LondonElite

Your first paragraph displays extreme selection bias. By definition everyone entering the area reserved for Centurion card members was a Centurion cardholder!

But yes, Platinum has recently been heavily promoted around the world.

MSPeconomist

When Plat/Centurion cards were good for multiple (but never all USA legacy carriers AFAIK) airline lounges, I always assumed that AmEx paid an entry fee (something like PP) but that it was greatly reduced because giving AmEx top customers lounge access encouraged them to use the airline.

When Plat was invitation only, the standards appeared to depend greatly on the region. In fact, way back, it was extremely hard for someone living outside of the USA (and a couple other countries) to get even the green card. Gold also was country dependent because of the credit line backed by a local bank.

mia

While you may not have given them this information, they have purchased it from agencies which are similar to, but distinct from, credit reporting agencies. I expect there are some EU/USA differences in this regard, but I daresay information is still available.


American Express' market position is different in various countries, and the standards reflect this.

LondonElite

Haha, I’ll leave it at no comment!

GUWonder

Given Amex is in the business of trying to comply with KYC and AML requirements for personal card accounts opened everywhere Amex opens retail personal accounts, I would say that at some point Amex would have put down something about income/assets for an account or that the account would potentially be subject to shut down. If you’re just an AU on an account where someone else’s name is noted as the primary, then Amex may indeed have little to no clue about the income/assets of you as an AU card holder.

notquiteaff

What agencies in the US aggregate asset information, and are brokerage firms like Vanguard, Fidelity, E*Trade etc. required or allowed to report their customers’ account balances or holdings on a regular basis? Or is this data “passed along” from mortgage issuers who may receive account statements in exchange for loans?

mia

Have look at this thread from some years ago:

Acxiom: an opportunity to see some of the data used to target USA credit card offers.

See also this recent article which is tangentially related:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/b...re-access.html

Consider also that real estate transactions, including prices, and automobile registrations are often public records.

When reading about these sources it is difficult not to focus on how accurate or inaccurate MY information is, but card issuers are mass marketers. They do not particularly care if the information they buy about me is accurate, only if it is typically accurate enough for their purposes.

LondonElite

I’m the account owner, the last time Amex asked me about income, employment, etc, was 20 years and two countries ago.

GUWonder

Not unusual for Amex to have outdated info for people who did a global card relationship type transfer with Amex, no less so if having done it years ago and repeatedly at that.

I do wonder what Amex will do with fees in various other countries for the premium Amex cards, as in some cases they have already hiked up the fees rather substantially within the past few years and absorptive capacity for big fee increases aren’t the same everywhere where Amex has local, de novo Platinum and Centurion card account owners. And that’s a small part of why I expect that any Amex product placed between Platinum and Centurion card types would come first to the US and may not really spread that much internationally anytime very soon too all the markets where Amex currently opens Platinum accounts and has Centurion members too.

WheelsFirst

What about:

$2,500 initiation fee
$1,000 annual fee
$300 travel credit
CLEAR membership
Delta Gold
Delta SkyClub access with 1 guest
Marriott Gold
Hilton Gold
5x points on airfare
3x points on dining and travel
2x points on grocery
1.5 points on non-bonus spending

notquiteaff

I lost interested at that point

GTITAN

2500 for that is too much for me for as suggested on initial buy in for this. If Plat is 550, Green is 150 and Green is 250 I would pay 950 if they bundled all of the Plat, Green and Gold as currently constituted into 1 card or 1045 if they threw in the 1.5 for every day preferred (even if a 30 swipe minimum). I don't fly DL and not likely to being based in CLT, so the DL benefits would not be enticing. YMMV but love the creativity of this thread!!!!!

Safe Travels

Sing Szeto

1000 AF is acceptable, but $2500 initiation fee...

I'm also expecting more than Marriott Gold and Hilton Gold for the $1K AF.

zhan

Qualified purchases that count towards personal centurion includes all personal american express cards right?
I have Bonvoy AMEX and Platinum, and spend significant amount on both...

miasmal

You can get Amex Hilton Aspire for $450 AF and get Hilton Diamond. For $1k I'd expect Diamond to start off.