American Express Membership Rewards - Beat the high annual fees charged by American Express

Found this story at:
http://www.cardweb.com/


AmEx Fee Beater (6/27/00)

"Now there is a way to beat the high annual fees charged by American Express. Just keep $25,000 to $100,000 in your American Express bank or brokerage accounts. AmEx unveiled this week the American Express Investment Management Account Platinum Card. AmEx customers with a combined minimum balance of $100,000 in their AmEx Brokerage and/or American Express Centurion Bank accounts are eligible for the new card program. AmEx is discounting its $300 Platinum Card annual fee to $225 annually for IMA Platinum cardholders. Under the new program all card purchases and cash withdrawals will be directly debited from the customer's Investment Management Account. A Gold card version is also available for customers with a combined minimum balance of $25,000 in their American Express Brokerage and/or American Express Centurion Bank accounts. The $75 Gold card annual fee is totally waived. In addition to an American Express Card, the American Express Investment Management Account provides the following convenient features free, unlimited checkwriting and debit card use; ATM access with automatic rebates for surcharges, up to $1.50 per transaction,four times per month and no surcharges at AmEx ATMs; and online bill payment, free for accounts greater than $25,000. For more information visit the company's web site at americanexpress.com."

Oh, wow! $75 discount for opening a $100,000 account? Not that exciting.

d

true... true... But some may find this enticing?? I write the US$300.00 / year fee off on my taxes, so this would not apply here... But news nonetheless...

This promos have been known for a while...

For the Fidelity/AmEx Brokerage one, see: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum69/HTML/000066.html

AmEx Brokerage Acct: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum69/HTML/000168.html

In the UK: If you have a mere £ 500.000.- in your account they'll waive the annual £550 fee of the Centurion Card. (And with these sums I don't think you'll have to stick around long before the card is yours without any prior Amex history...)

In the UK: If you have a mere £ 500.000.- in your account they'll waive the annual £550 fee of the Centurion Card. (And with these sums I don't think you'll have to stick around long before the card is yours without any prior Amex history...)

Fidelity will pay for your AmEx Gold fee or $75 off Platinum fee if you have Fidelity account http://personal300.fidelity.com/global/search/content/americanexpress.shtml.bvsr

From http://www.valueconsumer.com/finance/brokerage.htm

------------------
For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for finance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com (http://www.valueconsumer.com)

No offense to anyone, as this may be a deal to some, but if I had $100K to keep in the account, I would probably not have a problem with paying an annual fee amount.

Correction: Seems like the IMA Platinum card behaves like a regular Amex (charge) card instead of a debit card as I had originally thougt absed on the description. Thanks, Steve, for clarifying this.
---------
Original Post: What you really get with this is an Amex Platinum DEBIT card. The interest you lose by having a debit card instead of a credit card (assuming you pay your credit card in full, of course), especially if you charge business expenses on your card, can easily exceed $75 a year.

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 02-07-2001).]

Originally posted by kyklin:
What you really get with this is an Amex Platinum DEBIT card. The interest you lose by having a debit card instead of a credit card (assuming you pay your credit card in full, of course), especially if you charge business expenses on your card, can easily exceed $75 a year.

I love the "ATM" feature of my Platinum Card... Even though it costs more, I rarely use it... BUT it keeps me safe by only having to carry one card...

The Amex Plat is a charge card, not a "debit" card (Visa electron, Maestro or european Eurocheque cards are debit cards...).

---
ATM Withdrawals : right DelrayChris, Amex is a good choice.
My Plat card allows for 40,000 FRF (about 5,700$) withdrawals every 7 days, for just 2% fee, and no conversion-fee in the Euro
zone !

Originally posted by ahrz:
ATM Withdrawals : right DelrayChris, Amex is a good choice. My Plat card allows for 40,000 FRF (about 5,700$) withdrawals every 7 days, for just 2% fee, and no conversion-fee in the Eurozone !

You gotta luv it... One card does it all... I have almost all of my bills going to the card... OH, you should check out the billcenter offered by AMEX, for those of you in the USA..
http://www.americanexpress.com/billcenter

The coolest thing I have seen... I have been using it for a few months, and it saves a great deal of time, for me that is...

Amex brokerage service is so bad it makes even MCI look good !

I have an AmEx Brokerage account with the free Gold card and it is a charge card which automatically debits your brokerage account once a month for the balance.

So, if my monthly billing cycle closes on the 5th, it will accrue all charges until then, and then it will automatically take the money from your brokerage account. You can call to have it stopped for that month if you want.

So, it works like a regular AmEx card, the only difference is that you don't have to mail in your payment, it is automatic.

.

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 02-07-2001).]