Amex-Black.com

So let me ask, what is better than a black card? Easy, a black card on top of a fat stack of cash. A reader from Nationvoice.com snapped a few pictures of his card and his ride. Pretty flashy huh?

Has your Amex been denied recently?  Don’t worry, you’re not alone.  There have been widespread reports of American Express denying charges or asking people to pay their bills early this year.  I have only heard this about their charge cards, including the Platinum and the Centurion.

Apparently, due to the tightening credit markets in the US, American Express is becoming more conservative with people’s spending habits, especially if they’re irregular.  I had some friends tell me that Amex has been repeatedly calling them and asking for them to pay their Plum bill early.  At first I thought it might just be them, but I have recently read about numerous people, across all cards, with good standing accounts, claim to have the same problem.  Anyone else been running into this?

I wanted to let everyone know that yes I do moderate/edit/delete comments. I don’t tolerate excessive profanity or any racism in the comments. Typically I will delete the whole comment if I find this. Also, please don’t post the exact same comment in more than one place, I’ll only approve it on one post, then delete the rest.

Also, I see the ip address for each comment submitted. There are a lot of you who post comments, then pretend to be someone else and support your previous comment. I can see that it is you and I don’t approve the fake comments, so don’t waste your time writing them.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I should have several new ones this week.

Each Centurion member receives a subscription to Black Ink magazine, a magazine just for black cardholders.  It covers all sorts of high end lifestyle topics.  A reader recently tipped me off to this link, which is evidently an online copy of Black Ink magazine.  The root domain redirects to the Centurion login, but apparently they forgot to do it to the whole site.   It is even in Google’s index, so if they wanted to keep it private, they haven’t done a good job.  Can any reader confirm if this is a copy of the actual magazine?

http://www.centurionthemagazine.com/index1.cfm 

Cheers, I don’t know how long it will stay up.

Just when I thought you had seen everything this election, someone has to go and play the black card. No, I am actually not talking about a race card, I am talking about the American Express Black card. John McCain, which I had no idea, has a black card and worth over $100M due to his wife. Here is a new ad that is being run to “call out” McCain and his black card.

Maybe ‘ol John would be nice enough to do a reader spotlight for this site? Who are you going to vote for?

Here is a reader submitted video of what the welcome kit for a black card looks like. It is definitely nicer and more elaborate than the welcome kit I received for my platinum card the other week.

I am sorry the site has been slow for a few days but I have been having some, let’s say, legal trouble. Stay tuned for some site news/updates, but don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. The site might be switching to a new home in a few days as to not encroach on any trademarks, but if it does, I will migrate all the old posts and comments to the new site.

But to tide you all over, here is a new reader picture of Mr. McCaig in his Maserati with his black card. Oh the lifestyle, at least the reader picture wasn’t a Bentley this time.

This week’s spotlight is on another young cardholder, Chris. Chris was one of the first readers to send in pictures of his black card earlier and most graciously agreed to be profiled on the site.

What is your name: Christopher Hall

How old are you: 26

Where are you from: Denver, CO

Where do you live now: Parker, CO

Describe what you do for a living and how long you’ve done it: I am the Chief Operating Officer of a medium sized telecommunications company called Vitelity outside of Denver, CO. I oversee the day to day operations, develop scalable network planning, and help manage the nearly billion telephone calls that our company handles.

How long have you been a Centurion card member: Nearly a year.

Are you happy with the card, if so what are your favorite aspects: Yes. Automatic first class on many airlines and guaranteed seating nearly anywhere good are my favorite features.

Roughly, how much do you spend per month/year: On average, $100k per month.

Have you ever been treated differently because you have it: One time a waiter took the card from me, took about four steps, turned back around and asked, “omg is this what I think it is”. Then he left with the card and showed some of his co-workers who were pointing and starring at us. Reactions have varied from “wow why is this so heavy” to “how do you get one of these, are you a celebrity”. Once I was at a family dinner with about fifteen people and I decided to pick up the whole tab quietly; the waitress decided to make a big deal about the card, and that wasn’t fun. The next day I purchased a platinum card to use when the black can be annoying.

Do you ever use it to buy small stuff just to show it off, be honest: When I first had the card I used it everywhere for everything. Everything from $5 at the store to $600 dinners.

What is the largest ticket item you have purchased with it: $45,000 on a telecommunications-related expense.

What is your most expensive month if you remember: About $130,000.

Have you used the concierge service, if so what for, and have you used it for anything ridiculous: On occasion when I’m standing in line at a popular restaurant I will call concierge to get seated without waiting. Getting car service is also very fast and easy as they take care of everything.
The attention of the Black card was funny at first but can be embarrassing especially with family, close friends, or important business people. I suggest keeping the platinum card. I find myself using the platinum more often now.

The card is worth it for anyone who travels a lot, as the travel features are the best part, or for anyone who prefers a lot of attention, because you will get the attention nearly everywhere you use it.

Do you have a lot of amex rewards points?  If so, one option for Centurion members is to use the Pay with Points benefit.  This program allows Centurion members to receive a $0.01 statement credit for ever 1 membership rewards point redeemed.  This essentially allows for a 1% cash back program on the Centurion card.

Non Centurion cardholders who are enrolled in the membership rewards program can also redeem their points for money instruments as well, like gift cards.  However this redemption is at a much lower rate, essentially 50% less.  For non Centurion members, the rate is 1 point= $0.005.   Meaning a gold card holder could redeem his/her 20,000 point supply, for  a $100 gift card.

The 1% back option for Centurion members can be a big perk, especially for big spenders, as it doesn’t require you to pay the balance early, like the plum card, to receive the cash back option.

Many longtime Centurion cardholders, people who had the cards before the annual fee increase went from $1k to $2.5K/year, thought they were grandfathered in at $1k a year.  Well, guess again.  Several members have notified me that as their statements are starting to roll in over the last month or so, and they’re up for annual renewal, the fee is showing $2.5k this time. Anyone else running into the same problem?  It appears it is not a glitch, and they are actually raising the rates for all the old members.