Originally Posted by alveoli0

no calls..... wooden box with invite showed up at my house

Originally Posted by theultimate

... having no forex fees....

Originally Posted by mia

Scroll back to post 705 and read forward.

Originally Posted by alveoli0

I picked up a pair of ferragamo loafers...

Originally Posted by longtimeflyin

I put over $50,000 on my AX when I paid for my car a few years ago (down payment for said car). It was part of the negotiation process when I was negotiating for my vehicle. That subsequent year I was invited to the Centurion card but I declined due to the hefty annual fees and the poor return/benefits.

Originally Posted by theultimate

Hi all,

I just wanted to get your opinions on whether or not you think I'm a realistic candidate for the Centurion Card (Canadian version).

I've been a member since April 2017 with a Platinum card, and my spend is JUST about to cross $250,000 (CAD). My enrollment date was April 23 2017, so the way I figure, I've got almost 2 months from today to surpass that minimum. I just wanted to outline some points and see if you guys think I'll realistically be invited, or if I'm way off.

A few things:

- Currently at a spend of $220,000. Much of it is business expenses, but much of it is also luxury travel (some of the most expensive, outrageous hotels in the world -- the card has been charged in 12 countries this year.

- I am about to make a $32,000 "purchase" which will put me over the $250k minimum. However, this is actually a corporate government tax payment. I found out that the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) accepts tax installments through credit cards via a vetted third party called Plastiq. I am curious as to your opinions on whether or not Amex views this as "cheating". For the record, I called Amex's credit department and they said they are well aware of the Plastiq service and yes, you get points for these purchases, and no, it's not considered a cash advance. There is a 2.5% fee but I personally think this is worth the points and DEFINITELY worth it if it will help me look better in the eyes of the Centurion team. Just wondering if anyone else thinks this might be flagged as "suspicious" (in the context of Centurion spending minimums).

- I checked, and I've made 500 transactions this year on my Platinum. I'm not sure if my logic is correct, but at an average per-transaction spend of $500 and given the fact that this is clearly a "daily driver" card for me, do you think this helps my case? Or is even this not enough? I personally would imagine 500 transactions of $500 would be better in their eyes than say 10 $25k transactions.

- I have immaculate history with Amex (albeit only one year). I pay my card multiple times a month and it is always paid early.

- One interesting piece of info: I have called Amex a few times just to inquire about the Cent, and a couple times I've had a weird situation where they sort of talk to me as if I'm crazy, saying I've only spent $90-$100k and that I'm way off from the minimum. I obviously know this is not correct and each time this has happened, I've nicely requested that they manually go in and calculate my total spend. Even easier, if I just log in and filter my transactions by "Payments Received", I see my over $200k spend. When the reps manually calculate, to their surprise they can see I am over $200k. I'm just concerned as I wouldn't want the Centurion team to not have my account flagged due to this strange issue? The reps btw are always clueless as to why this is the case and it sort of frustrates me that I cannot get an answer on that.

- I've seen some threads on Centurion here where people spend $100k PER MONTH and still haven't gotten invited. Is this all a pipe dream for me? I sort of feel like the Canadian card might be a bit easier to get given our market here but I am not sure. I ditched my Visa Infinite Privilege card (the highest-calibre Visa here in Canada) to help accomplish this goal.

- Credit score is 795 and I have good net worth. Curious as to whether or not anyone knows how (or if at all) they verify your "net worth"?

Anyway, feeling a little discouraged after reading some posts here that I might not be as high-roller as I thought given that people spending more than me haven't got an invite. I'm also wondering if the fact that I have inquired numerous times (albeit none yet while I am ABOVE $250k spend, only inquiries when below/not there yet) would be viewed as desperate, or potentially a good thing as it shows my interest in the brand?

Interestingly enough, I contacted a girl I went to business school with who is the "Product Owner" of the marketing department within the Centurion product line at Amex Canada. Unfortunately she said they're not allowed to invite their personal prospects -- bummer as she would have been the perfect in!

Thanks guys! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Originally Posted by theultimate

Hi all,

I just wanted to get your opinions on whether or not you think I'm a realistic candidate for the Centurion Card (Canadian version).

I've been a member since April 2017 with a Platinum card, and my spend is JUST about to cross $250,000 (CAD).

- Currently at a spend of $220,000. Much of it is business expenses, but much of it is also luxury travel (some of the most expensive, outrageous hotels in the world -- the card has been charged in 12 countries this year.

- I sort of feel like the Canadian card might be a bit easier to get given our market here but I am not sure. I ditched my Visa Infinite Privilege card (the highest-calibre Visa here in Canada) to help accomplish this goal.

Anyway, feeling a little discouraged after reading some posts here that I might not be as high-roller as I thought given that people spending more than me haven't got an invite.

I'm also wondering if the fact that I have inquired numerous times (albeit none yet while I am ABOVE $250k spend, only inquiries when below/not there yet) would be viewed as desperate, or potentially a good thing as it shows my interest in the brand?

Thanks guys! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Originally Posted by yeunganson

As I grow older, I see big rollers show off with their sports cars, penthouses, yachts and private jets - not credit cards. This product seems to aim for those in the high earners that are wants to become multi-millionaires but not so much in the multi-millionaire club that gets private banking. If you're already in private banking, RBC has the special Private Banking Avion Visa Infinite Privilege (a very unique look). Or you can go the popular Asian route with Private banking at HSBC and get the Jade World Elite metal Mastercard.

Few years back in 2013 I was similar to you. I was just out of university. Had over 200,000 rolling 12 months charges from plane tickets, hotel charges over a few countries. Was taking the AMEX Centurion customer service advice to funnel everything into the Plat card. I had family members that did accounting for me and instead of paying them through normal bank transfer, I let them use square app and charge through AMEX. Big mistake to have non-arm's length transactions... AMEX compliance flagged it as suspected money laundry. Tried explaining and show them docs and no luck and they proceed to cancel my card. Their accounting department told me to re-apply in a year. I had Quickbooks and was able to see I paid AMEX over 6000 in fees in rolling 12 months. I could have gotten a better discount if I did bank transfers with some suppliers than with AMEX card charges. Over 300,000 membership rewards points had to be quickly transferred out to Aeroplan and SPG. All the upcoming plane tickets had to be rebooked with my VISA. It was a lot of work.

To make sure I am on the right side of the law, I got all the non-arms length people (friends, family) to refund to AMEX and I pay them through bank transfer like I always had before attempting to qualify for Centurion. I called AMEX accounting to apologize and AMEX much prefer I didn't do any of these refunds, but I insisted. If AMEX feared I am money laundry, I must reverse all those suspecting transactions and come clean - just can't let it slide because AMEX can't let my transactions slide. So their accounting faced a pile of work to process all those refunds. I got a check of 130,000+ from AMEX - they bank with Bank of Montreal. Then when I deposit the check, Bank of Montreal found their was insufficient funds in the AMEX Corporate account - a complete surprise... So it took close to 2 months for the check to clear.

That was the last time I attempted to do the Centurion challenge. If I can redo the whole thing, I would have just swallowed my pride and go through bank of dad to get him to pull connections and get me set up. I didn't get where I was by my own, it was silly to think finishing university somehow made me suddenly brilliant and independent when in fact I was really just mediocre and advantaged. So not using those advantages through mom & dad was a mistake.

Anyhow, the AMEX Centurion challenge failure was probably a blessing in disguise. I follow this thread since those days and many here are disappointed the benefits have been downgraded since 2013. I think it's just a matter of time before they just open it to anyone willing to pony $5000 initialize fee and $1500 annual fee to apply (just like AMEX did to the Hong Kong Platinum Card)

I now just switch cards to whoever gives me the best welcome bonus. With PIN and tap tech now in addition to Apple Pay and Android Pay, there is fewer chances to show off the card like in years past (where you need to sign the receipts). The metal card use to be rare for mostly Centurion members but now USA is making it more mainstream - the Shapphire Reserve and US's Plat card is also metal. Then you have the problem of going through metal detectors at airports... Instead of it screaming VIP, you're friends can now look at you saying "suckerrrr"

Originally Posted by Gasolin

You have quite a story here. I don't even know how out of university, you would be able to charge $200K in travel and all, even CAD, so kudos for that. I even had to look up the non-arm's length transactions definition... So why did AMEX compliance think these were non-arm's length transactions when you're going through Square? Square would just show a company name, no?

Originally Posted by yyz-kin

Just went to the post office and picked up a nice surprise - a $300 Air Canada gift card, compliments of Centurion! WHOO HOO!

Originally Posted by travelgirlcanada

I got the same $300 AC gift card today...that, coupled with the Holts $500 earlier this year and the Yurman $500, makes it worth us to renew for another year (we were highly disappointed with the Fairmont benefit changes) - let's hope that they keep it up!!!!!