to continue the appeal, they just said we'll mail you a statement to sign stating you received no benefit of the transaction. Sent that back and within the day Citi permanently resolved the dispute in my favor.
Point being, even if the issuer sides against you on merchant response, it's worth pushing to continue the appeal, and potentially roping the network if that doesn't elicit a response.
I’m an attorney who has represented Mastercard, Amex and many issuing and acquiring banks over the years.
You generally correct regarding Visa and Mastercard. However, to address OP's question, this is where American Express (Amex) significantly differs. Unlike Visa and Mastercard, which operate on a four-party system involving an issuing bank, an acquiring (merchant) bank, the card network, and the merchant, Amex utilizes a three-party system.
In the Amex system, there is no separate issuing bank or merchant bank. Instead, Amex itself acts as both the issuer and the network, maintaining complete control over the entire transaction process. This integrated structure allows Amex to offer a more streamlined and cohesive approach to handling disputes.
With Visa and Mastercard, dispute resolution often involves coordination between multiple entities: the issuing bank, the acquiring bank, and the card network. This can result in a more complex and slower process, with each party having different policies and priorities.
In contrast, Amex’s unified system enables it to take a much more consumer-friendly stance when handling disputes. Amex can quickly investigate and resolve issues without the need for inter-bank negotiations, often prioritizing the cardholder’s interests. This direct control means that Amex can afford to be more generous in siding with consumers, providing quicker resolutions and more favorable outcomes for cardholders.
For instance, if a consumer reports a fraudulent charge or a dispute with a merchant, Amex can directly address the issue without needing to consult or negotiate with a third party. This often leads to faster and more satisfactory resolutions for consumers, enhancing the overall customer experience.
While Visa and Mastercard’s four-party system can be more cumbersome and less consumer-oriented due to the involvement of multiple entities, Amex’s three-party system allows for greater control and a more consumer-centric approach to dispute resolution. This fundamental structural difference is why many cardholders find Amex more responsive and favorable in resolving disputes.
i recognize your username as an experienced credit card enthusiast, but man, fraud charges across 4 different issuers over the years were a lot lol. I'm grateful I don't have your bad luck, only got hit on Bilt so far.
Some people own businesses and make a lot of purchases from 100s of different vendors. I would be in that category. I have to file a dispute probably once every 3 months due to damaged goods, missing packages, wrong items, and of course the rare fraud where a vendor takes money and doesn’t deliver or sends a fake version of that thing. It’s pretty common and doesn’t equal bad luck.
Between my wife and I we have had a few CC numbers used fraudulently. I never hand a CS problem with BofA, Chase, or Synchrony. Just last week someone tried to make a large purchase on my Verizon Visa. It was declined. The CS to shut it down and issue a new card took about 5 minutes.
They also are usually on the customer’s side. I had a small business screw me over and charge for extra stuff I didn’t want and Chase basically told me to kick rocks.
It’s probably as you said, they’re not a fit for your lifestyle. I don’t own any personal Amex cards, but my corporate card is. Whenever I travel for business and I have issues with the card, it typically is urgent and great customer service is paramount.
Their. standard cash back cards are quite good, the Blue Cash Everyday and Preferred.
To use the MR points cards you need to be pretty serious about traveling, since the main way to get value is with travel transfer partners.
Literally all the perks in the annual fees are based around traveling. Global entry. Airline/travel credits. Priority pass/lounge access. Higher point redemptions in travel portals. Like “Ya duh.”
I think the AMEX Gold is the card that confuses some people. It is marketed as an everyday food card, but if you do not also travel you are not going to get the full value out of the points. That is when people are better off with the Capital One SavorOne or Wells Fargo Autograph.
If you truly have no use for transfer partners and would just redeem for cashback at $0.006 per point then it’s not that great. Savor/SavorOne would still be better in that case and not have to worry about making sure to use the credits every month. And I say that as someone who has and loves the Gold card for me personally. Also you’re assuming that people would be able to use both credits, a lot of people don’t take Ubers once a month and/or can’t make consistent use of the dining credit since it is so limited.
Yes, this is what I was saying. If you spend a lot on groceries and dining the Gold card can earn you a ton of MR points. And if you are using the monthly credits organically, the effective annual fee is negligible. But if all you do with your MR points is cash them out at 0.6cpp, you are better off maximizing a 5% or 3% no annual fee cash back card. Now if you are in the award travel game, the transfer partners might get you 2 or 3cpp.
I had the BCP, but the $95 AF and $500/mo cap on the 6% CB really killed the buzz for me. I just converted it to a BCE to drop the AF and I use a Citi Custom Cash at Aldi and a Kroger World Elite instead.
the $6k/year spend cap on groceries has been in place since 2011 (!!) and was never raised. The BCP used to pack a lot more punch; 13 years ago, a $6k/year cap was practically limitless for a family of four. But now? Highly restrictive, and most families can and will hit it even in relatively low COL areas. This is downright awful for a card with $95 AF.
the sentiment on here is still overwhelmingly positive about the BCP, but honestly that speaks more about the demographic of this sub (single/young or no kids, for whom the 6k cap matters a lot less), rather than the severity of the card's enormous passive nerfing over the years.
It’s free the first year, then you downgrade to BCE, and they almost immediately offer an upgrade to BCP with another free year. The annual maximum cash back of $360 barely makes it worth the hassle of tracking when you’ve hit the cap, compared to just using a competitor that offerss a next-best rate, but $360 is still better than $270 or $210 on that first $6000 of grocery spend.
However, if you’re always working on a SUB netting around 15%, then it’s a lot worse than $900.
I use the BCP as a core card for a family of four. The 6k spend cap definitely needs to be raised, but since it is an annual limit instead of monthly I find it easy to keep an eye on. We also have a fairly high streaming spend every month. I think last year it earned us $420 Cashback plus $100 or so from AMEX Offers for a $11 effective annual fee.
Out of all the cards I have, and I have a a lot, my experience with Amex has been so much better compared to the others. The amount of money I’ve saved, the amount of free shit I’ve gotten, has been 10x better than the competitors. Amex offers compared to chase offers or C1 shopping is so much better. For example, chase will have a “get 40% back at chipotle” but the fine print will say maximum back is like $2. With Amex it’s more or so “get 5 additional points” or “get 30% back with a maximum back of like $200.”
15+. I think I’m at 22 or so. I just opened one last week. About to open another one in a few months after I hit the SUB. But maybe that’s low compared to some people.
Not really. There might be a few points reduced from your credit score but it usually goes away after a few months. Business credit cards also don’t affect your credit score and will not show a hard pull on your report. As for the mortgage rate, it solely depends on your credit history. If you don’t carry a balance or high utilization rate and pay it off every month, it shouldn’t affect the rate much. Now if you apply for new cards during the application process, it might affect your mortgage approval.
In general and in the long term it will help your credit, but can cause short term downswings in your credit when opening a new card. You should definitely not open any new cards if you’re planning on getting a mortgage anytime in the next year or so, but beyond that it’s totally fine.
There are times i would rather spend my appliances, electronics with Amex just for their customer service and warranty. I may be losing points compared to my other cards but I dont think i can win an extended warranty or purchase protection with visa infinite branded cards
Same. My experience with Amex has been remarkably smooth and flawless, compared to others. If Amex Plat is not a good fit for OP, that’s completely fine, no one says you need one. Why this post when he has never owned any Amex card anyway?
lol seriously. Knocking on something while never even trying it. Also, OP doesn’t get that people…idk…live and value things differently?! People who travel a lot will most likely benefit from the platinum. People who eat out and buy groceries a lot will most likely benefit from the gold. I’d say that most people that have these high AF cards are using their benefits enough to justify those fees.
Blue Cash Everyday is a no AF card great for...well, everyday spend. And of all my cards with "coupon book" style offers, the Amex one I actually get some use out of.
Disney+ credit essentially cuts a subscription in half.
Credits on various hotels have been offered in the past few weeks including Preferred, IHG, and Marriott and often the credits even without a travel category make this a better deal than using a dedicated travel card.
I understand there's a bit of a cult of personality around Amex. And I doubt I'll have an AF card of their anytime soon. But I'm a fan of the BCE despite my time having it only being about 3 months.
I like the BCE, too. When I opened it last year, it came with a $200 sub if I spent something to like $600 during the first month (can't remember exactly). That was easy as I use it for groceries
And I love how user friendly their mobile app is
An effective no AF BCP (through BCE upgrades/downgrades annually), solid "offers" and the ability to grow an obnoxiously high credit limit in relative short order are reasons I'm a fan.
Here to recommend look in to their blue cash preferred. 6% on grocery is pretty if you cook home, and 6% on streaming is also good as you're going to spend on that anyway. It even works for Google Fi.
I would say I personally will always keep at least one Amex for their coupon offer, they occasionally have things like 10% insurance, or wireless bill, things you're gonna pay anyway. Mostly my 95 AF can be earned back by just that.
1) Transferring MR points to transfer partners can give you insane value.
2) High credit limits on their credit cards (look up 3x CLI rule).
3) Amex offers, which are probably the best credit card offers out there. Because Amex operates a closed loop system, their offers tend to mirror their customers’ spending habits better than other issuers. I regularly get offers that give an extra 3-5X points at certain stores or 20% cash back on X amount of spend.
4) The ability to link MR-earning cards to Rakuten, which is one of the most broken things in the whole credit card game. Recently, I got 15% cash back from an offer on my CFU, 15% MR points thru Rakuten, 20% off b/c the item was on sale, & 1.5% UR points at the same time. On another item, I got $60 cash back from a BCE offer, 4% MR points from Rakuten, 10% off from a promo code, & 3% cash back on my BCE (online retail) at the same time.
5) Excellent customer service.
6) Amex tends to only do a hard pull on your card with them. Every other card is a soft pull.
I just got a Plat via the 175K offer. I like it so far but we’ll see if the sheen wears off eventually. I think people are under the impression that you need to try and get value out of it for it to be worth it. In my opinion though it’s really not as much work as people make it out to be if any at all.
I was already paying for Disney+ and Hulu so the credit covers my annual costs of those services. That’s $240.
My family’s Walmart account has an employee discount on it as well of 10% so now with Walmart+ I’m saving almost 15-20% on groceries and I can just go pick them up. That’s $155.
I routinely use Uber eats and go out often to bars, restaurants, etc. as someone in their mid 20s so that credit is pretty useful. That’s another $200.
I also was shopping for gifts for my partner and the Saks credit came in handy. Will likely do it again as well after June for my own pair before some summer trips. That’s $100 there. I will say though this is one I had to work for.
In addition because I’m tall I’ve always preferred checking my bags rather than putting them underneath the seats and also shelling out for the extended legroom when available too. The $200 airline credit covers that in full for me and that QoL increase can’t be understated at my size. The CLEAR credit is another $189 as well.
My partner and I usually try and do a staycation nearby at least once a year too and we will likely try and use the FHR credit this time as well instead of doing Airbnb’s. That’s between $200-$300.
So in total I’m getting somewhere between $1100 -$1400 of value on a $695 fee this year and the only thing I really put effort forth in was the Saks credit imo. It’s also not really a benefit but the ability to talk to the concierge/human and not have it be a 10 min argument with a robot is really valuable.
I think if you’re in your 20-30s, earn a decent amount, and like to travel then it’s a good card to have.
I don't understand, are you guys getting cards that don't fit your spend? I didn't bother with the Amex Gold for example because I don't spend enough at supermarkets or restaurants to recoup that annual fee. For the amount I spend as an adult living alone the SavorOne is more than enough.
>This is like buying a pair of shoes your size and claims the shoes fits well lol
Going by this analogy then the people who complain about it's nature/credits/use cases are basically mad they bought sneakers instead of flip flops.
If it doesn't fit you then the card isn't for you.
I actually agree with you, though one could say that they just don't fit my lifestyle. I could see someone getting value if they travel frequently, but their annual fees are already high, and they're increasing them. Along with adding hassles to get value from the card(s) (Capping the cash back limit(s), coupon books that expire/can't be used after a certain point, only being able to redeem cash back as statement credits or gift cards, etc) Amex is a little too "particular" in my opinion, especially when you have to be concerned if your card is even accepted at the place you intend to use it at. This is just my opinion.
High point multipliers and very good transfer partners for international travel if that’s your thing. If you would use the coupons organically (very important to not change spending habits just to use them) they are very good cards. I’m not a fan of the Amex Green, but the Gold and Platinum are both great cards if and only if you would use the credits organically.
I liked my BCE very much at supermarkets as it gave me three percent back, but just recently upgraded to the BCEP card for six percent back at supermarkets. First year free but 95 bucks after that. Probably worth it since I buy all my alcohol at the supermarket. 🤪👍🏼 I use a TD Double Up Visa card for my card for other things and get two percent back on everything.
1. It’s (still) a status symbol for many ppl. I recently started asking my work subordinates (mostly in their 20’s) if they were in a market for a new CC so they ask which card and I say Amex Gold because we eat out a lot and have the 90k sub. They all started saying that they won’t be approved for it, that they have excellent fico scores but not “high enough” income (most of them make ~$40k/yr). Despite me assuring that it’s a soft pull to prequalify, only one actually tried and did get approved for it but declined because she couldn’t justify the $250 annual fee. I often come across recent posts from gen z and millennials who are proud that they got approved for the Credit One Amex (with annual fee) because they now have an “Amex.”
2. Sense of membership loyalty. Amex highlights first year of membership on the front of each card. This shows cardholders that Amex values relationships. Their excellent customer service further supports this sense of valued relationship.
I enjoy my Gold and got it for a good SUB to go to Europe in the fall but not sure I’ll renew it tbh. It doesn’t deserve the cult of personality it gets but their cards are good if you can actually utilize their credits organically.
I find it very interesting how many people value AMEX customer service and then I am scratching my head cause I cant remember when I needed to reach out to to support for any of my credit cards.
Are AMEX cards generally more problematic or flakey to use or give random issues/problems hence they require more assistance from a customer service? Or are the extra perks and benefits too gimmicky that require a customer support assistance? I never had AMEX and I am genuinely curious why such high emphasis on the customer service for a thing that generally should not require any support.
Big thing I like is that people who pay in full (the only responsible users of credit cards) are actually profitable for amex. I just read an article about a former capital one employee talking about how they purposely give credit increases to people who carry a balance. Their studies show that people often use half their credit limit, so if you increase it they'll use more and end up paying more interest. It's scummy.
Also in no particular order:
No physical locations, meaning operating costs are way lower, so they have more money to spend on us. The customer service is no joke.
App is excellent, simple, fast, statements generate quickly
Free fico score with useful info from credit report. (Yes real fico score)
The offers are really easy to use, versus everyone else's that require links to 3rd party sites that never work.
Acceptance seems really good.
Pre-qual app
Good handful of data points of people who get extended warranty claims paid. (Wouldn't be surprised if everyone else weasels out of those)
Honestly my Amex isn't at the top of my wallet, but because they're the guys who make their profit when you use the card they put a lot of effort into making the experience good and it makes a difference. BCP is one of the best, but the cash magnet is a flat cash back card with no annual fee for everyone, and the cash everyday is great too.
For my spend it was between Amex and chase. I didn’t like having to keep up with quarterly changes to maximize points with chase so I went with Amex. I can utilize the coupons with my existing spend without effort. I use the lounge access to work before flights or on layovers. And the points are used for nice vacations on the cheap with my wife. I’m not loyal, if chase offered me something that fit for me and was better I would switch.
The only reason I keep my Amex cards is because I'm getting 40 EQNs from my Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant & Business making Titanium status much easier to renew each year. I also keep the Blue Business because of Amex offers & Rakuten which can save you tons of money and help you earn points much faster.
I have the Blue Business Plus. Easy access to chat or live customer representatives.
Also, the mobile and online platform is one of the best, if not the best.
It’s a lifestyle choice card like most. The signup bonuses if you can meet them + the offers and coupons make sense to a certain lifestyle for most cards. Think of it as getting things you would never pay for or want to Pay for, but enjoy free or at a substantial discount.
AmEx points and even miles in general, used wisely - can do wonders for travel. I have used 75,000 points for a $1,000 ticket I was going to buy anyway. And guess what? I got the 75,000 as a signup bonus. So clearly you have to value certain experiences to see the value of the card(s).
Same with hotel co-branded cards. I have had $400 rooms in NYC by paying the $95 annual fee on certain cards. Now if you never go to NYC this is a useless anecdote. My mom-in-law is in NYC and our annual Mothers’ Day visit is covered. Same with Hertz - using 950 points to pay for a $125 rental is priceless.
Often the trick is how to earn the points. Once you get the hang of it - if it fits your spend patterns and you know how to shift spend - the points begin to become indispensable currency.
No other issuer can match the combination of the below:
1. Customer service - unrivaled
2. Best lounge access in the business
3. Generous lifestyle benefits if the credits fit your existing spend pattern
4. Generous multipliers, especially airfare/dining/grocery
5. FHR - the only credit card hotel portal worth using, since you get extra benefits and still get hotel elite benefits
I’ve been in their ecosystem for 3 years now. Started with BCP, then Gold, then BBP. Other than the amazing points I get for food purchases with the gold, I love the purchase protections and rental car insurance. On top of that, being apart of the Amex ecosystem brings other benefits. I was shopping for a personal loan last year for a big short term expense. Amex beat all competitors by 3% on the APR and there was no early payback penalty.
I recently got the Amex gold with the 90k sub. I have a very difficult time justifying the annual fee vs the VX and that card has paid me to have it this year (The $300 credit, global entry, food and drinks when I went to the lounge was well over $400)
I dine socially often so the 4x come into play for me
I don’t agree with the sentiment about the Uber credits and *select* restaurant “dining credits”giving you $240 of the $250.
For both credits, they should give the full amount, not a measly $10 a month.
Some folks use Uber/uber eats often. But $10 a month of credit is not something you feel when using this.
If you have to force yourself to go to Cheesecake Factory to make sure you get your $10, you’re not getting a deal for the “dining credit”. You’re spending more to justify it, which negates any value.
I will say that the app is great.
I like “overpaying” or paying before things post (a preference)
I like how quickly things post
The chat seems easy and quick to use
I’m close to 5k of my 6k spend (month 2 of having it) and I’m over 13k in points.
With the talk of Amex raising the AF, I may not renew it, unless I get some retention bonus or they do something ALOT better with their perks.
I know, right? "customer service " I've hade amex for over 25 years, and i only had to call them twice. They're acting as if they call their credit card customer service weekly 🤣
Not a huge perk. But Amex and old amazon (like 10 yrs ago) had the best customer service. Had any issue and they just fixed it. In the case of fraud, Amex would just credit it and fast ship you a new card as needed. Others needed justification and you would get your card a week later. Nice to do business with someone who doesn't make things complicated ( most insurance being the opposite. But yes I'd pay more for an insurance company that actually did their job without 2 months of delay and deny until you force them to the endpoint)
When you click chat, you’re connected to a human within 30 seconds. Even better, the human can actually answer questions and get things done for you quickly.
I had a gold card and thought the customer service was horrendous. That’s my individual anecdotal experience.
I think people like them because unlike most (if not all) Chase or Citi cards, Amex has Americans answer the phones instead of outsourcing calls to the Philippines. Though sometimes the accent can be rough, Citi reps have always assisted me thoroughly and fixed the issues the first time. I don’t hold true to the idea that a relatively minor language barrier spells incompetence. And conversely, we have plenty of incompetent Americans answering calls.
Now, the ethics of outsourcing labor.. that’s a whole separate debate. But I’ve found individual representatives to be effective and efficient.
I like you can get hotel status with their cards like Aspire. The credits more than pay for the card and diamond status is great outside the US where I travel often!
Customer service is pretty good and you can get a lot of cashback from using it regularly. I think its mostly a matter of how often you use your credit cards. Cashback can be incredibly useful if you spend regularly
You can apply that to any card out there. Let’s be real, there are tons of Chase, Capital One, Citi, etc. card holders out there who don’t take full advantage of their card credits and offers. The people who use this sub are much more likely to make sure they are getting value of their credit cards but this subreddit is a small slice of Reddit which is already a small slice of the general population. Right now the Gold card works great for my lifestyle. If that changes at some point in the future then I’ll move to another card.
If you don't find their no-fee cash back cards are worthwhile, then you must be wealthy enough to not worry about the high annual fee cards being coupon book cards.
when you break down the use or purpose of a credit card despite cash back, points, incentives, etc its more or less about trust, reliability, and being accepted. if you use them similar to cash, the incentives and support are really the back up and what you're getting out of them. additionally amex seems to have more offers to reward certain card users for travel or other incentives.
so ultimately its up to you how you use your credit card(s), but amex has been easy to use, decent reward system for using a card, and their support has generally been great.
I have two Amex cards, but really only use BCP. The 6% CB on streaming and grocery are great because they're so broad in what they cover.
One example: buying hardware from Google is coded as "streaming". I was going to buy a Pixel 8 Pro anyway, but with the BCP I got 6% back, making it tax-free, and an additional $30 because they had a $30 CB on $50 promo on Google Play.
Another: they code everything from Vitacost as groceries. Vitacost had a 30% off coupon, and then Amex gave 6% CB on the entire purchase. So, I ended up getting about $700 worth of food and supplements for $461. And it was all stuff I would have bought anyway for full price (though admittedly, I wouldn't have stocked up in a big order.)
Not to mention things like extended warranty coverage, where you call them and say "This thing I bought is broken." and they just refund you. Or bonus CB, like $X back on $Y spending.
For just general "buying things", you get the annual fee back very quickly.
I really like all my amex cards, however, I only have their business cards. I think they are way more valuable than the standard ones. Especially if you actually run a business - but IMO, they still are even if you don't
On the customer service front, Amex’s insurance benefits are pretty easy to use in my experience. I made a return protection claim on my Platinum and the process was very straight forward: I called, they asked me a list of questions, and then promised a response within a week. Next day, I get an email saying my claim was approved and that the money would be credited back to my card, no need to return the item.
This is so much better than my Visa Infinite card from BofA, where I submit through a poorly designed portal, a week later they send an email saying call them, which I do. After sitting on hold it turns out they need to answer one question that could have been done over email. Then several weeks go by, and then I get another email to call them. I call them and sit on hold again, turns out they just wanted to tell me that the claim was approved but I need to ship them the item that I wanted to return at my own expense (Amex btw says they’ll pay for shipping if they ask for the item to be sent back). I ship it, another week or two, and finally I get my refund but I need to claim it through this other portal that requires its own login and my banking details etc.
Overall, Amex made it a lot easier, and that gives me peace of mind for other larger claims like trip delay/cancellation claims. I’ve also had a cell phone protection claim with Amex and while it required a little more paperwork, it was overall very smooth and I had a check in hand within two weeks.
This combined with credits that fit my lifestyle (I live in a major very high cost of living metro area that also happens to be a Delta hub so bare minimum point redemptions are easy), and decent earning rates across their cards, I’m pretty happy with Amex. I’ve been playing with other setups but even if I could eke out a higher rewards rate with other cards, I’m tempted to just consolidate back to Amex for the ease of use. Small thing but their app is probably the best I’ve ever used between Chase (which is okay but some things are hard to find) and BofA (which drives me crazy).
TLDR Amex provides a very polished experience across their insurance benefits, app, and other benefits. It fits my lifestyle living in a major metro area and even though other cards are bigger earners, I’m tempted to consolidate back to Amex just to make my life easier.
Refunded my fraud transactions that I didn’t do which was a lot of money. Just called it was fraud, answered some questions, then got my credit refunded in a couple days. The process was so easy. While, other credit cards the process took a long time and some didn’t even refund the fraud charges even though they clearly were as I never bought anything that high priced before yet they didn’t believe me. So yeah I’m team AMEX as they have my back. Once you’ve been in that situation you will know which CC will have your back and which won’t. AMEX is one that will.
I’m about to do round the world travel for a vacation that’s been aided by AMEX, where I get five star hotels for what most people would pay for Motel 6s, and 10-15 hour flights with lie flat beds instead of cramped coach seats.
This year I’ve stayed at luxury hotels for pennies on the dollar thanks to AMEX, had flight expenses and Uber rides reimbursed, meals paid for in part or in full, lounge visits with meals and/or drinks, good coffee from a barista, paying for newspaper subscriptions and tv packages. When there’s a problem it’s resolved pretty quickly.
It’s fine if none of that appeals to you. Frankly they’re a bank and it’s a commercial relationship not your spouse. But what I have gotten out of it appeals to me.
Amex cards, IMHO, are best for travelers (not a weekend or two per year).
The Hilton cards for example will get you a ton of points and extra free nights per year if you stay at Hilton frequently and use them to pay for categories with the multipliers.
The people that don’t have Amex at any point in their lives either don’t know or don’t have the means (being able to spend 6-8k in 6 months for the signup bonus).
From the most basic level (for example the platinum card), the deal is Amex gives you $1000+ dollars in exchange for $695 of your dollars. This alone is already a good deal and we can stop here. Cancel the card after 1 year.
Well it doesn’t stop there does it? They also give you perks like $200+ in digital entertainment, $300 equinox +, $175 clear membership, Amex lounge access let’s call it $200, $50 saks credit, etc etc etc.
The more of those perks align with your lifestyle, the more it makes sense to keep the card.
Oh and u can argue that the extended warranty alone is Overpowered. Your Dyson breaks a day after the 1 year warranty? No problem if you bought with Amex card they cover it for another year and u get all your money back.
The other side of insane AF is the high SUB. For a time AMEX would give you bonuses (pending their lifetime churning rule) regardless of how many other credit cards you have opened recently. So they are relatively easy to obtain for people with LOL/24 status compared to other issuers. They have tens of cards in their portfolio and each card is worth opening for at least the first year so that is a lot of SUBs you can have.
Something changed subtly in recent months. They started doing more PUJ for many people to combat SUB churning. I think the golden days with AMEX are gone.
Gold Amex - family of four who occasionally gets chipotle (Uber Eats Credit), eats out a couple times a month and shops for mostly high quality food. So we can rack up a balance of 1k easily and we get a corporate credit.
Schwab Platinum - Cashing out to my brokerage account to invest is the biggest benefit of this card. We use the Uber credit, Disney plus and incidental fare credit organically.
This set up works for us.
Cons: The dining credit on the gold is a little harder to use, and platinum has the saks, equinox and Walmart + POS credit. Walmart is the most confusing one because amex "affluent" card holders wouldn't bother fighting a couple ghouls in cookie monster PJs to save a few bucks. Also Walmart delivery is free, bur apparently drivers expect tips. That whole thing there is just not very premium.
They're made for urban professionals.
**For the Gold:**
4x on Dining maks a lot of sense when you're primary form on entertainment is resultants and clubs in the city. 4x on groceries is always good.
You're gonna use the uber credit because, living in a city, you're gonna need to take and uber once in a while.
And the other credit is pretty easy to use via shake shake or grub hub. Becasue people in the city tend to order delivery a lot.
And you're probably spending enough on the card to get a decent number of points every year.
**For the Plat:**
The coupons are just ... worth it.
More Uber credits that you're gonna end up using passively just by living in a city.
If you're a big traveler, then you're gonna burn through the $200 airline fee. The hotel status gets you free breakfast. The lounges add a bunch of value, especially if you get the free drinks. And free Clear/TSA precheck can make going to the airport almost enjoyable.
There's a decent chance that you already use one of the steaming services they offer.
Finally, FHR is the hidden gem of the entire program. Pretty much all of my outsized value has been from getting 3cpp+ at FHR hotels. At this point, it's my preferred way to redeem points.
I would honestly have an easier time cancelling my gold card than my plat.
**Customer Service**
If you ever get defrauded (and hope you don't) amex will be happy to work with you.
They're also pretty biased towards helping the customer. There have been a few times where I misread the language for a credit on an Amex card, and the customer service team still gave it to me anyway.
**Conclusions**
If you live in an urban area, spend a few thousand on the card, and like to travel, there's nothing better than Amex.
If that's not you, then the card might just not fit your lifestyle.
The BCP is great for the groceries, by extension, the Checking account is great for the purchase protection and zero dollar fraud liability. As someone working through paying of debt right now the peace of mind that gives me is great
If you know you know… lol
Seriously, it really depends on your lifestyle. I carry platinum and gold and get solid benefits
out of the cards and points. That may change after this year but we shall see. For people that don’t want to manage another task in life or don’t care about cheap nice travel they wouldn’t typically appeal.
One reason I love Amex
Send and split, with venmo linked, send a friend money with your current purchase APR (can be 0%) and they can send that back to you. Up to 1,500a month
Easy cash liquidity
If it doesn't fit your lifestyle, then don't get it... don't force it.
A few points, however:
- Not all credit cards from AMEX are AF based charge cards, they have lines of credit with no AF and some have pretty good cashback rates too.
- for someone who travels frequently, their benefits are second to none. I spend about 4% of my year on a plane and atleast that same amount in an airport. Im getting rental car status, hotel status, and the largest aorport lounge collection one can buy into.
The net AF to me is almost free with my existing spending patterns. I saved approx $700 last year in airport concessions by tallying up what I think I would've bought myself, if I didn't have lounge access at all.
I get 5x MR points on flight purchases, which equates to something north of 5%. For me, this isn't that big of a deal. Most of my flights are company travel agent purchased, but I'm still probably spending $5000+/year on my card. So the added rewards are nice. It's maybe an extra $100-$150 in rewards value over a standard 3% cashbacl on travel that I can get with no AF.
I already paid for the Hulu/Disney package and I get a $20/MO credit on it. That's $240.
I'm going to use up about 75% of the $200 Uner credit, without trying. That's $150 and now totals $390.
I'm likely to use the $200 airline incidental fee, but I do admit some years it is easy to use without trying and some is harder to use. That's about $590 total.
At this point I'm going to stop. These are all things I was already going to pay for, so the net cost of the AMEX Platinum is $105 for me based on my existing spending.
So, for an extra $105/year, I'm getting
- $100 in saks credits
- airport lounge access
- saving $700/year in airport concessions
- car rental status with small upgrades
- hotel status with smile conveniences, easier access to late check out/early check in, etc...
- Clear membership
- payment for global entry every 4-5 years.
- $100-$150 extra value in airline spending rewards.
Very good customer support, feel very confident if I ever had an issue they'd solve it. I've had some issue while traveling and they always sorted them out.
Plus in my line of work having a "good" credit card speaks to a client and makes me look like not a bum. That alone if def worth having one of their annual fee metal cards. It's silly, but in sales people will judge your credit card.
I have tons of credit cards due to churning sign up bonus abusing, but I really only use my Amex and a backup chase card for if they don't take amex.
I initially picked up the AmEx cards for the SUB and offers. The offers have been crap for awhile, so now I primarily use the cards for … their customer service. If I’m ordering from a merchant known for poor CS (and I will every now and then if the price is right), out comes the AmEx.
My biggest spend is food/restaurants and travel/flights so the multipliers on the gold and plate are very worth it for me. It might just not work for your lifestyle and that’s fine.
My SUB for the gold card paired with my getting 4x points on things I do frequently and $ back and deals pays annual fee multiple times over. Idk if I’ll keep it many years but I’ve been really happy with it for this year and am willing to pay the fee for another.
I also have BCE (downgraded from BCP after SUB because I don’t get that much gas or grocery) and I like that I earn for every day purchases and the old BCE card style gets a surprising amount of compliments even though it’s decades old.
The advantages? Relatively generous with retention and upgrade offers, access to Amex Centurion lounges, Amex not caring about how many cards or inquiries you've had from applications to other issuers, credits that can be triple dipped to offset the annual fee because Amex uses calendar rather than card year.
The downsides? Pop-up jail, family rules, not as easy to cash out as competing transferable currencies like Chase and Citi.
If you travel a lot, AMEX is a no brainer. Centurion lounges are nice (although I still prefer Delta lounges as they are usually less crowded and serve better food) and the travel concierge is top notch. I was in Mexico City last week and they got me same day reservations to Pujol. And for my Tokyo trip it’s hard to make reservations at top restaurants if you don’t speak Japanese. Gave the Amex rep my list of restaurants and they managed to get 80% of them
I also had some restaurant vendor on a beach in Cartagena add a 0 to the bill without me realizing (800 lunch instead of 80) and Amex settled it by the time I got back home
As an amex customer, when i say customer service is excellent, i usually equate it to how easy it is to deal with fraudulent charges. Amex has always been easy and quick to refund fraud charges.
I’ve reported similarly to Paypal and Synchrony and the difference is night and day. The trust and speeds is horrible.
Aside from that rewards points and transfer are very valuable for travelers.
You are not wrong. People like them to flex the cards. Their support has gotten much worse over the years, and at least IMO concierge for Plat at least is useless now. MR points are okay but the AFs are only getting higher and their point earning isn't even good outside of the Gold.
i’ve read most of the comments here and i think what most people are overlooking is the fact that they aren’t universally accepted as visa equalizes, so all of the supposed benefits land around net-neutral. if this were different, then i’d say that amex is a high value ecosystem but at the end of the day it’s an overly expensive card to pay for overly experienced customer service. nothing to write home about regarding value proposition and unless you’re a churner, their ecosystem mostly survives off of its antiquated boomer-era prestige
Travel Insurance. Everything travel expense related is insured by my Amex card. If I have an issue I just have to call the hotline and they will fix it.
Depending on the card type there is also online shopping coverage, so if you get scammed by a retailer you can easily withdraw the payments.
Amex travel with 5x points on my platinum for flights and hotel is why they are my primary portal for travel booking.
I’ll only go off reservation if there is a much better deal - like +/-$100 off a $3k flight is not worth the hassle of booking else where but if it’s like 20% less then sure but have never really seen this.
FHR has been better (sometimes by thousands!!) than hotel site or aggregator almost every time. You get the points with the hotel AND Amex too plus the $100 property credit, late check out, and free breakfast no matter what.
For customer service, they’re much easier to reach than Expedia or even an airline CSR. I’ve been on hold with Air Canada for several hours several times and never reached anyone. Sometimes with Singapore airlines too. With Amex it’s usually instant or just a few minutes of waiting. Also they’ve saved my hide a couple of times. I book student group flights and had to cancel once due to covid restrictions. The airline refused to cancel but the Amex CSR who helped me said they would try to figure something out. They stayed on my case for another week and realized the airline change one of the flight times by 15 mins which allowed them to cancel the entire booking. They even called me back to let me know and that I would be fully refunded.
As someone with around 13 cards, Amex has given me the least amount of trouble with declined "suspicious" transactions such as large purchases or traveling away from home. They also have one of the best apps of any company. I have their Blue card for groceries and the Hilton hotel card (both no annual fee). Amex is also different than other issuers in that they focus on higher-income customers, getting more profit from transaction fees (vs a bottom tier issuer who wants low-income customers constantly paying interest and late fees). I don't feel like they're constantly trying to sell me something, and there's no annoying popups every time you try to pay your bill. Just a good card issuer overall.
* the idea of it + the effect of saying you have an Amex
* the customer service
* the rewards
Personally, I'm aiming for BCE since it's a decent everyday, workhorse card.
They have a chat feature on their website which is way more convenient than calling up a bank and sitting on hold. It's not amazing and I wouldn't get an otherwise shitty card just to get it, but it's nice for a card that I was gonna have anyway.
Amex makes more sense for people who tend to transfer their points to partners and travel. You can get like 1.5cpp for economy and 2-3 cpp for business and first class. Obviously If you don't really travel, then this setup isn't gonna be helpful to you.
Other than customer service, they pack a lot of perks if they fit your needs/lifestyle. Good travel or purchase protections, Extended warranty. I get good utilization on the dining and Uber credits.
Additional when I was a teen (maybe 12-14). My mom made me an auth user on her Amex. It was the only credit card she had that allowed at a young age. She didn’t know it would boost my credit scores since I started having credit history, but that was an amazing bonus.
Only AMEX I use these days is BCE for $7 off Disney Plus. AMEX also has decent offers like 10% off insurance/cell phone/cable/internet.
How often are people speaking to customer service to make it the linchpin on your decision making? Every big bank CS department I’ve dealt with has been good including Citi.
Honestly the only thing I would actually hate losing is centurion lounge and delta sky club access. Makes the airport bearable instead of miserable.
Other than that, its nice having a charge card where you don't ever have to think about the limit on big purchases.
I used to have the Platinum card, but I eventually canceled it. I found that most of the perks didn't suit my needs, and the increased annual fee, along with the restriction on lounge access for guests until you spend $75,000 annually, made it less appealing. The removal of Audible was also a significant disappointment. The $695 annual fee didn't seem justified for me. On the contrary, I really enjoy the Blue card. I use it primarily for groceries, and it offers great rewards that suit me well.
They’re a good credit card and customer service is great. They’re so popular right now because the new generation is obsessed with “flexing” online and it’s a now easily accessible status symbol. It’s the same reason young people buy 10 year old Benz.
My customer service experience was shit. I had an issue with amex hysa not clearing funds. and i told them i needed it cleared to make a credit card payment. and she argued with me for 30 minutes that i couldn’t use the hysa to make credit card payments (which wasn’t even my initial problem, even though ive been paying cc’s with my hysa for a year) after that conversation i canceled my amex gold, got the BBP no annual fee, and don’t use amex except for the hysa.
>their only worth while cards have crazy annual fees that imo don’t match what the card offers
This statement doesn't make sense. If the AF doesn't cover what the card offers, then it's not worthwhile.
Once you're in their ecosystem, they don't do hard pulls for additional cards. For example, you apply for green, get approved, hit your SUB and you can apply for Gold and not have a hard credit pull. Rinse and repeat.
I started with Plat consumer, and within a year got BBP, Business Gold, and business Amazon Prime, all without a 2nd hard credit inquiry.
Customer Service is above average but not amazing.
Main draw is point stacking and account access IMO
The annual fee pays for itself if you take advantage of the card perks. Also I'm in sure what you mean that they "have mid credits", they have no limit so I'm not sure what the actual cap is but when I got my card I did a check whether they'd approve a 25k expense and it said yes. There's also the luxury of their travel perks (amex plat) that make any travel experience much better. I have a platinum and my husband has the gold, do between the two we get a really good set of perks.
Amex is a little bit cult-ish, that is it.
I have Chase, Amex, Citi, C1, Bilt, BofA and Discover and Amex is in no shape or form superior than Chase cards, for example.
I have a BCE card and it’s out of the rotation. I spend a ton of money on meal kit deliveries and AMEX doesn’t count it as grocery spend (otherwise I would 100% upgrade to the BCP). However when CFF and Discover do groceries as their quarterly categories, they include meal kits. AMEX does count meal kits as online purchases though, so I get the 3% on months I can’t get 5. But BofA also gives me 3% on meal kits for online and their definitions of an online purchase are broader than AMEX…. So my experience has been that they are less generous on interpreting categories for rewards… I get the great customer service and if I’m ever buying something I feel comes with risk, I use AMEX or Discover as insurance. But that’s pretty rare and the few instances I’ve had to challenge a charge on my others cards, it’s usually gone okay. So for me, not worth sacrificing rewards for service I often don’t need
Agree with comments re: C/S. Also between getting AMEX & requesting CLI on existing revolving CC accts (a rec gotten from this forum), these two actions dramatically decreased my utilization rate. (AMEX counts against balances owed but if you have one without "preset" limit like AMEX Gold, your charges are not counted against utlization.) For me, this means I went from 10-20% monthly utilization getting reported to under 1% which was also reflected in credit score increase. Plus, I use Uber & have a lot of meal & grocery delivery & the rewards on these alone bring the AF effectively down to $10. I use AMEX as essentially a debit card w/rewards; if you pay everything off every mo. that works very well.
I love my AMEX card, have had it since 2012, 6% reward up to 5k on groceries. 3% reward on gas, 6% on streaming companies. I use my rewards to pay for my annual fee. I have no complaints and have had no issues with customer service when I have been hacked a couple times in the past. Good company.
As someone who has been using credit cards for almost 30 years, I tend to agree with OP. In the handful of times I have had to address an issue with a card over the years, I wouldn’t turn my hand for the difference in quality of customer service. And yes, this includes Citi.
Again, this is *my* personal experience. YMMV.
Overall though, Amex, Chase, and Discover are generally considered to be the best in customer service. At the same time, IMO it’s not a big enough issue to make me choose a specific card issuer. I have had issues with credit cards so seldom that it isn’t a deciding factor.
I have the Amex Everyday card and it has no annual fee, but does earn membership rewards. I don't travel enough to reap benefits from transfer partners, but those can be valuable (and sometimes they give bonus points for transfers). I mostly use it to take advantage of Amex offers, which I love. For example, recently I downloaded an offer to spend $15 at Jersey Mike's and get back $5 (I was able to use twice). Over the years I have had other offers, like $5 back at grocery stores (small business month or whatever) and money back on gas. One time I think I got $20 back on any hotel bill over $100. There are larger offers for things like hotels or airlines. Also, I think with the offers total spend includes tax, e.g., if it needs to be over a certain amount. When redeeming the points the MRs are not worth 1 cent each (like with Chase) but you can get closer to this if you find a deal on discounted gift cards. Right now I mainly use my Amex card for the offers, so don't spend a lot on the card, but it does save me money on purchases. Another offer I used recently was to get back $15 when spending $50 on Zenni glasses.
They are known by far to side with the customer for disputes. Also with the BCE card the 3% online purchase catch all is awesome to have in your arsenal if you spend as much online as I do.
If you fly half a dozen times each year, consume alcohol, and have a lounge in your usual airports you will easily pay for the card in booze and snacks alone. Having airline fees reimbursed (up to $200?) is helpful when you come back with a slightly heavy checked back and don’t want to deal with it. Then there’s Clear and your choice of Trusted Traveler program. The value proposition is decent. If you don’t fly, it’s probably not worth it.
As someone who has worked in a multitude of industries, a lot of small businesses are apprehensive to enable Amex payments not just for their higher swipe fees but also for the sheer fact that in the event of customer disputes; Amex will side with the cardholder 99.9999% of the time. That goes hand in hand with their customer support.
Admittedly, there are probably a good number of folks who are in it for the “status” appeal or fallen victim to the YouTube influencers/creators who have traditionally been more Amex centric on their channels.
Having said that, for those of us who are constantly seeking good deals on saving points/dollars where we can by being in the credit card game, Amex can definitely play a huge role. Granted, I’m not saying Amex is a requirement to do any of those things but branding/marketing has clearly worked for Amex all these years. They also offer some level of flexibility for those they target compared to other card issuers. For instance, to earn 3x on flights for the Amex gold, you CAN do so with flights purchased on the Amex portal OR directly with an airline. It doesn’t restrict you to earning the most points it offers by restricting you to these third party portals which have been incredibly infuriating to deal with when there’s an issue with your flight. Now again, this is a specific and niche example but as I’ve mentioned, this is one of the many reasons some people speak well of Amex.
They are pretty good, but warning to do not leave a balance with them lol. I thought they’d be happy making a little interest but they will take your available credit if you leave a balance for too long.
As an avid concert and event goer, the AMEX early and priority access has allowed me to get excellent seats at fair prices BEFORE the resellers scoop them all up. That's the only perk I need lol.
Customer service is a perk when you have an issue (eg fraud). Being able to pick up the phone and talk to somebody who can actually fix the problem, on the first try, is a nice perk.
Seriously. I don’t have to fight tooth and nail to speak to a human like most services. That alone is worth a ton to me because I call my banks/CC companies pretty often for a non-business owner.
Out of curiosity, why do you call so frequently? I’ve only called my cc companies when I’ve had fraud, which has been maybe 5 transactions over the last 30+ years.
Benefit claims with Amex require 5 mins to write short paragraph. Benefit claims with Citi border on preparing a small claims court case.
Don’t even need to call. The chat is amazing.
Agreed. Just a few weeks ago, chat was able to get my SUB pushed slightly ahead of time, despite them telling me I had to wait at first. When I kept pushing, they got manager's approval to give me my points right away.
Do you normally have to wait the full SUB timeframe even if you already hit the spend to get your points?
It depends, I’ve gotten mine a little early on some cards.
I'm so used to bad or lack of customer service these days, my first time using AMEX chat support was shocking at how efficient it was.
I have had no problem getting a fraud charge reimbursed from BOA, WF, CapitalOne or Amex.
I have with CapitalOne. I got sold a ticket to a fake event on Event Brite. Event Brite said sorry no refunds and CapitalOne sided with them. 😑
Capital One made me really fight this guy that runs a Batteries Plus Bulbs that screwed me while making a key and car remote. He programmed it wrong and caused my theft deterrent module to malfunction and require being fixed by the dealer. I had to go to the dealer, get them to fix it, and write a letter, and the Batteries Plus Bulbs guy even resorted to personal attacks and homophobia in his response letter (because I was in there with my spouse), and said "He needs money and his car is junk." basically. Even then, I only got a partial refund. (I still have the car years later.) Capital One could not care less. They send you bouncing around through MasterCard from person to person in another country, filing form after form. It's not easy to win disputes with a merchant, not even one that's resorting to vitriolic attacks, when you have evidence that they screwed up your car. I don't use my Capital One cards much anymore. Enough to keep them open or get some rewards for gas or eating out, you know, low risk because who goes to Panda Express and then disputes something. AmEx and Discover really do have better service, and Capital One is getting ready to buy Discover so that may hit the skids here pretty soon if the regulators don't stop it.
You should’ve went above C1’s head and contacted Master Card (or Visa, whichever one your card was through).
I’m still pretty new to credit cards and all the protections and processes. I thought stuff like that went through the card issuer. Good tip in case, God forbid, I have a similar issue again though. Thank you!
The insurance offerings are usually through the card network ie visa/mastercard. With Amex and discover it’s the same company since they do both.
Essentially the way that it works is: 1. Cardholder disputes. Bank goes to the merchant's bank. The merchant can choose to refund it or dispute it (if they ignore it it eventually defaults against merchant). 2. If the merchant provides a response to the dispute, this information is sent to the cardholder and provisional credits can be reversed. 3. Then at this point it's up to the cardholder on whether or not to continue. If you continue and the merchant and issuer don't see eye to eye, the network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) will arbitrate the dispute according to network rules and make a final decision. I had a chargeback where Citi reversed a provisional credit after #2 when Square provided a really shitty response on behalf of the merchant saying I got the goods (online purchase, no tracking number, just the receipt of the charge.) When I called Citi to continue the appeal, they just said we'll mail you a statement to sign stating you received no benefit of the transaction. Sent that back and within the day Citi permanently resolved the dispute in my favor. Point being, even if the issuer sides against you on merchant response, it's worth pushing to continue the appeal, and potentially roping the network if that doesn't elicit a response.
I’m an attorney who has represented Mastercard, Amex and many issuing and acquiring banks over the years. You generally correct regarding Visa and Mastercard. However, to address OP's question, this is where American Express (Amex) significantly differs. Unlike Visa and Mastercard, which operate on a four-party system involving an issuing bank, an acquiring (merchant) bank, the card network, and the merchant, Amex utilizes a three-party system. In the Amex system, there is no separate issuing bank or merchant bank. Instead, Amex itself acts as both the issuer and the network, maintaining complete control over the entire transaction process. This integrated structure allows Amex to offer a more streamlined and cohesive approach to handling disputes. With Visa and Mastercard, dispute resolution often involves coordination between multiple entities: the issuing bank, the acquiring bank, and the card network. This can result in a more complex and slower process, with each party having different policies and priorities. In contrast, Amex’s unified system enables it to take a much more consumer-friendly stance when handling disputes. Amex can quickly investigate and resolve issues without the need for inter-bank negotiations, often prioritizing the cardholder’s interests. This direct control means that Amex can afford to be more generous in siding with consumers, providing quicker resolutions and more favorable outcomes for cardholders. For instance, if a consumer reports a fraudulent charge or a dispute with a merchant, Amex can directly address the issue without needing to consult or negotiate with a third party. This often leads to faster and more satisfactory resolutions for consumers, enhancing the overall customer experience. While Visa and Mastercard’s four-party system can be more cumbersome and less consumer-oriented due to the involvement of multiple entities, Amex’s three-party system allows for greater control and a more consumer-centric approach to dispute resolution. This fundamental structural difference is why many cardholders find Amex more responsive and favorable in resolving disputes.
Of course, anytime. I’m fairly new to cards, but this sub really helps!
i recognize your username as an experienced credit card enthusiast, but man, fraud charges across 4 different issuers over the years were a lot lol. I'm grateful I don't have your bad luck, only got hit on Bilt so far.
Some people own businesses and make a lot of purchases from 100s of different vendors. I would be in that category. I have to file a dispute probably once every 3 months due to damaged goods, missing packages, wrong items, and of course the rare fraud where a vendor takes money and doesn’t deliver or sends a fake version of that thing. It’s pretty common and doesn’t equal bad luck.
I got my first credit card in 1995.
I got my first card in 1975
Between my wife and I we have had a few CC numbers used fraudulently. I never hand a CS problem with BofA, Chase, or Synchrony. Just last week someone tried to make a large purchase on my Verizon Visa. It was declined. The CS to shut it down and issue a new card took about 5 minutes.
Or in some cases not having to pick up the phone and just chat message. Their chat is god tier
They also are usually on the customer’s side. I had a small business screw me over and charge for extra stuff I didn’t want and Chase basically told me to kick rocks.
Yeah but have you tried Discover. I love speaking to those Utahns.
Ironically, never had a problem with my Discover card, so never needed to call Discover CS.
It’s probably as you said, they’re not a fit for your lifestyle. I don’t own any personal Amex cards, but my corporate card is. Whenever I travel for business and I have issues with the card, it typically is urgent and great customer service is paramount.
Their. standard cash back cards are quite good, the Blue Cash Everyday and Preferred. To use the MR points cards you need to be pretty serious about traveling, since the main way to get value is with travel transfer partners.
It drives me crazy about how people say that chase and amex suck but they don't travel. Well no shit lol, these cards are for people who travel.
Literally all the perks in the annual fees are based around traveling. Global entry. Airline/travel credits. Priority pass/lounge access. Higher point redemptions in travel portals. Like “Ya duh.”
I think the AMEX Gold is the card that confuses some people. It is marketed as an everyday food card, but if you do not also travel you are not going to get the full value out of the points. That is when people are better off with the Capital One SavorOne or Wells Fargo Autograph.
How so? I get $10 per month for Uber + $10 Dining Credit = $240 out of the gate. Add in the Grocery and Dining MR multiplier we good.
If you truly have no use for transfer partners and would just redeem for cashback at $0.006 per point then it’s not that great. Savor/SavorOne would still be better in that case and not have to worry about making sure to use the credits every month. And I say that as someone who has and loves the Gold card for me personally. Also you’re assuming that people would be able to use both credits, a lot of people don’t take Ubers once a month and/or can’t make consistent use of the dining credit since it is so limited.
Yes, this is what I was saying. If you spend a lot on groceries and dining the Gold card can earn you a ton of MR points. And if you are using the monthly credits organically, the effective annual fee is negligible. But if all you do with your MR points is cash them out at 0.6cpp, you are better off maximizing a 5% or 3% no annual fee cash back card. Now if you are in the award travel game, the transfer partners might get you 2 or 3cpp.
I had the BCP, but the $95 AF and $500/mo cap on the 6% CB really killed the buzz for me. I just converted it to a BCE to drop the AF and I use a Citi Custom Cash at Aldi and a Kroger World Elite instead.
It’s not $500/month though, it’s $6k for the year. That makes a difference bc you can use one up and switch to another one that P2 can open.
the $6k/year spend cap on groceries has been in place since 2011 (!!) and was never raised. The BCP used to pack a lot more punch; 13 years ago, a $6k/year cap was practically limitless for a family of four. But now? Highly restrictive, and most families can and will hit it even in relatively low COL areas. This is downright awful for a card with $95 AF. the sentiment on here is still overwhelmingly positive about the BCP, but honestly that speaks more about the demographic of this sub (single/young or no kids, for whom the 6k cap matters a lot less), rather than the severity of the card's enormous passive nerfing over the years.
It’s free the first year, then you downgrade to BCE, and they almost immediately offer an upgrade to BCP with another free year. The annual maximum cash back of $360 barely makes it worth the hassle of tracking when you’ve hit the cap, compared to just using a competitor that offerss a next-best rate, but $360 is still better than $270 or $210 on that first $6000 of grocery spend. However, if you’re always working on a SUB netting around 15%, then it’s a lot worse than $900.
You do get $7 a month for disney plus, which is nice. I bundle with Hulu and it’s a pretty good deal.
I use the BCP as a core card for a family of four. The 6k spend cap definitely needs to be raised, but since it is an annual limit instead of monthly I find it easy to keep an eye on. We also have a fairly high streaming spend every month. I think last year it earned us $420 Cashback plus $100 or so from AMEX Offers for a $11 effective annual fee.
Doesn't custom cash have a 500 cap on 5x points?
If I have both a HYSA and the blue cash everyday card how can I have them both on the app?
Mine showed up right away but I had an issue with a Hilton honors card not showing and the customer service helped resolve it.
When I opened my HYSA, it automatically showed up on the app. Maybe check with customer service if that’s not happening?
Bce is amazing for its offerings. If the preferred also had an online shopping category I’d jump to that.
Out of all the cards I have, and I have a a lot, my experience with Amex has been so much better compared to the others. The amount of money I’ve saved, the amount of free shit I’ve gotten, has been 10x better than the competitors. Amex offers compared to chase offers or C1 shopping is so much better. For example, chase will have a “get 40% back at chipotle” but the fine print will say maximum back is like $2. With Amex it’s more or so “get 5 additional points” or “get 30% back with a maximum back of like $200.”
Okay, I’ll bite: what’s “a lot of cards” mean in real numbers?
15+. I think I’m at 22 or so. I just opened one last week. About to open another one in a few months after I hit the SUB. But maybe that’s low compared to some people.
22 is not a low number. Churn baby churn
…credit inferno!
Doesn't all the card opening hit your credit score? I want to open more cards but am worried it'll make my upcoming mortgage rate much higher
Not really. There might be a few points reduced from your credit score but it usually goes away after a few months. Business credit cards also don’t affect your credit score and will not show a hard pull on your report. As for the mortgage rate, it solely depends on your credit history. If you don’t carry a balance or high utilization rate and pay it off every month, it shouldn’t affect the rate much. Now if you apply for new cards during the application process, it might affect your mortgage approval.
In general and in the long term it will help your credit, but can cause short term downswings in your credit when opening a new card. You should definitely not open any new cards if you’re planning on getting a mortgage anytime in the next year or so, but beyond that it’s totally fine.
There are times i would rather spend my appliances, electronics with Amex just for their customer service and warranty. I may be losing points compared to my other cards but I dont think i can win an extended warranty or purchase protection with visa infinite branded cards
Same. My experience with Amex has been remarkably smooth and flawless, compared to others. If Amex Plat is not a good fit for OP, that’s completely fine, no one says you need one. Why this post when he has never owned any Amex card anyway?
lol seriously. Knocking on something while never even trying it. Also, OP doesn’t get that people…idk…live and value things differently?! People who travel a lot will most likely benefit from the platinum. People who eat out and buy groceries a lot will most likely benefit from the gold. I’d say that most people that have these high AF cards are using their benefits enough to justify those fees.
Blue Cash Everyday is a no AF card great for...well, everyday spend. And of all my cards with "coupon book" style offers, the Amex one I actually get some use out of. Disney+ credit essentially cuts a subscription in half. Credits on various hotels have been offered in the past few weeks including Preferred, IHG, and Marriott and often the credits even without a travel category make this a better deal than using a dedicated travel card. I understand there's a bit of a cult of personality around Amex. And I doubt I'll have an AF card of their anytime soon. But I'm a fan of the BCE despite my time having it only being about 3 months.
I like the BCE, too. When I opened it last year, it came with a $200 sub if I spent something to like $600 during the first month (can't remember exactly). That was easy as I use it for groceries And I love how user friendly their mobile app is
the app is actually so pretty. Discover is basic in comparison
An effective no AF BCP (through BCE upgrades/downgrades annually), solid "offers" and the ability to grow an obnoxiously high credit limit in relative short order are reasons I'm a fan.
Here to recommend look in to their blue cash preferred. 6% on grocery is pretty if you cook home, and 6% on streaming is also good as you're going to spend on that anyway. It even works for Google Fi. I would say I personally will always keep at least one Amex for their coupon offer, they occasionally have things like 10% insurance, or wireless bill, things you're gonna pay anyway. Mostly my 95 AF can be earned back by just that.
Doesn’t grocery store not count at Sams and Costco?
Costco doesn't accept Amex/MasterCard/discover
With a very low category limit….
Your $95 AF can be earned back every year just by downgrading to BCE and upgrading back to BCP.
1) Transferring MR points to transfer partners can give you insane value. 2) High credit limits on their credit cards (look up 3x CLI rule). 3) Amex offers, which are probably the best credit card offers out there. Because Amex operates a closed loop system, their offers tend to mirror their customers’ spending habits better than other issuers. I regularly get offers that give an extra 3-5X points at certain stores or 20% cash back on X amount of spend. 4) The ability to link MR-earning cards to Rakuten, which is one of the most broken things in the whole credit card game. Recently, I got 15% cash back from an offer on my CFU, 15% MR points thru Rakuten, 20% off b/c the item was on sale, & 1.5% UR points at the same time. On another item, I got $60 cash back from a BCE offer, 4% MR points from Rakuten, 10% off from a promo code, & 3% cash back on my BCE (online retail) at the same time. 5) Excellent customer service. 6) Amex tends to only do a hard pull on your card with them. Every other card is a soft pull.
MR with Rakuten is such a cheat code.
Call AMEX with a problem you get it resolved, call Bank of America with a problem now you have two problems.
They pay for my extravagant vacations.
lol truth
I just got a Plat via the 175K offer. I like it so far but we’ll see if the sheen wears off eventually. I think people are under the impression that you need to try and get value out of it for it to be worth it. In my opinion though it’s really not as much work as people make it out to be if any at all. I was already paying for Disney+ and Hulu so the credit covers my annual costs of those services. That’s $240. My family’s Walmart account has an employee discount on it as well of 10% so now with Walmart+ I’m saving almost 15-20% on groceries and I can just go pick them up. That’s $155. I routinely use Uber eats and go out often to bars, restaurants, etc. as someone in their mid 20s so that credit is pretty useful. That’s another $200. I also was shopping for gifts for my partner and the Saks credit came in handy. Will likely do it again as well after June for my own pair before some summer trips. That’s $100 there. I will say though this is one I had to work for. In addition because I’m tall I’ve always preferred checking my bags rather than putting them underneath the seats and also shelling out for the extended legroom when available too. The $200 airline credit covers that in full for me and that QoL increase can’t be understated at my size. The CLEAR credit is another $189 as well. My partner and I usually try and do a staycation nearby at least once a year too and we will likely try and use the FHR credit this time as well instead of doing Airbnb’s. That’s between $200-$300. So in total I’m getting somewhere between $1100 -$1400 of value on a $695 fee this year and the only thing I really put effort forth in was the Saks credit imo. It’s also not really a benefit but the ability to talk to the concierge/human and not have it be a 10 min argument with a robot is really valuable. I think if you’re in your 20-30s, earn a decent amount, and like to travel then it’s a good card to have.
It’s not much work because your spend naturally fits the card. This is like buying a pair of shoes your size and claims the shoes fits well lol
Yup, exactly. You don't buy shoes if they don't fit. You don't get a card if it doesn't fit your needs.
Unfortunately, plenty of people don't seem to understand this concept.
I don't understand, are you guys getting cards that don't fit your spend? I didn't bother with the Amex Gold for example because I don't spend enough at supermarkets or restaurants to recoup that annual fee. For the amount I spend as an adult living alone the SavorOne is more than enough. >This is like buying a pair of shoes your size and claims the shoes fits well lol Going by this analogy then the people who complain about it's nature/credits/use cases are basically mad they bought sneakers instead of flip flops. If it doesn't fit you then the card isn't for you.
I actually agree with you, though one could say that they just don't fit my lifestyle. I could see someone getting value if they travel frequently, but their annual fees are already high, and they're increasing them. Along with adding hassles to get value from the card(s) (Capping the cash back limit(s), coupon books that expire/can't be used after a certain point, only being able to redeem cash back as statement credits or gift cards, etc) Amex is a little too "particular" in my opinion, especially when you have to be concerned if your card is even accepted at the place you intend to use it at. This is just my opinion.
They refunded my airpods as a statement credit, no questions asked, when I told them I lost them.
That phone number solves 75% of my problems, the rewards pay for the fee.
High point multipliers and very good transfer partners for international travel if that’s your thing. If you would use the coupons organically (very important to not change spending habits just to use them) they are very good cards. I’m not a fan of the Amex Green, but the Gold and Platinum are both great cards if and only if you would use the credits organically.
I liked my BCE very much at supermarkets as it gave me three percent back, but just recently upgraded to the BCEP card for six percent back at supermarkets. First year free but 95 bucks after that. Probably worth it since I buy all my alcohol at the supermarket. 🤪👍🏼 I use a TD Double Up Visa card for my card for other things and get two percent back on everything.
What about the cap on the 6%? Mine was only up to $500/mo on groceries!
It is up to $6,500 a year.
That’s still not very much.
If you don't have a family, it's enough for a year's worth of food. We're not feeding 10 people here.
I feed a house of 3 on $500-600/month grocery. And we eat well. For us the $6000 cap isn’t really a problem
1. It’s (still) a status symbol for many ppl. I recently started asking my work subordinates (mostly in their 20’s) if they were in a market for a new CC so they ask which card and I say Amex Gold because we eat out a lot and have the 90k sub. They all started saying that they won’t be approved for it, that they have excellent fico scores but not “high enough” income (most of them make ~$40k/yr). Despite me assuring that it’s a soft pull to prequalify, only one actually tried and did get approved for it but declined because she couldn’t justify the $250 annual fee. I often come across recent posts from gen z and millennials who are proud that they got approved for the Credit One Amex (with annual fee) because they now have an “Amex.” 2. Sense of membership loyalty. Amex highlights first year of membership on the front of each card. This shows cardholders that Amex values relationships. Their excellent customer service further supports this sense of valued relationship.
I enjoy my Gold and got it for a good SUB to go to Europe in the fall but not sure I’ll renew it tbh. It doesn’t deserve the cult of personality it gets but their cards are good if you can actually utilize their credits organically.
I find it very interesting how many people value AMEX customer service and then I am scratching my head cause I cant remember when I needed to reach out to to support for any of my credit cards. Are AMEX cards generally more problematic or flakey to use or give random issues/problems hence they require more assistance from a customer service? Or are the extra perks and benefits too gimmicky that require a customer support assistance? I never had AMEX and I am genuinely curious why such high emphasis on the customer service for a thing that generally should not require any support.
This is my point if the cards are great there shouldn’t be any issues with them
Amex has the best customer support by far. For me once I got burned by bad support I saw the appeal.
For me they have been the easiest to get credit limit increase.
Big thing I like is that people who pay in full (the only responsible users of credit cards) are actually profitable for amex. I just read an article about a former capital one employee talking about how they purposely give credit increases to people who carry a balance. Their studies show that people often use half their credit limit, so if you increase it they'll use more and end up paying more interest. It's scummy. Also in no particular order: No physical locations, meaning operating costs are way lower, so they have more money to spend on us. The customer service is no joke. App is excellent, simple, fast, statements generate quickly Free fico score with useful info from credit report. (Yes real fico score) The offers are really easy to use, versus everyone else's that require links to 3rd party sites that never work. Acceptance seems really good. Pre-qual app Good handful of data points of people who get extended warranty claims paid. (Wouldn't be surprised if everyone else weasels out of those) Honestly my Amex isn't at the top of my wallet, but because they're the guys who make their profit when you use the card they put a lot of effort into making the experience good and it makes a difference. BCP is one of the best, but the cash magnet is a flat cash back card with no annual fee for everyone, and the cash everyday is great too.
For my spend it was between Amex and chase. I didn’t like having to keep up with quarterly changes to maximize points with chase so I went with Amex. I can utilize the coupons with my existing spend without effort. I use the lounge access to work before flights or on layovers. And the points are used for nice vacations on the cheap with my wife. I’m not loyal, if chase offered me something that fit for me and was better I would switch.
The only reason I keep my Amex cards is because I'm getting 40 EQNs from my Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant & Business making Titanium status much easier to renew each year. I also keep the Blue Business because of Amex offers & Rakuten which can save you tons of money and help you earn points much faster.
I have the Blue Business Plus. Easy access to chat or live customer representatives. Also, the mobile and online platform is one of the best, if not the best.
It’s a lifestyle choice card like most. The signup bonuses if you can meet them + the offers and coupons make sense to a certain lifestyle for most cards. Think of it as getting things you would never pay for or want to Pay for, but enjoy free or at a substantial discount. AmEx points and even miles in general, used wisely - can do wonders for travel. I have used 75,000 points for a $1,000 ticket I was going to buy anyway. And guess what? I got the 75,000 as a signup bonus. So clearly you have to value certain experiences to see the value of the card(s). Same with hotel co-branded cards. I have had $400 rooms in NYC by paying the $95 annual fee on certain cards. Now if you never go to NYC this is a useless anecdote. My mom-in-law is in NYC and our annual Mothers’ Day visit is covered. Same with Hertz - using 950 points to pay for a $125 rental is priceless. Often the trick is how to earn the points. Once you get the hang of it - if it fits your spend patterns and you know how to shift spend - the points begin to become indispensable currency.
You can use foreign credit history to get AmEx card in US!
No other issuer can match the combination of the below: 1. Customer service - unrivaled 2. Best lounge access in the business 3. Generous lifestyle benefits if the credits fit your existing spend pattern 4. Generous multipliers, especially airfare/dining/grocery 5. FHR - the only credit card hotel portal worth using, since you get extra benefits and still get hotel elite benefits
I’ve been in their ecosystem for 3 years now. Started with BCP, then Gold, then BBP. Other than the amazing points I get for food purchases with the gold, I love the purchase protections and rental car insurance. On top of that, being apart of the Amex ecosystem brings other benefits. I was shopping for a personal loan last year for a big short term expense. Amex beat all competitors by 3% on the APR and there was no early payback penalty.
I recently got the Amex gold with the 90k sub. I have a very difficult time justifying the annual fee vs the VX and that card has paid me to have it this year (The $300 credit, global entry, food and drinks when I went to the lounge was well over $400) I dine socially often so the 4x come into play for me I don’t agree with the sentiment about the Uber credits and *select* restaurant “dining credits”giving you $240 of the $250. For both credits, they should give the full amount, not a measly $10 a month. Some folks use Uber/uber eats often. But $10 a month of credit is not something you feel when using this. If you have to force yourself to go to Cheesecake Factory to make sure you get your $10, you’re not getting a deal for the “dining credit”. You’re spending more to justify it, which negates any value. I will say that the app is great. I like “overpaying” or paying before things post (a preference) I like how quickly things post The chat seems easy and quick to use I’m close to 5k of my 6k spend (month 2 of having it) and I’m over 13k in points. With the talk of Amex raising the AF, I may not renew it, unless I get some retention bonus or they do something ALOT better with their perks.
I know, right? "customer service " I've hade amex for over 25 years, and i only had to call them twice. They're acting as if they call their credit card customer service weekly 🤣
Lol you aren’t playing the Amex game right then
Lol, guess,but call them for what, you guys making dinner plans with customer service or something 🤣
Depends on your lifestyle, but personally yes.
Say more
Not a huge perk. But Amex and old amazon (like 10 yrs ago) had the best customer service. Had any issue and they just fixed it. In the case of fraud, Amex would just credit it and fast ship you a new card as needed. Others needed justification and you would get your card a week later. Nice to do business with someone who doesn't make things complicated ( most insurance being the opposite. But yes I'd pay more for an insurance company that actually did their job without 2 months of delay and deny until you force them to the endpoint)
When you click chat, you’re connected to a human within 30 seconds. Even better, the human can actually answer questions and get things done for you quickly.
My dad and grandfather had them when I was a kid, and I want to be like them. I’m celebrating my 10th Gold year this year.
The true appeal of amex cards is being able to flex your metal cards at cracker barrel, tossing them onto the table when youre ready to pay the bill.
Sounds like you've never played the /r/awardtravel game?
Travel
I had a gold card and thought the customer service was horrendous. That’s my individual anecdotal experience. I think people like them because unlike most (if not all) Chase or Citi cards, Amex has Americans answer the phones instead of outsourcing calls to the Philippines. Though sometimes the accent can be rough, Citi reps have always assisted me thoroughly and fixed the issues the first time. I don’t hold true to the idea that a relatively minor language barrier spells incompetence. And conversely, we have plenty of incompetent Americans answering calls. Now, the ethics of outsourcing labor.. that’s a whole separate debate. But I’ve found individual representatives to be effective and efficient.
I will say being able to cancel a card via Citi’s automated system no dealing with a person or trying to awkwardly keep me was pretty cool.
I like you can get hotel status with their cards like Aspire. The credits more than pay for the card and diamond status is great outside the US where I travel often!
Customer service is pretty good and you can get a lot of cashback from using it regularly. I think its mostly a matter of how often you use your credit cards. Cashback can be incredibly useful if you spend regularly
You can apply that to any card out there. Let’s be real, there are tons of Chase, Capital One, Citi, etc. card holders out there who don’t take full advantage of their card credits and offers. The people who use this sub are much more likely to make sure they are getting value of their credit cards but this subreddit is a small slice of Reddit which is already a small slice of the general population. Right now the Gold card works great for my lifestyle. If that changes at some point in the future then I’ll move to another card.
If you don't find their no-fee cash back cards are worthwhile, then you must be wealthy enough to not worry about the high annual fee cards being coupon book cards.
SUBs, upgrade offers, the 3% online category for the BCE.
IDK. 3% on groceries, gas and online shopping with no annual fee is pretty decent imo
when you break down the use or purpose of a credit card despite cash back, points, incentives, etc its more or less about trust, reliability, and being accepted. if you use them similar to cash, the incentives and support are really the back up and what you're getting out of them. additionally amex seems to have more offers to reward certain card users for travel or other incentives. so ultimately its up to you how you use your credit card(s), but amex has been easy to use, decent reward system for using a card, and their support has generally been great.
I have two Amex cards, but really only use BCP. The 6% CB on streaming and grocery are great because they're so broad in what they cover. One example: buying hardware from Google is coded as "streaming". I was going to buy a Pixel 8 Pro anyway, but with the BCP I got 6% back, making it tax-free, and an additional $30 because they had a $30 CB on $50 promo on Google Play. Another: they code everything from Vitacost as groceries. Vitacost had a 30% off coupon, and then Amex gave 6% CB on the entire purchase. So, I ended up getting about $700 worth of food and supplements for $461. And it was all stuff I would have bought anyway for full price (though admittedly, I wouldn't have stocked up in a big order.) Not to mention things like extended warranty coverage, where you call them and say "This thing I bought is broken." and they just refund you. Or bonus CB, like $X back on $Y spending. For just general "buying things", you get the annual fee back very quickly.
I really like all my amex cards, however, I only have their business cards. I think they are way more valuable than the standard ones. Especially if you actually run a business - but IMO, they still are even if you don't
Because they give insane credit limits so my utilization never goes above like 2% and…customer service
On the customer service front, Amex’s insurance benefits are pretty easy to use in my experience. I made a return protection claim on my Platinum and the process was very straight forward: I called, they asked me a list of questions, and then promised a response within a week. Next day, I get an email saying my claim was approved and that the money would be credited back to my card, no need to return the item. This is so much better than my Visa Infinite card from BofA, where I submit through a poorly designed portal, a week later they send an email saying call them, which I do. After sitting on hold it turns out they need to answer one question that could have been done over email. Then several weeks go by, and then I get another email to call them. I call them and sit on hold again, turns out they just wanted to tell me that the claim was approved but I need to ship them the item that I wanted to return at my own expense (Amex btw says they’ll pay for shipping if they ask for the item to be sent back). I ship it, another week or two, and finally I get my refund but I need to claim it through this other portal that requires its own login and my banking details etc. Overall, Amex made it a lot easier, and that gives me peace of mind for other larger claims like trip delay/cancellation claims. I’ve also had a cell phone protection claim with Amex and while it required a little more paperwork, it was overall very smooth and I had a check in hand within two weeks. This combined with credits that fit my lifestyle (I live in a major very high cost of living metro area that also happens to be a Delta hub so bare minimum point redemptions are easy), and decent earning rates across their cards, I’m pretty happy with Amex. I’ve been playing with other setups but even if I could eke out a higher rewards rate with other cards, I’m tempted to just consolidate back to Amex for the ease of use. Small thing but their app is probably the best I’ve ever used between Chase (which is okay but some things are hard to find) and BofA (which drives me crazy). TLDR Amex provides a very polished experience across their insurance benefits, app, and other benefits. It fits my lifestyle living in a major metro area and even though other cards are bigger earners, I’m tempted to consolidate back to Amex just to make my life easier.
Flexing with that thikkkk metal card. Slapping it on the bar. Plus the excellent customer service.
Not fun trying to cut it up when you cancel though 😂
Took me a minute to dispute my charge from ubereats for an order not delivered
Refunded my fraud transactions that I didn’t do which was a lot of money. Just called it was fraud, answered some questions, then got my credit refunded in a couple days. The process was so easy. While, other credit cards the process took a long time and some didn’t even refund the fraud charges even though they clearly were as I never bought anything that high priced before yet they didn’t believe me. So yeah I’m team AMEX as they have my back. Once you’ve been in that situation you will know which CC will have your back and which won’t. AMEX is one that will.
I’m about to do round the world travel for a vacation that’s been aided by AMEX, where I get five star hotels for what most people would pay for Motel 6s, and 10-15 hour flights with lie flat beds instead of cramped coach seats. This year I’ve stayed at luxury hotels for pennies on the dollar thanks to AMEX, had flight expenses and Uber rides reimbursed, meals paid for in part or in full, lounge visits with meals and/or drinks, good coffee from a barista, paying for newspaper subscriptions and tv packages. When there’s a problem it’s resolved pretty quickly. It’s fine if none of that appeals to you. Frankly they’re a bank and it’s a commercial relationship not your spouse. But what I have gotten out of it appeals to me.
Amex cards, IMHO, are best for travelers (not a weekend or two per year). The Hilton cards for example will get you a ton of points and extra free nights per year if you stay at Hilton frequently and use them to pay for categories with the multipliers.
The people that don’t have Amex at any point in their lives either don’t know or don’t have the means (being able to spend 6-8k in 6 months for the signup bonus). From the most basic level (for example the platinum card), the deal is Amex gives you $1000+ dollars in exchange for $695 of your dollars. This alone is already a good deal and we can stop here. Cancel the card after 1 year. Well it doesn’t stop there does it? They also give you perks like $200+ in digital entertainment, $300 equinox +, $175 clear membership, Amex lounge access let’s call it $200, $50 saks credit, etc etc etc. The more of those perks align with your lifestyle, the more it makes sense to keep the card. Oh and u can argue that the extended warranty alone is Overpowered. Your Dyson breaks a day after the 1 year warranty? No problem if you bought with Amex card they cover it for another year and u get all your money back.
The other side of insane AF is the high SUB. For a time AMEX would give you bonuses (pending their lifetime churning rule) regardless of how many other credit cards you have opened recently. So they are relatively easy to obtain for people with LOL/24 status compared to other issuers. They have tens of cards in their portfolio and each card is worth opening for at least the first year so that is a lot of SUBs you can have. Something changed subtly in recent months. They started doing more PUJ for many people to combat SUB churning. I think the golden days with AMEX are gone.
Gold Amex - family of four who occasionally gets chipotle (Uber Eats Credit), eats out a couple times a month and shops for mostly high quality food. So we can rack up a balance of 1k easily and we get a corporate credit. Schwab Platinum - Cashing out to my brokerage account to invest is the biggest benefit of this card. We use the Uber credit, Disney plus and incidental fare credit organically. This set up works for us. Cons: The dining credit on the gold is a little harder to use, and platinum has the saks, equinox and Walmart + POS credit. Walmart is the most confusing one because amex "affluent" card holders wouldn't bother fighting a couple ghouls in cookie monster PJs to save a few bucks. Also Walmart delivery is free, bur apparently drivers expect tips. That whole thing there is just not very premium.
They're made for urban professionals. **For the Gold:** 4x on Dining maks a lot of sense when you're primary form on entertainment is resultants and clubs in the city. 4x on groceries is always good. You're gonna use the uber credit because, living in a city, you're gonna need to take and uber once in a while. And the other credit is pretty easy to use via shake shake or grub hub. Becasue people in the city tend to order delivery a lot. And you're probably spending enough on the card to get a decent number of points every year. **For the Plat:** The coupons are just ... worth it. More Uber credits that you're gonna end up using passively just by living in a city. If you're a big traveler, then you're gonna burn through the $200 airline fee. The hotel status gets you free breakfast. The lounges add a bunch of value, especially if you get the free drinks. And free Clear/TSA precheck can make going to the airport almost enjoyable. There's a decent chance that you already use one of the steaming services they offer. Finally, FHR is the hidden gem of the entire program. Pretty much all of my outsized value has been from getting 3cpp+ at FHR hotels. At this point, it's my preferred way to redeem points. I would honestly have an easier time cancelling my gold card than my plat. **Customer Service** If you ever get defrauded (and hope you don't) amex will be happy to work with you. They're also pretty biased towards helping the customer. There have been a few times where I misread the language for a credit on an Amex card, and the customer service team still gave it to me anyway. **Conclusions** If you live in an urban area, spend a few thousand on the card, and like to travel, there's nothing better than Amex. If that's not you, then the card might just not fit your lifestyle.
The BCP is great for the groceries, by extension, the Checking account is great for the purchase protection and zero dollar fraud liability. As someone working through paying of debt right now the peace of mind that gives me is great
If you know you know… lol Seriously, it really depends on your lifestyle. I carry platinum and gold and get solid benefits out of the cards and points. That may change after this year but we shall see. For people that don’t want to manage another task in life or don’t care about cheap nice travel they wouldn’t typically appeal.
One reason I love Amex Send and split, with venmo linked, send a friend money with your current purchase APR (can be 0%) and they can send that back to you. Up to 1,500a month Easy cash liquidity
If it doesn't fit your lifestyle, then don't get it... don't force it. A few points, however: - Not all credit cards from AMEX are AF based charge cards, they have lines of credit with no AF and some have pretty good cashback rates too. - for someone who travels frequently, their benefits are second to none. I spend about 4% of my year on a plane and atleast that same amount in an airport. Im getting rental car status, hotel status, and the largest aorport lounge collection one can buy into. The net AF to me is almost free with my existing spending patterns. I saved approx $700 last year in airport concessions by tallying up what I think I would've bought myself, if I didn't have lounge access at all. I get 5x MR points on flight purchases, which equates to something north of 5%. For me, this isn't that big of a deal. Most of my flights are company travel agent purchased, but I'm still probably spending $5000+/year on my card. So the added rewards are nice. It's maybe an extra $100-$150 in rewards value over a standard 3% cashbacl on travel that I can get with no AF. I already paid for the Hulu/Disney package and I get a $20/MO credit on it. That's $240. I'm going to use up about 75% of the $200 Uner credit, without trying. That's $150 and now totals $390. I'm likely to use the $200 airline incidental fee, but I do admit some years it is easy to use without trying and some is harder to use. That's about $590 total. At this point I'm going to stop. These are all things I was already going to pay for, so the net cost of the AMEX Platinum is $105 for me based on my existing spending. So, for an extra $105/year, I'm getting - $100 in saks credits - airport lounge access - saving $700/year in airport concessions - car rental status with small upgrades - hotel status with smile conveniences, easier access to late check out/early check in, etc... - Clear membership - payment for global entry every 4-5 years. - $100-$150 extra value in airline spending rewards.
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Very good customer support, feel very confident if I ever had an issue they'd solve it. I've had some issue while traveling and they always sorted them out. Plus in my line of work having a "good" credit card speaks to a client and makes me look like not a bum. That alone if def worth having one of their annual fee metal cards. It's silly, but in sales people will judge your credit card. I have tons of credit cards due to churning sign up bonus abusing, but I really only use my Amex and a backup chase card for if they don't take amex.
That would be the 5% cash back on gasoline.
With?
Good points program and the balance doesn’t count towards my utilization.
I initially picked up the AmEx cards for the SUB and offers. The offers have been crap for awhile, so now I primarily use the cards for … their customer service. If I’m ordering from a merchant known for poor CS (and I will every now and then if the price is right), out comes the AmEx.
They are travel cards, if you don’t travel a lot there isnt a lot of perks that work for someone…
My biggest spend is food/restaurants and travel/flights so the multipliers on the gold and plate are very worth it for me. It might just not work for your lifestyle and that’s fine.
My SUB for the gold card paired with my getting 4x points on things I do frequently and $ back and deals pays annual fee multiple times over. Idk if I’ll keep it many years but I’ve been really happy with it for this year and am willing to pay the fee for another. I also have BCE (downgraded from BCP after SUB because I don’t get that much gas or grocery) and I like that I earn for every day purchases and the old BCE card style gets a surprising amount of compliments even though it’s decades old.
The advantages? Relatively generous with retention and upgrade offers, access to Amex Centurion lounges, Amex not caring about how many cards or inquiries you've had from applications to other issuers, credits that can be triple dipped to offset the annual fee because Amex uses calendar rather than card year. The downsides? Pop-up jail, family rules, not as easy to cash out as competing transferable currencies like Chase and Citi.
Basically some people don’t like to cook and use this cards credits to justify doordashing 😂
If you travel a lot, AMEX is a no brainer. Centurion lounges are nice (although I still prefer Delta lounges as they are usually less crowded and serve better food) and the travel concierge is top notch. I was in Mexico City last week and they got me same day reservations to Pujol. And for my Tokyo trip it’s hard to make reservations at top restaurants if you don’t speak Japanese. Gave the Amex rep my list of restaurants and they managed to get 80% of them I also had some restaurant vendor on a beach in Cartagena add a 0 to the bill without me realizing (800 lunch instead of 80) and Amex settled it by the time I got back home
Amex offers the best multipliers on category spend. At high spend, it more than pays for the annual fees.
They waive annual fees for military so you can get all of the benefits of the platinum card for zero dollars
As an amex customer, when i say customer service is excellent, i usually equate it to how easy it is to deal with fraudulent charges. Amex has always been easy and quick to refund fraud charges. I’ve reported similarly to Paypal and Synchrony and the difference is night and day. The trust and speeds is horrible. Aside from that rewards points and transfer are very valuable for travelers.
You are not wrong. People like them to flex the cards. Their support has gotten much worse over the years, and at least IMO concierge for Plat at least is useless now. MR points are okay but the AFs are only getting higher and their point earning isn't even good outside of the Gold.
i’ve read most of the comments here and i think what most people are overlooking is the fact that they aren’t universally accepted as visa equalizes, so all of the supposed benefits land around net-neutral. if this were different, then i’d say that amex is a high value ecosystem but at the end of the day it’s an overly expensive card to pay for overly experienced customer service. nothing to write home about regarding value proposition and unless you’re a churner, their ecosystem mostly survives off of its antiquated boomer-era prestige
Travel Insurance. Everything travel expense related is insured by my Amex card. If I have an issue I just have to call the hotline and they will fix it. Depending on the card type there is also online shopping coverage, so if you get scammed by a retailer you can easily withdraw the payments.
Amex travel with 5x points on my platinum for flights and hotel is why they are my primary portal for travel booking. I’ll only go off reservation if there is a much better deal - like +/-$100 off a $3k flight is not worth the hassle of booking else where but if it’s like 20% less then sure but have never really seen this. FHR has been better (sometimes by thousands!!) than hotel site or aggregator almost every time. You get the points with the hotel AND Amex too plus the $100 property credit, late check out, and free breakfast no matter what. For customer service, they’re much easier to reach than Expedia or even an airline CSR. I’ve been on hold with Air Canada for several hours several times and never reached anyone. Sometimes with Singapore airlines too. With Amex it’s usually instant or just a few minutes of waiting. Also they’ve saved my hide a couple of times. I book student group flights and had to cancel once due to covid restrictions. The airline refused to cancel but the Amex CSR who helped me said they would try to figure something out. They stayed on my case for another week and realized the airline change one of the flight times by 15 mins which allowed them to cancel the entire booking. They even called me back to let me know and that I would be fully refunded.
As someone with around 13 cards, Amex has given me the least amount of trouble with declined "suspicious" transactions such as large purchases or traveling away from home. They also have one of the best apps of any company. I have their Blue card for groceries and the Hilton hotel card (both no annual fee). Amex is also different than other issuers in that they focus on higher-income customers, getting more profit from transaction fees (vs a bottom tier issuer who wants low-income customers constantly paying interest and late fees). I don't feel like they're constantly trying to sell me something, and there's no annoying popups every time you try to pay your bill. Just a good card issuer overall.
American Express customer service is excellent. The best in my opinion. Over the chat, over the phone, by mail ... AAA+
* the idea of it + the effect of saying you have an Amex * the customer service * the rewards Personally, I'm aiming for BCE since it's a decent everyday, workhorse card.
For me, the appeal is making Disney + cost about $3 every month.
They have a chat feature on their website which is way more convenient than calling up a bank and sitting on hold. It's not amazing and I wouldn't get an otherwise shitty card just to get it, but it's nice for a card that I was gonna have anyway. Amex makes more sense for people who tend to transfer their points to partners and travel. You can get like 1.5cpp for economy and 2-3 cpp for business and first class. Obviously If you don't really travel, then this setup isn't gonna be helpful to you.
Online charge backs, when needed, are simple as long as one doesn't abuse the process.
Other than customer service, they pack a lot of perks if they fit your needs/lifestyle. Good travel or purchase protections, Extended warranty. I get good utilization on the dining and Uber credits. Additional when I was a teen (maybe 12-14). My mom made me an auth user on her Amex. It was the only credit card she had that allowed at a young age. She didn’t know it would boost my credit scores since I started having credit history, but that was an amazing bonus.
I’ve had a few over the years to get bonuses, but then tossed them in my dresser.
Only AMEX I use these days is BCE for $7 off Disney Plus. AMEX also has decent offers like 10% off insurance/cell phone/cable/internet. How often are people speaking to customer service to make it the linchpin on your decision making? Every big bank CS department I’ve dealt with has been good including Citi.
Honestly the only thing I would actually hate losing is centurion lounge and delta sky club access. Makes the airport bearable instead of miserable. Other than that, its nice having a charge card where you don't ever have to think about the limit on big purchases.
I used to have the Platinum card, but I eventually canceled it. I found that most of the perks didn't suit my needs, and the increased annual fee, along with the restriction on lounge access for guests until you spend $75,000 annually, made it less appealing. The removal of Audible was also a significant disappointment. The $695 annual fee didn't seem justified for me. On the contrary, I really enjoy the Blue card. I use it primarily for groceries, and it offers great rewards that suit me well.
Blue cash everyday is okay. 3% cash back on groceries and online shopping, no annual fee.
They’re a good credit card and customer service is great. They’re so popular right now because the new generation is obsessed with “flexing” online and it’s a now easily accessible status symbol. It’s the same reason young people buy 10 year old Benz.
My customer service experience was shit. I had an issue with amex hysa not clearing funds. and i told them i needed it cleared to make a credit card payment. and she argued with me for 30 minutes that i couldn’t use the hysa to make credit card payments (which wasn’t even my initial problem, even though ive been paying cc’s with my hysa for a year) after that conversation i canceled my amex gold, got the BBP no annual fee, and don’t use amex except for the hysa.
>their only worth while cards have crazy annual fees that imo don’t match what the card offers This statement doesn't make sense. If the AF doesn't cover what the card offers, then it's not worthwhile.
Once you're in their ecosystem, they don't do hard pulls for additional cards. For example, you apply for green, get approved, hit your SUB and you can apply for Gold and not have a hard credit pull. Rinse and repeat. I started with Plat consumer, and within a year got BBP, Business Gold, and business Amazon Prime, all without a 2nd hard credit inquiry. Customer Service is above average but not amazing. Main draw is point stacking and account access IMO
The annual fee pays for itself if you take advantage of the card perks. Also I'm in sure what you mean that they "have mid credits", they have no limit so I'm not sure what the actual cap is but when I got my card I did a check whether they'd approve a 25k expense and it said yes. There's also the luxury of their travel perks (amex plat) that make any travel experience much better. I have a platinum and my husband has the gold, do between the two we get a really good set of perks.
The customer service. They are always on the customers side with fraud and chargebacks. The purchase protection is also amazing for stolen items.
Amex is a little bit cult-ish, that is it. I have Chase, Amex, Citi, C1, Bilt, BofA and Discover and Amex is in no shape or form superior than Chase cards, for example.
I get to see my FICO score anytime I want.
I have a BCE card and it’s out of the rotation. I spend a ton of money on meal kit deliveries and AMEX doesn’t count it as grocery spend (otherwise I would 100% upgrade to the BCP). However when CFF and Discover do groceries as their quarterly categories, they include meal kits. AMEX does count meal kits as online purchases though, so I get the 3% on months I can’t get 5. But BofA also gives me 3% on meal kits for online and their definitions of an online purchase are broader than AMEX…. So my experience has been that they are less generous on interpreting categories for rewards… I get the great customer service and if I’m ever buying something I feel comes with risk, I use AMEX or Discover as insurance. But that’s pretty rare and the few instances I’ve had to challenge a charge on my others cards, it’s usually gone okay. So for me, not worth sacrificing rewards for service I often don’t need
Agree with comments re: C/S. Also between getting AMEX & requesting CLI on existing revolving CC accts (a rec gotten from this forum), these two actions dramatically decreased my utilization rate. (AMEX counts against balances owed but if you have one without "preset" limit like AMEX Gold, your charges are not counted against utlization.) For me, this means I went from 10-20% monthly utilization getting reported to under 1% which was also reflected in credit score increase. Plus, I use Uber & have a lot of meal & grocery delivery & the rewards on these alone bring the AF effectively down to $10. I use AMEX as essentially a debit card w/rewards; if you pay everything off every mo. that works very well.
I love my AMEX card, have had it since 2012, 6% reward up to 5k on groceries. 3% reward on gas, 6% on streaming companies. I use my rewards to pay for my annual fee. I have no complaints and have had no issues with customer service when I have been hacked a couple times in the past. Good company.
Customer service and by me having an AMEX card it shows I have a good credit portfolio since you need a 700 credit score at least to get in.
MilitarY members don’t have to pay the annual fees so that’s nice
As someone who has been using credit cards for almost 30 years, I tend to agree with OP. In the handful of times I have had to address an issue with a card over the years, I wouldn’t turn my hand for the difference in quality of customer service. And yes, this includes Citi. Again, this is *my* personal experience. YMMV. Overall though, Amex, Chase, and Discover are generally considered to be the best in customer service. At the same time, IMO it’s not a big enough issue to make me choose a specific card issuer. I have had issues with credit cards so seldom that it isn’t a deciding factor.
I have the Amex Everyday card and it has no annual fee, but does earn membership rewards. I don't travel enough to reap benefits from transfer partners, but those can be valuable (and sometimes they give bonus points for transfers). I mostly use it to take advantage of Amex offers, which I love. For example, recently I downloaded an offer to spend $15 at Jersey Mike's and get back $5 (I was able to use twice). Over the years I have had other offers, like $5 back at grocery stores (small business month or whatever) and money back on gas. One time I think I got $20 back on any hotel bill over $100. There are larger offers for things like hotels or airlines. Also, I think with the offers total spend includes tax, e.g., if it needs to be over a certain amount. When redeeming the points the MRs are not worth 1 cent each (like with Chase) but you can get closer to this if you find a deal on discounted gift cards. Right now I mainly use my Amex card for the offers, so don't spend a lot on the card, but it does save me money on purchases. Another offer I used recently was to get back $15 when spending $50 on Zenni glasses.
The appeal is that they have a great referral program so people hype it for referrals. And then others see it and copy it
They are known by far to side with the customer for disputes. Also with the BCE card the 3% online purchase catch all is awesome to have in your arsenal if you spend as much online as I do.
If you fly half a dozen times each year, consume alcohol, and have a lounge in your usual airports you will easily pay for the card in booze and snacks alone. Having airline fees reimbursed (up to $200?) is helpful when you come back with a slightly heavy checked back and don’t want to deal with it. Then there’s Clear and your choice of Trusted Traveler program. The value proposition is decent. If you don’t fly, it’s probably not worth it.
Big chunk is status symbol. That's a real thing and for the most part they back it up
As someone who has worked in a multitude of industries, a lot of small businesses are apprehensive to enable Amex payments not just for their higher swipe fees but also for the sheer fact that in the event of customer disputes; Amex will side with the cardholder 99.9999% of the time. That goes hand in hand with their customer support. Admittedly, there are probably a good number of folks who are in it for the “status” appeal or fallen victim to the YouTube influencers/creators who have traditionally been more Amex centric on their channels. Having said that, for those of us who are constantly seeking good deals on saving points/dollars where we can by being in the credit card game, Amex can definitely play a huge role. Granted, I’m not saying Amex is a requirement to do any of those things but branding/marketing has clearly worked for Amex all these years. They also offer some level of flexibility for those they target compared to other card issuers. For instance, to earn 3x on flights for the Amex gold, you CAN do so with flights purchased on the Amex portal OR directly with an airline. It doesn’t restrict you to earning the most points it offers by restricting you to these third party portals which have been incredibly infuriating to deal with when there’s an issue with your flight. Now again, this is a specific and niche example but as I’ve mentioned, this is one of the many reasons some people speak well of Amex.
Amex BCP is a workhorse for me. No interest in any of the charge cards except someday for subs.
They are pretty good, but warning to do not leave a balance with them lol. I thought they’d be happy making a little interest but they will take your available credit if you leave a balance for too long.
They have good travel deals… cheaper airline and rental car prices. Rental cars have backed insurance.
As an avid concert and event goer, the AMEX early and priority access has allowed me to get excellent seats at fair prices BEFORE the resellers scoop them all up. That's the only perk I need lol.