chimoe125

I use my Amex for business expense spending and now that our distributor accepts Amex we charge on it all our purchases. This month I got $45k on it. . Though i had to pay 20k in advance because we been only a Amex Plat customer for 4months and our credit wasn't the top-teir.
So far our YTD is around 80k....i could easily made the 150k within 6months but the 250k pisses me off ... i'm going to wait till i reach 150 and give them a call to get my Cent card.

bxwatso

In 2003, I kept a log of my "hard" savings form Centurion. I did not count the value of upgrades because I would not have paid for them anyway. My savings came to $1,600. Some of the savings, however, are no longer available thanks to Centurion downgrades. However, you can add $300 to the savings due to Priority Pass for 2005. The upgrades were icing on the cake.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142002

dspringer28

Keep us up to date.

Doppy

That's an interesting topic. Interestinly, in the fourth post a member is doing just what I was talking about above - namely he's counting the value of a 30 day free car rental from Audi against his annual fee. He wouldn't have rented any car otherwise, so I dodn't see any savings.

It's cool - sure. A savings? No.

stimpy

I can count many, many thousands of dollars saved in legal fees thanks to the Black card. They and their partners do things for me that they wouldn't do for regular travelers, thus saving my butt in times of trouble. I've said it many times in the past, the value of the Black card is that Amex will give me the time of day when I call. I hope you get the meaning of that.

HK-UMICH

Similar situation but I need to say I am of low income since I am just out of grad schoolS (for my MasterS)...

I have the Amex Starwood in US and just come back to HKG for work. According to my local monthly salary I can get a Green (credit and/or charge). what I did is a Global Transfer to HK and now I get a Plat Credit at US$200/yr in HK, while maintaining my US$30/yr Starwood US Card.

I don't know if it worth for you to keep the US's Plat Charge Card since a lot of the benefits are valid only locally (i.e. in the US). I use my Starwood for travel a lot and for me it is the insurance and shopper protection that counts.. but once I am in HK, all those become null. I only keep the Starwood card in order to do some transcation that only US-issed card can do.

In Hong Kong, Amex's annual fee is a lot higher than that in US and also a lot Less benefit. All those Green and Gold card don't give you much except it is an Amex. The Plat Charge Card in HK is actually US$700/yr (not 800).

Is it worth? if you travel a lot and have wife and childern, perhaps the travel insurance itself pays off. But for me, it is the triple points and the 2 free supplymentary card (for my Mum and Brother) they pays off my US$200 Plat. Credit card (a lot less perks, I know, I know.)

BTW, I think a card through global transfer will build local credit history since it is a one off process for inital approval... am I get it wrong?

Time to have a Dinner at Maxims.. (if you know what I am talking about )

flamboyant 1

"FIRST RULE THAT IS NEVER EVER EVER BROKEN:
Rich people NEVER carry a centurion.

(If you think you see someone with 10M cash carring a Centurion see the first rule and get your eyes checked)"

I have seen several persons worth more than 10MM carrying a Centurion and using it to pay for Dinner, rental car, hotel, clothes, drinks, etc. - And I do not need my eyes checked once more. I know some of the people rather well and most of the time wear glasses anyway.

Supreme Leader of the Free World

Are you sure your eyes are ok? Hmm, what else could be the problem? Maybe they have 10MM but 12MM in liabilities? It just doesn't make sense. Did you look at the FIRST RULE? See, what you are saying violates that. Can someone else weigh in here? I am completely at a loss. It sounds like flamboyant is "claiming" that rich people have Centurions, which we all know is not true.

(For those where english is their second language (flamboyant possibly?) I was joking the first time and even more so this time. All of the above is said in jest)

Doppy

As I mentioned above, really rich people (i.e. people with 10-30MM ++ in investable assets) can certainly get some benefits from Centurion cards, but their private banks will provide them with much better benefits and services (though maybe not stuff like SPG Platinum, for example) with private, small issue credit cards than a mass market card like Centurion ever could.

Centurion cards, like most "elite" programs, are best for the mid-market of rich people.

stimpy

I too know several people worth over 20 mil with Centurions. In fact I was the one who recommended it to them. When they saw I had the top level Amex, they said "I gotta get one of those".

Again, and again, and again, I say. The number one benefit is that Amex will give you the time of day. You don't think rich people want that?

derpelikan

hi the really rich people i know, do have a centurion. amex sent it to them, rich people use creditcards for bookings too. if you spent 500k on a green amex, amex will sent you a centurion without any fee and will give you a really good treatment.

but they are not calling in the centurioncard service.
they are just telling their butlers or secretary to do something, the employee than will call centurioncard service. you safe more time if you do not have to call your self

and many of them have other creditcards given to them from their private bank, which give them special benefits other people dreaming of.

if you are super rich, you do have enough people taking care of you, and you might have a centurion, may be you dont.

the point is, its just a creditcard with some benefits.

most rich people btw. pay cash. as you dont get busted by finanzamt

my definition of rich is , "people pay CASH" .
my grandfather once told me that having a creditcard is like borrowing money from someone. he dont like it, even it is a free credit you get. he told me, that he never will borrow money
(btw. he know got a mileage creditcard, as he can not pay everything cash these days. and last time, i just got shocked when he cashed in 80k miles for a samsonite bag

dp

alexbs

I for one would love to know what deam-able special bennefits one gets from a Private bank, other than investment, and family office services ?

I doubt they have people to get you front row concert tickets, or find obsure items, or the like ?

Maybe someone who is an esteemed client of one of these "special" private banks can advise. I certainly know the private banks in australia I have dealt with, and they certainly provide no "special" bennefits other than the expected, and what they do provide is as far from "dreamlike" as possible.

WhiteAMEX

The $250K qualification is now in effect. It started on April 15th. Has anyone called in and been told otherwise?

bxwatso

I once knew the credit card manager for a big company.

She said that the CEO did not have a Centurion card, which surprised me because he was doubtlessly the biggest egomaniac bozo around (I am looking forward to his trial and imprisonment soon). I said that Amex would probably comp him one considering the 10,000+ Amex cards his company had issued.

She said that he rarely paid for anything himself. He mostly flew chartered jets and paid for first class otherwise. He always paid for a suite at a good hotel. He always used limos.

In short, I do think it is possible for some people to be so rich they don't need a Centurion card. Also, when you are one of the country's most recognizable scumbags, the color of your charge card won't change anything.

I am not that rich and nobody knows me, so I will keep my Centurion card until the bitter end.

nimeta

I have private banking services in 3 countries with 3 very different banks. The services vary from country to country, but generally I can contact a personal banker by email or phone, inc mobile phone to arrange any financial transactions wherever I am in the world. They can't book me tickets at a restaurant, nor get me an upgrade on an airline licket, but they do make my life very much easier in many ways that are very different from Amex Plat (I don't think I am rich enough for Centurion, nor do I need it though!!)

On Monday evening my wife and I are going to a free dinner at a top hotel as a guest of one of my banks. Do Amex do that?