There is another alternative card as I find out from my banking manager today - the Citi Ultima Card as it give 1.5 X more than the standard Citibank Platinum/Premier Miles card.
However the manager said they will have to confirm whether this has changed or not.
By Invitation only so unfortuantely can't just apply or just have enough $$ in ur account.
Citi Ultima Card is for Citigold Select Clients with excess of HKD 5MM net assets/balance.
Citi Chairman's Select Card is for Citi Private Bank (CPB) clients.
Also, if you think your credit limit is too high on the card, I strongly suggest you calling AMEX to lower it to approx 2 to 3 times your monthly salary.
A high credit line is not a good thing on your Credit Report. The Credit Report looks at net Credit Exposure on your Revolving (Credit Card) and Term (Mortgage/Personal) Loans. The high AMEX limit pollutes your credit report since banks will think you have too much credit facility and you may have difficulty in repaying such a large credit line, hence lowering your credit rating score and increasing the probability of default, and may cause banks to reject your credit application.
You can request a copy of your credit report from the card issuer if you've applied for a card within three months, regardless of the outcome of the application (approve/reject).
One thing that's beginning to bug me about the Amex card already - it's taking a very long time (meaning 3+ business days and counting) for transactions to reach the online records. Moreover, the amounts aren't coming off the available balance limit either, which, if really accurate, makes this cards extra attractive for fraudsters. On HSBC and Citi the available balance is decremented immediately the authorisation is pulled, and the details follow 24-48 hours later.
One thing that's beginning to bug me about the Amex card already - it's taking a very long time (meaning 3+ business days and counting) for transactions to reach the online records. Moreover, the amounts aren't coming off the available balance limit either, which, if really accurate, makes this cards extra attractive for fraudsters. On HSBC and Citi the available balance is decremented immediately the authorisation is pulled, and the details follow 24-48 hours later.
Yes this is my experience with other AMEX card around the world. However they do have the records readily available if you call them up, but it is a PITA when you need to review something online asap.
Yes this is my experience with other AMEX card around the world. However they do have the records readily available if you call them up, but it is a PITA when you need to review something online asap.
I've been quite happy with US AMEX tho. The credit balance is updated simultaneously, although sometimes the latest transactions may not show up, but that happens to my Citi credit card in the US too.
One thing I noticed is that the HK AMEX does not use the same system as US AMEX, because when I try to add my new CX-AMEX card into my current US account, the system forced me to create a new username for the foreign AMEX card. And the HK online account interface is so 1980's...
100% agree with you. I manage to lower the limit to HKD10000, which is not possible for other platinum Visa cards. Not even DBS AMEX black card (minimum HKD15000)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ssw207
Also, if you think your credit limit is too high on the card, I strongly suggest you calling AMEX to lower it to approx 2 to 3 times your monthly salary.
A high credit line is not a good thing on your Credit Report. The Credit Report looks at net Credit Exposure on your Revolving (Credit Card) and Term (Mortgage/Personal) Loans. The high AMEX limit pollutes your credit report since banks will think you have too much credit facility and you may have difficulty in repaying such a large credit line, hence lowering your credit rating score and increasing the probability of default, and may cause banks to reject your credit application.
You can request a copy of your credit report from the card issuer if you've applied for a card within three months, regardless of the outcome of the application (approve/reject).
It doesn't bother me at all - there are times when I've had to make multiple payments in a month to keep my Citi card under its $200,000 limit (e.g. when buying a couple of AONE3s) so it's nice to have the headroom. I'm just surprised that's all.
I just received my card today. The limit is high but again, I don't see this as a bad thing, especially given the following:
I have an upcoming large (for me) purchase in the US. I just did the math on this and am AMAZED...for a $9,000 purchase, if I put it on my US credit card, I'd get 9,000 miles. If I put it to this card, I will get 1 mile for 2 HKD for the first 20,000 miles...and the purchase price is 71,600 HKD (counting exchange rate). So 20,000 miles for the 40,000 spending, then an additional 7,900 miles for the remaining 31,600 spending, means
almost 28,000 miles for one transaction
I think I will put the purchase on this card rather than my US card
It doesn't bother me at all - there are times when I've had to make multiple payments in a month to keep my Citi card under its $200,000 limit (e.g. when buying a couple of AONE3s) so it's nice to have the headroom. I'm just surprised that's all.
christep I'm sure that's exactly the logic that leads to high line sizes being assigned. Unlike Citi, Amex appears to be taking potential behaviour like yours into account and trying to make it easier to buy "a couple of AONE3s" while staying under your limit. After all, if you've got a family of four travelling first class, 10K HKD isn't going to make it very far.
Just out of curiosity, my card was the TW version, and my limit is just what a normal Plat card would be in TW around HK$ 40~50K, and am I interpreting previous messages wrong or are you guys saying HK$10K is a high limit? That's strange...
No, 10K is a low limit (I see somebody above has lowered theirs to that level unless it's a typo). But the limits seem to be coming out a lot higher than that (like 10X).
My limit almost exactly matches the limit I had on my Citi CX card, though, now that I think about it. It's almost double my Amex Platinum credit card limit.
I'm doing some tests on exchange rates to see if AmexCX or CitiPM is preferred for overseas.
Well I made some purchases from Amazon.co.uk, one using my CitiPM and one using my AmexCX. The result is that, as far as I can tell they are both using very similar exchange rates for GBP-HKD. Using the figure and oanda.com as the base for interbank rate then Citi translated at 2.05% and Amex at 2.15% off the oanda figure. But given how volatile exchange rates are these days that could easily be intra-day fluctuations. In any case, it seems clear on the basis of this small sample (and two other GBP transactions that I made the next day) that Amex is basically at 2% for non-HKD, non-USD transactions, not 4% as might be inferred from the T&Cs.
Just more background info FYI, Visa and MC have their own published FX rates and fixing times. The issuing banks must use Visa/MC's FX rate as a base since V/MC's base rate is uniform for settlement purposes. Like christep mentioned, its approx 2% markup from interbank ask rate, and the issuing bank will add a small spread for themselves.
quite surprised it came so quickly, but the letter says its totally free access. US$27 for guest though (which is standard Priority Pass practice).
I lose my BA silver in September, so the card came at the right time.
Hoping to get mine by Friday. Faxed in the form last week Thursday (if I remember correctly) and have a trip to the US where I won't get lounge access without it.
To me, this is one of the main benefits of this card (other than a decent earn rate). When I'm on some random airline, I'm more likely to need to show up early due to operational uncertainties, so I can really use that lounge access precisely when I don't get it from my normal privileges.
After all, if you've got a family of four travelling first class, 10K HKD isn't going to make it very far.
