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Gold Card, Black Card, and Titanium Card. Anyone have these?

tpjay

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Hey I was on the forum and saw an ad for a black card and remembered all the prestige that come with it. And was reading about how they have a luxury concierge thats 24/7 that can get you tickets to a sold out concert and help you pick out gifts and such. Sounds awesome but I want to hear stories and experiences dealing with luxury and membership cards. What are the benefits? Is this fastlane? And what are the juicy secrets about them?
 
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Ivan2BAlive

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Hey I was on the forum and saw an ad for a black card and remembered all the prestige that come with it. And was reading about how they have a luxury concierge thats 24/7 that can get you tickets to a sold out concert and help you pick out gifts and such. Sounds awesome but I want to hear stories and experiences dealing with luxury and membership cards. What are the benefits? Is this fastlane? And what are the juicy secrets about them?

Personally, I go by a simple rule. If it takes more money out of your pocket than what you're getting back, I would NOT invest in it. I mean, for example, I never understood frequent flyer miles. Correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like you have to spend around, let's say, $10,000 for you to receive maybe (and I mean a big MAYBE) some points on an airline flight. In the meantime, JP Morgan Chase-your-money, Discover Debt and American Depress are making tons of money from you in the form of high interest.

But this is just me, maybe someone else would like to give a different opinion.
 

JasonR

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Hey I was on the forum and saw an ad for a black card and remembered all the prestige that come with it. And was reading about how they have a luxury concierge thats 24/7 that can get you tickets to a sold out concert and help you pick out gifts and such. Sounds awesome but I want to hear stories and experiences dealing with luxury and membership cards. What are the benefits? Is this fastlane? And what are the juicy secrets about them?

Getting a credit card for the "prestige" of it, in my opinion, is bullshit. You're also going need to spend in the six figures to get an Amex black card. I don't think the benefits of the card are worth it, compared to the fees. A credit card is not "fastlane" - they are merely tools. Tools, if used properly, can reap great rewards. If used incorrectly they can mire you in debt.

Personally, I go by a simple rule. If it takes more money out of your pocket than what you're getting back, I would NOT invest in it. I mean, for example, I never understood frequent flyer miles. Correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems like you have to spend around, let's say, $10,000 for you to receive maybe (and I mean a big MAYBE) some points on an airline flight. In the meantime, JP Morgan Chase-your-money, Discover Debt and American Depress are making tons of money from you in the form of high interest.

But this is just me, maybe someone else would like to give a different opinion.

You would understand frequent flier miles and credit card points if you spent enough to reap the benefits. First, an Amex Gold is a charge card, you have to pay it off every month (no interest). They are making much of their money off the credit card fees merchants pay. Second, using credit cards to your advantage is just smart business.

For example, I spent six figures on my Amex Gold last year running my business. I get "free" first class overseas flights with my points and it paid for one of my expensive (relatively) watches. Not to mention you get a 3x multiplier on American Express gold business cards.

I also have an Amex Plum card which is 60 days 0 interest, and 1.5% cash back (that's like free money). If you spend $100k, you get $1500 back free. There is 0 negatives if you pay off your cards.

Yes, you need to spend a lot, but any decent sized business will spend a lot of money. I put everything on my credit cards. I'm even trying to get my suppliers to put $60k/100k orders on my cards. No dice yet ;)
 

RHL

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First, everything @JasonR said is right.

Correct me if i'm wrong

What you're not thinking of is the potential that opens up when you use your credit card in conjunction with your "productocracy." Who could ever charge the $50,000/yr needed to get a bunch of first-class tickets?

Well, someone buying as little as $250/day of Facebook ads could, and they could make money doing it.

Getting a card for prestige is bunk, but outside of business spending (if you don't have a biz running yet) rotating cards with best-in-class sign-up bonuses can guarantee that someone with good credit essentially gets 12-15% off ALL purchases. If you hack your rent or have no mortgage by paying cash for your house, that's basically 15% off your life until your biz kicks in. When that happens, you'll be getting a much lower return, but with the ultimate rewards points you get from Chase Ink for charging $30,000/mo in ads you'll be too busy booking suite class on Singapore Airways to care.

Also, it rocks when large, unavoidable bills come to be able to turn them into a bit of a windfall. My child's birth is sending us to the Azores later this year.
 
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MidwestLandlord

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I put virtually everything on a CC or two and never pay interest since they get paid off immediately. So the CC companies pay me to use their cards.

I pay over a million dollars per year in merchant fees to those CC bastards though.

I use cash at mom and pop type stores and with businesses where I personally know the owner, so they dont have to pay the CC merchant charges.

But yeah, credit cards are a part of the Script. The 7 out of 10 "rich" people that don't actually have any money, just debt, support their life styles on cards.

A prestigious credit card is like saying "I'm better at being Scripted than you are!"

Am I supposed to envy that?
 

rollerskates

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Yes, but I cut mine out of an ad in Town and Country. :smile:
 

mike24601

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Many times it is the ugliest cards that reward you the most. I have a chase freedom card and with the introductory offer I got 0% interest for 15 months, and $150 cash back for spending $500 in the first three months.

I pay mine in full every month so interest isn't a factor, but if I was starting a business with it I'd be very happy with 0%. It turns out I had a wedding to go to and it was expensive, so I hit my $500 threshold fast and got basically one night free in my hotel room. I get 5% cash back in rotating categories year round ($5 back for every $100 I spend) and I get warranty extension on many valuable products just like AMEX offers, but without any yearly fees whatsoever.

When it comes to prestige cards, it doesn't tell you much about a person other than the fact that they spend a lot of money. If you can reap the rewards and you see value in spite of a $500 yearly fee or huge spend requirements, then go for it. Otherwise there are many great deals to be found. Sears is in the shitter an they still offer an invitation only 10% cash back card.
 
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jon.a

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I have one black card. Home depot was not impressed. I put it away. We put all of our maintenance, repairs and improvements on personal CC's and the LP pays us back. We get a small payback and have high credit limits and credit scores.
 

InspireHD

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One thing you aren't thinking about is getting the miles bonuses for signing up for cards. Some of them are spending $3,000 in 90 days and you get 50,000 miles. "Churn" that the right way and you can build up a ton of miles.

**there is a system to doing it optimally**

If you're interested check out the Churning subreddit.

I did it without much effort and was able to fly first class back from San Diego when I proposed to my now wife (which was an awesome ending to our engagement getaway) and then other miles I accumulated from bonuses paid for our entire round trip flight to Hawaii.

Right now, leftover I have around 200,000 unused miles.

All of the money spent came from wedding purchases and normal everyday spending like cellphone bills and groceries. Definitely don't try it if you're just going to spend money you don't have.

The details are limited here as doing it is beyond the scope of this message and I'm at work on my phone so I don't have a lot of time to go into detail. There are also annual fees to the cards because the miles bonus is a special benefit.

Make sure to do your own research on it first. I make no claims to being knowledgeable about any of it.
 

MJ DeMarco

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I had an AMEX Black Card for about 10 years.

Back then they were status symbols with some really good benefits. When you whipped it out, you got preferential treatment and better service from waiters, bartenders, clerks, etc. Because I traveled, the benefits usually outweighed the cost. However once I stopped traveling, the cost quickly exceeded the benefits. The card also lost its exclusivity as more and more people got it and started flashing it like a membership card in the Douchebag Club.

So I cancelled it.

Would I get it again?

Doubtful, like anything -- the benefit needs to exceed the cost.
 
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G-Man

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Yes, you need to spend a lot, but any decent sized business will spend a lot of money. I put everything on my credit cards. I'm even trying to get my suppliers to put $60k/100k orders on my cards. No dice yet ;)

Are they worried about chargeback liability or eating the points? I've gotten vendors that seemed un-moveable to take the plum card by doing the whole "I'm just a little guy trying to manage my cash" thing, along with volunteering to sign a chargeback waiver with each invoice. Ask to pay with cc at 30 days. You'll eat the 3% fees but get 1.5% back. Carrying Inventory for 90 days at 1.5% is smokin' for those of us that can't get get a huge bank line :thumbsup:
 

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