Originally Posted by WasKnown

Posting findings and also tagging SteveT in response to our PMs:

GS said there are no hard requirements on their end and Amex generally accepts everyone they introduce. However, they were adamant about this only being for the personal centurion card. Can the person that got it please confirm? I don’t think this is something they do very frequently. Seems like there’s no credible path for me here but I asked 2 PMDs at GS to see if they can request invites for themselves or even on my behalf. Not too interested given it’s the personal Cent and not the biz but I would still gladly take it if given the opportunity.

I spoke to 3 people at China Merchant Bank about the Mainland China Centurion card. Most of them had no idea what I was talking about, then they pushed me up until the last person finally understood my broken Chinese. First, he said I could have it. Then he said I must have a shenfenzheng (idk how it’s spelled) number to even be considered. As someone that is not Chinese in any dimension, I tried to submit it for the Chinese national business partner of our WFOE (with her permission). We hold a modest amount of working capital with CMB (两亿人民币左右）. Will update back on this but I’m not familiar with the Chinese Cent at all. I think there is also an ICBC Cent but I won’t do business with them for reasons unrelated to this.

Originally Posted by Visconti

Once we’re passed this SUB era, I wouldn’t care either. It’s only because we’re in this prolonged phase where credit card bonuses are so abundant that we all feel obliged to take part, if only to keep pace with all the “free” points others are racking up.

There's no reason why you should care, and neither will I, once we're pass this era of rich CC SUBs.

Originally Posted by Visconti

Once we’re passed this SUB era, I wouldn’t care either. It’s only because we’re in this prolonged phase where credit card bonuses are so abundant that we all feel obliged to take part, if only to keep pace with all the “free” points others are racking up.

There's no reason why you should care, and neither will I, once we're pass this era of rich CC SUBs.

Originally Posted by synzero

I find it kind of interesting that you guys actually do care about SUBs like us six figure income plebes. Actually even for me, although I like SUBs I really don't put that much thought into them - I mostly get cards for points multipliers and perks; for example I'm probably going to get a Delta something card at some point just for free bags and the companion cert (why not), the SUB is secondary. I want to get a World of Hyatt card so I can spend my way to Globalist each year as my usual business travel isn't quite enough to get me to 60 nights/year, etc.

Originally Posted by Bm86

My GS team said they don’t believe they can request the Business Centurion. But they sounded more like they weren’t sure. When I first contacted them, I was first asking for a cobranded platinum. Then I asked about the centurion and if that was something they were capable of getting for me. They said it was listed on their website for the personal centurion but they had to get another GS manager to approve it, I also sent them my Amex spend. They weren’t real sure about it to begin with. After I got the card they asked if I actually got it and if it worked. Must have been their first time requesting a centurion for someone.

But someone else I know is with GS too. He is currently requesting his the same way that I did. GS asked him for his Amex spend. I’ll update as I find out more and if it goes through as well. His spend is about half of mine

Originally Posted by WasKnown

IMO SUBs are more worthy of paying attention to than base multipliers are. It takes about 10 mins to pick and choose a new card to put all of your spend on. In return, you go from juggling multiple cards to get 4x-5x to getting 25X (old CSP) on all of your spend to even up 34x (38x with the referral trick, Resy Platinum) on your category spend. The difference is massive, particularly if you are grinding MR and have the Business Centurion as an option to quickly and efficiently burn the MR at a fixed 2 cents / MR value.



Thanks. Please keep us updated on your friend. The person I spoke to was very confident they could not introduce to the Business Centurion. This is weird to me given how informal the process seems. I also got the sense that they seldom do this. Care to share your spend profile/volume in more detail either here or through DM?

Originally Posted by WasKnown

IMO SUBs are more worthy of paying attention to than base multipliers are. It takes about 10 mins to pick and choose a new card to put all of your spend on. In return, you go from juggling multiple cards to get 4x-5x to getting 25X (old CSP) on all of your spend to even up 34x (38x with the referral trick, Resy Platinum) on your category spend. The difference is massive, particularly if you are grinding MR and have the Business Centurion as an option to quickly and efficiently burn the MR at a fixed 2 cents / MR value.

Originally Posted by Bm86

My spend is listed below(approximates)
2019 - $500,000
2020 - $980,000
2021 at time of approval - $1,400,000

I have been with Amex since 2005. All of my spend is personal and not business expenses. Lots of luxury spend on it. Such as private jets, high end boutiques, dinners and random purchases. All normal everyday purchases are included on the spend too. But I honestly am not sure how much of that mattered for me with the GS connection.

I hope this helps, I wouldn’t have asked GS if it wasn’t for people on this forum, so I will try to answer anything I can to help.

Originally Posted by Visconti

@synzero - Ah, it's a hobby and has been one since 2008? The moment I saw Citi raise what had been their customary 10K mile bonus to 100K on their AAdvantage line of cards, I was immediately hooked, especially after discovering the multiple browser method where an applicant may earn the SUB on both the V & MC versions; and, then do it again 12 months later! And, as WK has noted, short of MS (nothing wrong with it per se, but just not something I can freely engage in), SUBs are probably the most efficient way to earn points via spend.

It's just a lot of fun, and fills in nicely during those moments when I have some leisure time, not unlike spending time here on FT.

PS - Once upon a time before the once per lifetime rule, I suspect many of us routinely app'ed for new Amex SUBs every January for almost a decade?

Originally Posted by synzero

Sure, of course SUBs are a tremendous value for that brief period when you're getting them, but with Amex for instance you have the once in a lifetime rule, so you can only get so many SUBs before going through all the cards. To get the SUB is such a small amount of spend - it's a huge multiplier but it's often just $3000 or something, and even I go through that really quickly. Amex does come out with a new card periodically, I guess, but I only tend to get 2-3 cards/year, and I go through the minimum spend very quickly, and then it's back to the usual multipliers for me. But also things like - the World of Hyatt card lets you get Globalist without physically staying for 60 nights/year, and that is not possible any other way (hence I plan to get a WoH card after we close on our house purchase - all card apps are paused until after that.)

Originally Posted by synzero

Haha that's great. Totally understandable;

Originally Posted by WasKnown

Even Amex SUBs are not truly once per lifetime. It is pretty easy to get NLL offers on cards like the business platinum these days. But, even if you don’t want to mess with that, you would open up Ink cards repeatedly and just perpetually farm Ink business SUBs. Those subs are usually a +10x multiplier (so 11x-15x) on up to $15K spend each time. This is the easiest way that big spenders can churn through credit cards without needing to juggle multiple cards. So you are getting a sub with a large spending minimum that you can hit repeatedly and it is still up to three times better than what you could get by juggling multiple cards in your wallet. With this strategy, you spend 30 minutes a month for $15K spend (or more frequently for big spenders) at most.

Originally Posted by WasKnown

I don’t think stuff like Globalist through credit card spend are that significant. Hyatt offers Globalist through base spend too and awards it after $20K spend in a year. For someone making 7 digits (especially well into the 7 digits), $20K is a pretty modest amount even for a single vacation.

Originally Posted by synzero

I've been reticent to try to open up Ink cards over and over - although Amex is much more prone to shutdowns, I worry that churning Ink cards might cause Chase to look at me askance or even worse shut me down. It's somewhat reassuring to hear that this strategy is something people pull off successfully without too much pushback from Chase. However, I value my little Hyatt point game enough that I'm still worried about trying this.

I forgot that Hyatt allows you to earn base points on three rooms at once, I imagine this helps a lot. Of course, that brings me back to what seems most interesting to me - the fact that 7-figure earners would find this game as fun as folks like me. If everything is shifted one order of magnitude, would I be as excited by what would be to me a SUB worth several hundred dollars? Globalist is fun for me because I can get massive suite upgrades for the cost of a king room (abroad). On the other hand, if I'm spending $20K on hotel costs for one vacation I wonder how important that is. But I suppose at any income level it's fun to save money and get free stuff. Also, most of the 7 figure and above folks I know do tend to be quite cost conscious.

Originally Posted by JMo74

I finally got the invite for a Business Centurion card! I received a phone call and an email (I'm overseas right now so it was middle of the night here) that matches information in last year's thread. I've wanted a Centurion card for almost twenty years so even though the cost is high, it's still a no brainer for me!