When one looks at the benefits of either the Chairman Mastercard or Amex Platinum, they are for the price (>$400) a good deal if you use them a lot. However, Visa, even with its Signature product, doesn't have a comparable high level of service.

Visa doesn't give you premium amenities to card holders who could afford to pay a premium price: Unlimited airport lounge access, high-end concierge, automatic upgrades in hotels, rentals, plane tickets, etc.

If Visa came out with such a product, I'm sure many cardholders would switch to it because Visa is accepted with almost all retailers, unlike Amex and lesser cards.

I agree with you. I have wondered why Visa does not partner with a bank in the U.S. to issue a more premium card above the Signature product. I will not look up all of the statistics here, but I am certain I have read in the past about Visa�s cardholders having higher annual incomes vs. MasterCard. I had a Citi Visa Signature AAdvantage card for many years before converting it to a Citi Chairman World MC. I did have a significant hesitation giving up the Visa for the MC, even though I recognized the Chairman card as a great value for my spending and travel situation. Today I have one Visa Signature and one AmEx card in addition to the Chairman MC, but they are never used. I carry a money clip with my driver�s license, health insurance card, debit card, and Chairman MC and NOTHING ELSE.

I would much rather the server at a restaurant look at my upscale black Chairman card and turn it over and say, �Oh, it is a Visa� instead of �Oh, it is a MasterCard.� I would be the first to leave the Chairman card if Visa offered a competitive product.

Visa offers the Infinite card in other countries. I realize the Infinite is similar to the U.S. Signature, but Infinite is decidedly more upscale--more like a World Elite MC vs. World MC. Does anyone know if it has ever been issued to a resident of the U.S. with a U.S. address?

Wow.
The elitism is amazing, and I don't even understand what makes a Visa more "trendy" than a MasterCard.

Interestingly enough, the luxury institute did a study on the most prestigious credit cards among the wealthly. The ranking was loosely as follows. (I did not have the full study, so I had to infer some of the rankings. The ones with an * are inferred.) The bottom line is that Visa Signature came in 6th out of 7! AMEX and MC WorldElite were on top.

1. AMEX Centurion
2. AMEX Platinum
3. MasterCard WorldElite
4. MasterCard World*
5. MasterCard Platinum*
6. Visa Signature
7. Visa Platinum*

Visa was more prestigious than MasterCard among older survey participants.

If you want a super-premium Visa, your best bet is the Merrill+ card. See http://card.ml.com.

Basic Features
- A decent, but not exceptional concierge
- High credit limit
- Very good customer service
- A decent, but not exceptional reward program

Features with $20k Spending
- AA status match

Features with $50k Spending
- AA or DL club membership

How does the Status match work? Also at 50k is it free to use the AA and DL clubs?

Flyertalk includes a decent search tool. If you use "Search this forum" with the terms: Merrill Status Match you will find a complete description of that benefit here...
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....9&postcount=10

The AA/DL lounge access is provided in the form of an individual membership in either Admirals Club or Crown Room after spending $50,000 in a calendar year, but not both. A Crown Room membership includes reciprocal access to Continental and Northwest lounges.

Be aware that Merrill tracks earnings for status and provides benefits on a calendar year basis, January - December. Unfortunately it is usually late Feburary before they publish the details for the current year.

There is nothing trendy in any of the CC's (Amex/Visa/MC). Personally I could care less about the processing network. I choose the cards that I use based on the benefits that I receive.

If you spend $20k in a year, you are eligible for what are called "Merrill +1" benefits. One of those benefits is status match on AA. Once you spend $20k and are approved for "+1 Benefits", you can send in your status on another airline (e.g. Delta), American will give you a status match up to AA Platinum, but NOT Executive Platinum.

The Infinite product is not similar to the US Visa Signature, it is more a costumization for each country...

For example, in Mexico, Visa partners with some banks to issue the Infinite product, but each bank customizes the benefits offered to cardholders. For example, Banamex/Citi offers the Citi Beyond Card (Visa Infinite by invitation only), which has the premium package of the Priority Pass, Concierge service, etc. other banks in Mexico offering the Visa Infinite are: BBVA Bancomer and IXE Bank... the main difference with the US Visa Signature is that all Infinite cards have high credit lines but do not offer the "No preset spending limit" option that Visa Signature has in the US.

Visa announced another product called Visa "Signature Premier" in the US. However, I am not aware of any cards being issued.