JHake10

Looks like AMEX sold it's prepaid business to InComm Holdings for 300 MM. I wonder if consumers would see any change on the AMEX gift card side.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...t-ends-in-sale

It seems AMEX will go back to its roots of focusing on wealthy/affluent customers

Gig103

Maybe this $300m will give them the money needed to compete against CSR & Citi Presige travel benefits (namely included trip insurance). Heck, I know I'd take the 3x MR and trip insurance over 5x MR, if the option was provided to me. But not enough to go to Chase!

JHake10

This is one thing I never really got with AMEX. They say the Platinum card is about benefits and experiences. Okay, I get that. But then they have sub-par insurance features and benefits compared to other cards. I'm all for a card with strong benefits an am willing to get less points in return. We'll see what happens!

tmiw

One fairly unknown benefit of Redbird (at least outside of FT) is that it's a chip and PIN AmEx with no FTF. I'm not sure the former will go away any time soon--if ever--but I wonder if it'll end up getting a FTF at some point. (Of course, one likely wouldn't turn to that card as a first or even second option when traveling overseas, but it's still nice to have.)

Kagehitokiri

JHake10, cards with fewer cardholders can offer more

mikesyr18

AMEX Prepaid is a good example of how low they've fallen since the 80's and 90's.

Now anyone who shops at Walmart can pick up an AMEX card, even if they can't get a real checking account.

Not to say AMEX doesn't have their fair share of good cards, but just wanted to point out how ridiculously stupid it is for them to have a prepaid business.

gsxsilver

I guess you won't be pleased to hear that ~2 weeks ago I saw a bum on the street of sf with a hermes bag. Granted that I am not anywhere near an expert when it comes to lux bags, but that look freaking real.

tmiw

Keep in mind that other issuers have prepaid cards too (Chase's Liquid card, for example) so it wasn't completely unreasonable for AmEx to take a shot at it.

mikesyr18

Chase was never a prestigious card issuer.

tmiw

Not sure how that matters. In fact, I'm not even sure my experience with AmEx really jives with whatever reputation it may have had in the past, but that's a discussion for another thread.

mikesyr18

Because that was my original point.

notquiteaff

How did that impact you? And did you really go to Walmart to eyewitness that horrific scene?

Raffles

It does have an impact. Retailers are asked to pay more to accept Amex because it will apparently attract higher end customers with more to spend. When that aura goes away, Amex stops being able to attract the right partners.

tmiw

At the same time, if merchant acceptance is much poorer than with Visa/MC (most aren't high end establishments and possibly don't see attracting such customers as a priority, especially if it comes at a significant cost) and customer service/benefits aren't much better than other major issuers, why would someone use AmEx?

Fortunately, however, AmEx acceptance doesn't seem to be that much less common than Visa/MC--at least around here, anyway.

mikesyr18

The reason why customer service quality and the benefits have gone down is because Amex has had to lower their interchange fees, in combination with the economic crash of 2008. Amex should have never started promoting Small Business Saturday, Plenti, Serve and Blue Bird.

Amex cards aren't meant to be taken at your local mom and pop restaurant. The cards are meant to be taken at major retailers and high end stores. They should have just stayed in the business for those who are in the upper class with great credit scores. The management with the company has failed, so now you have a 66% merchant acceptance rate (the others have over 90%) along with benefits and customer services on par with every other issuer. Amex cards are meant to be a "customer's side first" card, where over 95% of the disputes go in the customer's favor no matter how ridiculous they are (that is the old American Express). People who carry an AMEX don't care the merchant acceptance is slightly lower because they'd typically shop elsewhere because of the advanced protections.

Yes, but rarely. I only go when I'm forced to, LOL.