aviators99

It seems like the bump tp $2500 for grandfathered has been confirmed by several people. Has anyone heard this (above) from a second CSR?

mia

I haven't really thought through the implications of this idea, but I'll throw it out raw.

In the Other Credit Cards section there is ongoing discussion about the anticipated relaunch of Citibank's Chairman card...

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=649341

...which was originally a Mastercard positioned to compete with American Express Platinum, annual fee $400. The new card will apparently be an American Express network product with an annual fee around $1,000.

American Express would know this because they must have been involved in designing the new Chairman product with Citi. It could be that the decision to raise the annual fee for charter Centurion members is based on the assumption that a number of those who were willing to pay $1,000, but not $2,500, would migrate to the new Chairman and American Express would retain a share of their charge volume.

dolmar

Considering people have been invited to join at $1K a year recently and OP stated fee's would not be increased for grandfather people and only 1 person was able told fee would increase for grandfather accounts.

That is 50/50 chance at best unless other people have been able to confirm either one of the posts. I know when I called up this morning and asked I was told that there had been offical no changes made to fee's charged to Centurion but there is a change I will be giving notice.

mia

If I were a Centurion cardholder I certainly would not act on the basis of verbal information, but two posters have reported that the $2,500 fee will apply to all cardholders on renewal, sct4a and ILUVCITIBANK. I read the message reporting the recent $1,000 invitation to refer to the amount of the initiation fee, not the recurring annual fee.

aviators99

2 People have reported it.

anaggie

Kinda of like the sme thing happened to me...except the "PLAT security team" forgot to call about fradualent charges and just outright cancelled my card...except no one told me...

I fly off to Brazil and check into the hotel...they run the authorization....CANCELLED CARD

So, here I am in front of the check out counter with very few $ and even less BR$....luckily I had my CITI AA Personal Card which accepted all the charges and I got reimbursed back from my company....

But the point is that AMEX dropped the ball....after that all my business went to CITI....

aviators99

I just spoke with a few people in Concierge and Customer Service. They all confirmed the fee raise for "grandfathers", effective May 1. If your renewal date is before May 1, you will still pay the old fee for another year.

Nobody would confirm the minimum spend raise, so I doubt that is true.
One of them specifically stated that the minimum spend is still $250,000, and if it changes that they would send existing cardholders a letter (although I don't know why it would be of interest to existing cardholders. I've never heard of it being enforced for them).

dolmar

[QUOTE=aviators99;7344271]I just spoke with a few people in Concierge and Customer Service. They all confirmed the fee raise for "grandfathers", effective May 1. If your renewal date is before May 1, you will still pay the old fee for another year.

LOL what happens if your renewal date is may 1st like me?

ILUVCITIBANK

aviators, thanks for this clarification...I called back and you're right...in my case, my renewal date is April, so I should be grandfathered one more year.

After that - reflection time. AMEX has a year (for me) to get their perk package spruced up.

wsbombers

Amex doesn't actually keep your business if you switch to the Citi Chariman card. While it's true some Citi cards are on the Amex charge network, and Amex does get some benefit from your use of the card, there's an additional benefit in being the issuer of the card. Citi would gain that benefit - not Amex.

Plaatinum

FWIW: Got a letter today from Ken Chenault describing the "Exciting New Benefits" as well as "New Fees" (this is for a personal Centurion):

"First, because it is important to keep Centurion membership exclusive, beginning in May, all new Centurion members will be assessed a one-time initiaiton fee of $5,000. As a current Centurion member, you will not have to pay this fee.

Second, as you may be aware, we raised the Centurion annual fee to $2,500 in 2002. At that time, we did not increase your fee. We will now be bringing your annual fee up to $2,500 in order to maintain the exclusive benefits offered to you through Centurion membership. The annual fee for each Additional Centurion Card will be $1,500. These rates will be effective at membership renewal on or after May 1, 2007."

sdix

Yep, it's official.

Renewals on or after May 1 2007 - $1000 goes to $2500 and add'l card goes to $1500 for a total of $4,000 a year.

I particulary like the "in order to maintain exclusive benefits" and "It's important to keep membership exclusive." parts of the letter!

rifle57

Well this change ought to thin some out, .... let the whining begin!

DMSFCA

Wow, that letter makes it real. I suppose I should just consider myself lucky for having enjoyed the $1k/year plus $500/additional for the last 6 or so years, I suppose my current net savings is about $15k:

($4k/year * 6 years = $24k) - ($1.5k * 6 = $9k) = $15k

$15k / $4k = 3.75 years

Guess that gives me almost 4 years until I'm net with everyone that started at $2.5k and $1500 for the additional.

The more I thought about it, the more I think it is true that the $5k friendship fee is just to root out the guys that just charge huge amounts of employer expenses to qualify for the card. I'll bet that all the annual spend requirements will stay in place.

ILUVCITIBANK

DMSFCA, what are the big chunks of savings for you that justify the card ? I have had it a couple of years, and definitely paid for it when starwood PLAT was attached. Now, I look over the included benefits and I don't see the value as clearly (and I am grandfathered in at the lowly $1K). IMO, AMEX CENT "losing" SPG PLAT and HYATT DIAMOND says as much "negatively" about AMEX's ability to hold strategic partners as anything else. Thus, on many levels, for AMEX to raise the annual fee is counter-intuitive to me.

Therefore, though this is WAAAAY EARLY, I wonder if this one might really blow up in AMEX's face.

OTOH - the cynical me says they will get preverse benefit by becoming even "hotter" as the rappers and entertainers play on the "buzz" of an otherwise anemic credit card (especially so at new annual fees) just because of the exclusivity of it all (because of the higher annual fee).

SO, is AMEX sly like the fox and knows the perk package is getting weaker and weaker...but could really care less because they sense they can sell the "buzz" and exclusitivity, raise the rates even higher, and ultimately NET MORE PROFIT ? I'm starting to wonder if this is what's going on in their mind.

After all, the (new cardholder) hollywood elite and wall street (charge the expense account) types really would have no basis to know what perks used to be w/ this card, so the "greater fool theory" would apply, perfectly, in this scenario. All they (these newcomers who ante-d up for the higher fees) would be buying was the would-be prestige and exclusivity ? Gosh, on this theory AMEX could raise the annual fee annually even further and keep driving it to more and more extreme...and the preverse effect of buzz might make it even more desireable to a select few. Why stop at $5K per year ?