American Express Membership Rewards - Clear Amex - Why so many rumours?

I know this has come up before and everyone says it is an age old hoax.

However - I have had a few people swear blind they have seen a clear amex (I am not talking about the version of the blue/green card that has a clear section) and these people are in high spend businesses like Tiffanys.

Anyone know the truth?

Julian

Clear Amex... well, Blue from Amex is a card that is clear and has a central blue area... but that is a credit card available to everyone so I dont think thats what you are referring to....

I thought the only card above the Black (Centurion) was a White Amex.

I don't exist ;-)

The highest level AMEX card that I'm aware of is the Centruion Card, which is only available by invitation. I believe the card is black.

I also believe several members of this board have one.

I think a lot of people mistake the new "Blue" card for a "clear" card, since it is primarily clear with the blue chip in the center.

[This message has been edited by businesstraveler (edited 04-20-2002).]

I found this on another thread:

"The white card is actually the account card you receive with certain Private Bank products. It is NOT a charge or credit card. Amonst other things it allows withdrawls from AMEX cash machines and fee-waiver on certain FX products.".

Could this be the clear card everyone is referring to?

American Eagle (kinda sounds like American Express) has a "Clear" card. Maybe somebody was just confused?

American Eagle Clear Card
see: http://www.ae.com/crd_app/

haha.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by businesstraveler:
I found this on another thread:

"The white card is actually the account card you receive with certain Private Bank products. It is NOT a charge or credit card. Amonst other things it allows withdrawls from AMEX cash machines and fee-waiver on certain FX products.".

Could this be the clear card everyone is referring to?</font>

A friend's son has the WHITE Amex. It is above the black he says. His son is a NINE FIGURE guy, so it must be something special.




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Rol,

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by roland flyer:
A friend's son has the WHITE Amex. It is above the black he says. His son is a NINE FIGURE guy, so it must be something special.</font>

Lire? Pesos? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I believe one only needs to be a mid-six-figure (investable liquid assets) guy or girl to get Amex private banking, and hence the White Amex. But if you think $395/$2500 is expensive, you should see how quickly those private banking management fees add up.

The "Clear" AmEx card is a test market card issued with the AmEx Blue card. I ordered a Blue card for my wife and the "Clear" card arrived. I called AmEx to see if I could get one as well, since they looked so cool. She said that they are randomly selecting people to receive the cards and they cannot be requested at this time. The card is an exact duplicate of the traditional Blue card, it's just Clear. Looks very cool.

[This message has been edited by Bucko (edited 04-24-2002).]

You need to innvest $1m for an AMEX Private Banking. Once again the "White Amex" is not a charge or credit card so there is really no point in having one, it does not even have an AMEX 3xxxxxx account number on it.

There is no fee for the "white Amex" as it is not a charge or credit card. Private Banking fees? Mine were about $350 last year. The fees are hidden as investement transaction charges and deductions from returns on investements.

The highest level AMEX card is currently the Centurion or Platinum depending upon geography. Simple as that.


Nick

Some of the first Blue's issued were clear; however, there was some sort of problem with the plastic so they switched to an off-white color. Now they are experimenting with the clear card again on a limited basis.

Any way to request the clear version upon renewal of the old blue card?

FunnyNYC--No you don't seem to be able to request it at this point. It's by luck of the draw.

Blue from American Express; was originally a clear card. However due to a manufacturing defect, the card could not be read via ATM machines when cardmembers went to access cash. Further many POS terminals couldn't read the card's magnetic strip, therefore resulting in the inconvenient manual processing of a charge.

Ultimately many cardholders requested replacement cards, and AMEX decided to pull the plug on the card that's "like nothing you've ever seen before" and make it opaque.

Beginning in August 2001, certain account types were selected to have a semi-clear/translucent card to be issued upon replacement and/or card expiration. So far the test is going good, and the new plastic, which is a patented plastic of GEMPLUS in France, will be made available to all Blue cardholders. Additionally strong rumors are going around that the card will be even clearer, like holding a piece of glass.

Lastly, the Blue hologram is simply that and not the smart chip itself. The chip is the silver metalic piece on the left of the hologram.

Can anyone post a picture or link to it?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MaisonUnitas:
Beginning in August 2001, certain account types were selected to have a semi-clear/translucent card to be issued upon replacement and/or card expiration. So far the test is going good, and the new plastic, which is a patented plastic of GEMPLUS in France, will be made available to all Blue cardholders. Additionally strong rumors are going around that the card will be even clearer, like holding a piece of glass.</font>

My Blue card was issued in October of 2001, and is translucent as you described. Definitely interesting looking -- it gets a lot of comments from merchants. No problems with the magnetic stripe, so this "new" clear seems to be a winner.


[This message has been edited by GregLeg (edited 04-30-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by GregLeg:
My Blue card was issued in October of 2001, and is translucent as you described. Definitely interesting looking -- it gets a lot of comments from merchants. No problems with the magnetic stripe, so this "new" clear seems to be a winner.


[This message has been edited by GregLeg (edited 04-30-2002).]</font>

I agree, the card gets lots of attention when using. Especially during my travels in South America and Europe. Everyone loved it.

Although the mag strip works, my only problem is the signature part. It always smudges off, as does the account number printed on the singature panel. I suppose I use the card too often. I really would prefer a truly glassy looking card. I don't like that mesh/snowy/grainy look on the top half of the card.

gemplus are a french company, but based in canada. I just finished a project with them and the sim cards incorparated into credit cards including amex

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MaisonUnitas:
Although the mag strip works, my only problem is the signature part. It always smudges off, as does the account number printed on the singature panel.</font>

I guess that could be a problem. I hadn't noticed, since I always write "CHECK ID" on all my credit cards in big bold letters with a Sharpie marker so that it DOESN'T smudge off.

Back when I did sign my cards, I noticed that ALL of them smudged off eventually, so I don't believe that problem is unique to this plastic. It COULD be more vulnerable, though.

Those pens that are designed to write on CD-Rs are great for signing the back of credit cards.

Sharpies.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by GregLeg:
I guess that could be a problem. I hadn't noticed, since I always write "CHECK ID" on all my credit cards in big bold letters with a Sharpie marker so that it DOESN'T smudge off.</font>

The card is not valid if you don't sign the back of it, even if you write "CHECK ID" on it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum69/HTML/000951.html

Why would you want them to check your ID, anyway?

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daniel baker -- dbaker-flyertalk@ityt.com
Reliable, fast, unmoderated, and unbiased forums at ITYT. (http://www.ityt.com/forums/)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Merry:
Private Banking fees? Mine were about $350 last year.</font>

I thought they charged 1.0-1.5% of assets? And I thought the private banking houses brought down the minimums to $500K in the late 90s? Well, this question hasn't been relevant to me since the naz meltdown, so... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif