SpootyPuff

From what I read here, yes - I don't even make that much in a year.

I'm just a pleb hoping to win the AMEX lottery and being picked to be 'in the club'

I can afford the AF but not the minimum spend, and as such, isn't really the card for me; though it would be nice to have.

I've spent more than Cent's AF on frivolous things, at least this will give benefits I would use. Alas, I'll stick to my Plat for now.

stimpy

You don't have to make that much. You can make less than $100K and get a Centurion card with OPM. That's what most of us do here. Business travel.

SpootyPuff

^ah, makes sense - I'll have a better chance now

Although, my job is only regional... I have a small footprint to cover(all in-state).

I'll have to harass my accounting and finance dept to pay for the company's electric bill or something along those lines!

stimpy

Not sure that will work. I don't know how it works now, but back when Centurion began, you had to spend that $250K on luxury travel to get an invite. Fortunately for me the dot.com bubble was still expanding at the time.

YClass

UK is min income of $500k to qualify, though I'm sure, like everything, they make exceptions.

JK

With all due respect, I'm not convinced that's the case. I have a UK Cent, and AmEx have never asked me to state or prove my income (at least at the time I received my invite, which would have been based on the income I gave at the time of opening my Platinum charge card).

Sure, they can draw some conclusions from the spend on my account, but as others have said - that may all be business travel ultimately paid with OPM. In my case, that's not true - but for many holders, I know it to be the case.

I honestly can't help but feel that there really is no set criteria. The stars need to align at the time someone is reviewing your account, if they do, you'll get the pretty invite through the mail.

stimpy

That's certainly true in the US. Amex has never had any knowledge of my earnings. Just the history of my charges and on-time payments.

JK

Good to know. And so I resort to my deep undying belief that really is no set criteria for Cent invitations, and it really is a matter of your stars aligning.

That said, if anyone wants the card badly enough, I certainly don't think there's any issue letting AmEx know that. But reminding them what you earn, and which stores you spend your loot in, and how much you've spent on various buckets (luxury travel, handbags, Harrods etc) is unlikely to help one jot.

super-mileage-fan

If you apply for any credit card, you state your income.

I believe the credit card companies share/sell that data, so AMEX can probably figure out your income if you tell Chase your income. That's just an educated guess.

Even after getting my centurion, I got an FR. I submitted the requested docs, and AMEX hasn't bugged me for the many years since.

All you peeps obsessed with the card, please know that Centurion is barely worth it (or not worth it) for most people. I regret getting mine, but I am somehow justify renewing. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have gotten the card.

stimpy

There was, back around 2000-2003+ or so a set criteria that was easy to understand. But I think since the economic "crisis" Amex has become way more anal about giving credit to new customers and even to certain existing customers. Thankfully not me though.

YClass

I can say with absolutely no certainty what the criteria are only my experience from back in the day. I had been invited and so I asked what the requirements were and the agent was fairly open I suppose. Of course, they can be flexible any way they want with their own product - I suspect they are only guidelines.

However what I can say absolutely, is that the agent told me that they expect minimum annual spend of around Ł120k+ on the card and annual personal income of Ł300k, among other attributes. How accurately they check this, I don't know, but I was definitely asked the question. I might recall wrong, but I think he asked how much I earnt and then said "good, so long as its more than Ł300k" or something to that effect. Having received the invitation, as part of the final approval (more tick-the-box I presume), I had to send bank statements which would have shown my current account bank balance and regular income at the time. They then did a standard credit check as with any credit/charge card. I did ask why they needed it all, but they just said it was standard procedure as issuing a new product.

mia

It would be helpful if you mentioned the year, if you do recall.

YClass

Summer 2010 I think. Something like that. Could've been 2011.

SteveT

Amex can also enhance its Premium Card benefits to retain its customer base AND open up the Centurion Card membership as well.

emcnj

Called up centurion invitation line to get my account put on the map. Lets see how long and frustrating this process is going to be.

about 500k on plat last year, and close to crushing that number already for 2015.

I am also a Plum, Gold, and SPG Holder. Wonder if they will pool/aggregate spends across cards/companies.