donnyk

Slightly off topic, what is the status of Amex's contract w/ Aeroplan?

seanman571

I'm under the suspicion that the info originally posted on RFD regarding the new TD cards was a "controlled leak" from the folks at TD to gauge the people of the interwebs' reaction.

Who knows for sure. Fun to speculate though. As for Amex, expect some sort of "Reserve Card" and a possible cut in the AF of the Plat ($399 to compete).

donnyk

Hopefully TD is paying attention. If the information posted is real, these cards are fail.

Clipper801

Probably too late. All the promotional materials/advertising slots would have been printed/booked by now. The anticipated launch is just 4 weeks away.

I am more eager to see what Amex will come up.

The TD offer as posted in RFD is very disappointing if true.

Cana2013

At least pushed Amex to offer the 30k AeroplanPlus card with first year free. We are winners already.

markandrew

Truly uninspiring, but I actually believe this to be true. It really looks like something TD would come up with on the theory of "what is the minimum we can give and get people to sign up". There was a lot of talk from AP that there would be a suite of cards aimed at different travelers - domestic/transborder etc. All that has gone out of the window. The high end card is pitched like the Scotia Plat which also offer more or less nothing for $399. I have wondered whether anybody actually sign up for that card, and would have the same opinion re the TD card, in fact with their absurd household income limit, they more or less guarantee no takers as I would assume most $200k+ household use Amex as their primary card issuer.

canadiancow

Why?

My Visas seem to do a good job of meeting my needs. I've never found any AmEx card benefits worth it to me in terms of their annual fee.

markandrew

Amex gives more points, more benefits and more value for the annual fee, in addition to generally better customer care, service levels etc.

You travel a lot, most such travelers would rather have 2 miles per $ than 1. Of course there will be exceptions but I cannot see how many people would rather pay $399 for this product over $499 for Amex Aeroplat or Plat (Discounting the travel credit from the Plat annual fee which some will disagree with but works flawlessly for me).

canadiancow

I don't mean to say I'd pay $399. I'm saying I haven't seen any significant value in paying more than $100 for an annual fee. Lounge access, priority check-in/security...yay?

And the AmEx AeroplanPlus Platinum says it's only 1.25 points per dollar.

I'm not sure I put enough spend on a card that even 2 points per dollar would make it worth the additional $400 annual fee. I'd have to spend $20k to break even at 1cpm? I probably do that, but not much more.

Also, my TD card gives me 3x points on travel booked through them (effectively 4.5% cashback), and my Chase card gives me double points on travel, and both of those are roughly $100/year.

If it works for you, great, but I don't think it's fair to say that anyone with high income would see a benefit.

Cana2013

Usually people use multiple credit cards for different things to maximize benefits.

Many people sign up Amex cards for the welcome bonuses. And because the first year free offer, they get the bonuses with very little or no cost.

canadiancow

But now you're talking about churning, which is a completely different matter.

And you're either churning, or you're paying thousands in annual fees.

Cana2013

My family have both platinum and Aeroplan platinum cards with fees. I have been paying annual fee for keeping the Amex SPG card which gives best return/value overall IMO.

Vasco

I think this is the problem here. The more you spend, the more value you get from certain cards. If you're not even spending $20k per year, you might be better off with a straight cashback card.

I personally find that $699 for Amex Platinum is a fantastic deal, and I don't charge anything to the card aside from a car or hotel booking to get the $200 credit each year.

But I do agree with you that paying more than the current $120/year standard for anything other than the top-tier Amex cards is usually pointless.

markandrew

That is a U.S. card, you are comparing apples and oranges. I agree that U.S. V/M cards may give equal value to Canadian Amex cards but most of us cannot obtain.

We are in the AP forum, discussing AP card offerings. The best AP Visa card you can have now gives 1AP per $ on travel, Amex Gold Rewards which is priced comparably to the Visa card gives 2AP/MR per $ spent on travel. This is a +20,000 AP over the course of a year for me.

Your TD card gives you 4.5% return less the excess you pay to book Expedia over the cheapest channel which in many cases, for my travel plans, would mean that I would be losing money by using the TD card rather than being rewarded.

Ancien Maestro

No answers posted yet. But Amex is an exclusive with Aeroplan with no other competition. Amex is its own bank. Whereas Visa is offered by competing banks. Amex contracts seem stable over the years. The Amex cc offers seem to get better each year.

Perhaps others can chime into your question.