ma91pmh

it won't see leonard016's quote above

you can pay MB lease payments by visa/mastercard through chargesmart.com. it cost $12.95 per payment. the lease on my gl450 is $982 a month so this can actually make sense to me. i have also wondered what would happen if i simply pre-paid say a quarter or 6 months at a time to reduce the fee load. maybe i will give it a try to see what happens. at $12.99 it is basically costing me about 1.3 cents per unit, so for say chase ba which earns 1.25 miles per cent spend it's not a bad option

sspdx

Press release: http://about.americanexpress.com/new...b_cobrand.aspx

says no "no foreign exchange fees"...but when you go to apply, it says there is a 2.xx% fee. Not sure which is correct ?

mia

I believe you would trigger ChargeSmart's large payment security fee.

ma91pmh

mia what can I say you are literally the fountain of all knowledge

i did not even know about this, but it kind of kills the whole deal. the large payment security fee seems to kick in whenever the fee charged is < 2.65%. So even for my basic $988 monthly lease fee the final fee comes up as $26.21 not the $12.95 advertised on the front screen. Pretty darn deceptive of these guys frankly! (I can ONLY assume they hope people don't spot the additional fee on the last page otherwise why would they not include it on the first page when you enter the amount?? )

Oh well this one won't work. Though I may be tempted to run a handful of payments in this day and age of no mint to reach min spend on stuff like the BA 2-4-1 $30k requirement

xolinlevh

Hmm, when i talked to them about upgrading mine, i was told that there were no benefits lost by changing to the MB branded card. Which i took to mean no loss of PP or GE, etc. I got a confirmation notice of my upgrade informing me that i would receive my new card, and any supplemental cards, in the mail in 7-10 days. I'm guessing the T&Cs havent been fully ironed out yet due to how new this is.

r.brown

I agree, the terms are way too confusing and different sources say different things on what is or is not included. I want to make sure the MB one includes the Priority Pass and also GE (not that big of a concern though).

I have been waiting to sign up to make sure the MB Platinum really includes everything the normal Platinum does. It is a no brainer to pay the extra $25 / year for the MB addition for the 5X dealer points and also the $100 annual accessories certificate.

wesheltonj

Disclosure statement controls. It is the contractual terms. Last I checked it (8-25-11 @ 13:30 CDT) had a Forex fee (2.7%). Ad might say otherwise, I will alway believe the contractual terms over the ads.

leonard016

This may be a glitch just like other issues (no mention of Priority Pass Select and such).

sspdx

The link I posted is press release, not an Ad. So, its not that straight forward...

Called Amex customer Service and they confirmed that there is no Forex Fee.

xolinlevh

So my plat benz card just arrived today, and so far from the paper work it seems identical to the regular plat, just adding the Merc stuff.

The paperwork that came with it included the standard plat card welcome book, showcasing all the perks including the $200 airline credit, and purchase protection. went through all the papers and didnt see anything about the elimination of exchange fees, however it directs you to amex.com/plat so im assuming it has the same rules as the normal plat.

r.brown

Any mention of Global Entry?

How does the $100 Benz accessories work?

By chance get them to up the bonus points to 100K as people have with the regular platinum?

leonard016

Does it mention Priority Pass Select?

2tall4economy

So the play here is to find a dealer to let you pay in full on the card. Not sure if one exists but it's certainly worth hard negotiating to get someone to do so (apparently some do)... hundreds of thousands of MR points to be had.

xolinlevh

I believe the GE credit is included. As for the accessories, i skimmed the fine print on that and it said something about getting a certificate 6-8 weeks after your first qualifying pursuance. I will re-check the packaging when i get home from work this afternoon and report back exact details on both

the 100k bonus im not sure, i was wondering that in the back of my head, if this counts as a 'new' card and therefor gets the bonus points. Im twittering with @AskAmex about trying to get credited the 5x points for buying a Benz putting the down payment on my plat literally 2 weeks before the card launched (should hear back soon today). May call in to ask about that, would be great! ~25k points from the car, 100k from new card promo, all transfer to delta, 67% bonus right now? totals ~210k miles, Maldives here we come!


I didnt see that mentioned but i will go back over it again this afternoon and post what i find. But my thinking is its all included, all the paperwork referred me to check the standard plat site for more details.

r.brown

I asked @AskAmex on twitter if the MB Platinum included everything that the regular Platinum card did, specifically Global Entry and Priority Pass Select and their reply was.

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Yes it does. :0) You can view info at americanexpress.com. ^Courtney