Archive for the ‘American Express’ Category
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009Sweeping Rate Changes at American Express
Saturday, October 10th, 2009American Express updated every card offer in some way over the past quarter. Generally speaking, minimum APR’s were increased and balance transfer promotions were reduced in reaction to credit card legislation which makes it more difficult for credit card companies to raise APR’s on customers and charge late fees.
- American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card – waived first year fee, no longer offering 2x on gas/grocery during first year.
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card – waived first year fee, lowered annual fee from $150 to $125, no longer offering 2x on gas/grocery during first year.
- American Express Blue Card – Raised minimum APR from 6.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime, reduced promo APR period from 12 months to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 2.99% for 6 months
- American Express Blue Sky Card & American Express Blue Cash Card – Raised minimum APR from 7.99%+prime to 13.99%+prime, reduced promo APR period from 12 months to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 2.99% for 6 months
- American Express Clear Card – Raised minimum APR from 8.99%+prime to 13.99%+prime, reduced promo APR period from 12 months to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 3.99% for 6 months.
- American Express Costco Card – Raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime, raised cash advance aPR from 17.99%+prime to 21.99%+prime, extended 0% intro APR promotion from 3 to 6 months, removed balance transfer promotion of 1.99% for 6 months.
- American Express Delta Reserve Card, Gold Delta SkyMiles Card, American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Card – Raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.25%+prime.
- American Express JetBlue Card, American Express Hilton HHonors Card, American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass Card – Raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime.
- American Express Starwood Card – Added new 10,000 Starwood Point signing bonus, and raised minimum APR from 9.99%+prime to 11.99%+prime.
Top 5 cards not listed on credit card sites
Thursday, June 11th, 2009There are a lot of great credit cards out there that do not pay websites referral fees. The following cards nominated by our staff, to our knowledge, are unknown in the world of credit card aggregation websites:
- Fidelity has 3 cards that earn you 2% cash back into a Fidelity account. Investment Rewards American Express, Retirement Rewards American Express, and 529 College Rewards American Express.
- Chase offers a Subaru Credit Card that pays a whopping 3% back towards Subaru purchases. We are not aware of any other card that pays such a high rate. In addition you get 2,500 bonus points for signing up, or the equivalent of $25.
- American Express offers the Hilton HHonors card, which is the best deal around if you stay at Hilton hotels. The card has no annual fee and pays 1 point for the first $20,000 of spending per year then 1.25 points thereafter. The real kicker is the card pays a 20,000 point bonus for joining and 6 points per mile spent on Gas, Groceries, Drug Stores, and internet/wireless/phone bills. Depending on your circumstances you could be even better off with the Hilton HHonors Surpass, please try out our rewards calculator to decide for yourself.
- Bank of America has 2 cards that rank well in both rewards and APR & Balance Transfer promotions: Choice Privileges & Wyndham Rewards Platinum. Both cards earn 2% back on everything.
- US Bank & Bank of America appear repeatedly at the top of our rankings for best Low APR credit cards and Balance Transfer credit cards, but do not pay for referrals and therefore do not appear on other sites. Among many great choices, the aforementioned Wyndham Rewards Platinum offers best in class 15 month 0% introductory Balance Transfer APR with a low ongoing APR of 8.24%.
Only 9 cards have no balance transfer fee AND an introductory balance transfer promotion.
Monday, June 8th, 2009Beware of balance transfer fees! Almost every credit card with a low introductory APR on balance transfers charges 3-4% in fees upfront.
So if we filter for no fee on balance transfers + low introductory APR on them, what do we get?
9 cards, 6 of which are from American Express. In order of best intro promotion:
- Iberia Bank Visa, 0% APR for 6 months
- American Express Costco TrueEarnings, 1.99% APR for 6 months
- Bank of America’s Asiana Platinum and Choice Privileges cards, 1.99% APR for 6 months
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card, 2.90% APR for 6 months
- American Express Hilton HHonors and Hilton HHonors Surpass Cards, 2.90% APR for 6 months
- American Express Clear, 3.99% APR for 12 months
- American Express JetBlue, 3.99% for 6 months, but note that the transfer needs to be put on the original application for the credit card
Everyone’s best choice is different, and we encourage you to do the math on your own.
If your credit is good but not excellent, the easiest card to get approved for in the group is probably the American Express Clear, which has a respectable 1% rewards rate.
If your credit is excellent, the 3 below are great deals for you.
If you plan to simply transfer your balance onto the card and move on when the promotional period is up, the Pulaski Bank Visa is the only card we know of with 0% intro APR and 0% balance transfer fee.
We wouldn’t recommend prioritizing a rewards card over a low APR card if you plan on carrying a balance. But if you intend to pay it down – try out our calculator for American Express Costco TrueEarnings, with 3% back on gas & restaurants and 2% on travel for a good general purpose card. Ranking even higher, if you stay at Hilton hotels, the Hilton HHonors Surpasshas an unparalleled 6x points multiplier on gas, groceries, drug stores, and cable/wireless/internet bills and a huge 40,000 point bonus for signing up. On top of that, the base rate is 1.25 points per dollar spent, jumping to 1.5 points after $40,000.
New Credit Card legislation driving a flurry of changes to card offers?
Friday, June 5th, 2009Our Nerd Factory diligently tracks changes to credit card offers. Come back for updates!
Here are some recent updates we’ve made regarding changes in Credit Card Offers:
- Discover Escape changed it’s promo from 1,000 bonus points per month for 12 months, to 1,000 points for 25 mo
- US Bank has raised APR on Bed Bath & Beyond from P+8.99% to P+10.99%, and Default APR from P+20.99% to P+23.99%
- US Bank has raised APR on Gymboree Visa from P+9.99% to P+11.99%
- US Bank has raised APR on Harley Davidson Visa from P+8.40% to P+9.99%
- US Bank has raised APR on Secured Visa from 14.99% to 16.99%
- US Bank has raised APRs on its 4 SkyPass cards from P+9.99% to P+12.99%
- US Bank has raised APR on Sierra Trading Post Visa from P+(5.99%-14.99%) to P+(7.99%-16.99%), and Cash Advance APR from P+14.99% to P+17.99%
- US Bank Consumer cards with APR range increase from P+(5.99%-14.99%) to P+(7.99%-16.99%): College Rewards, Young Adult, Cache
- US Bank Consumer cards with APR range increase from P+(3.99%-16.99%) to P+(5.99%-18.99%):
Cash Rewards, Select Rewards, Signature, Platinum, Travel Rewards - US Bank Business cards with APR range increase from P+(3.99%-9.99%) to P+(5.99%-11.99%): Cash Rewards Business, Select Rewards Business, Travel Rewards Business, Business Platinum
- US Bank has raised APR’s on 21 of their 26 credit cards, in the range of 2-3%
- Discover has raised default APR on Motiva from P+27.99% to P+28.99%
- Citi raised APR on Dividend Platinum for Students, MtvU Platinum for Students, and Bronze AAdvantage for Students from P+9.99% to P+12.99%
- Citi has raised their APR on Platinum Select for College Students from Prime+8.99% to Prime+11.99%
- Citi has raised the APR range on their PremierPass card from Prime + 6.24% and 14.24% to Prime + 8.74% and 15.74%
- Chase has raised the APR range on their TJX Rewards card from Prime+5.99% and Prime+14.99% to Prime+8.99% and Prime+15.99%
- Citi is no longer offering the Driver’s Edge Options Platinum
- Chase is no longer offering the Borders 3.2.1 Visa
- Bank of America is no longer offering Jeep, Chrysler, and Dodge cards
- Bank of America is no longer offering the Royal Carribean card
- Bank of America has added Hawaiian Air Platinum. Best FF we’ve seen is Citi PremierPass Elite, with usual perks + 1 bonus pt per mile flown
- American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card plans to change it’s annual free from $150 to $125 on May 26th
- American Express has lowered their Blue Cash rewards. Prev 0.5% up to $6,500 then 1.5% after. Now 0.5% up to $6,500 and 1.25% after
How can American Express afford to pay you the most generous rewards in the industry?
Friday, June 5th, 2009Probably the same reason Warren Buffet owns 12% of the company.
(NerdWallet) - American Express has some of the best rewards programs out there, as you can see from their high rankings using our nerdy credit card finder tool.
To demonstrate why, let’s analyze 2 transactions at Joe’s Coffee Shop, one using your American Express card, and one using your MasterCard/Visa from one of the big issuers (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Capital One, Wachovia).
- You pay using American Express
- Joe’s pays a ~2.4% transaction fee to American Express, on average, to process the transaction. American Express owns the network, the card company, and the sales network to sign up new shops, so they keep the entire transaction fee.
- You pay using your local bank’s MasterCard/Visa
- Joe’s pays a ~1.4% fee, on average, to process the transaction
- This fee is split 3 ways between (i) the sales organization who signs Joe’s Coffee to use the MasterCard/Visa network, (ii) MasterCard/Visa Network, and (iii) the bank who issued you the credit card.
Not only does American Express charge a higher transaction fee, they also keep the entire fee instead of splitting it 3 ways.
The virtuous cycle goes like this – (i) American Express has the most prestigious cardholders so they can charge merchants more, (ii) American Express charges merchants more so they can offer better rewards, (iii) American Express offers better rewards so they can attract premier cardholders. At NerdWallet, we believe this is precisely why Warren Buffet owns 12% of the company. And this is also why when you pick up an American Express card, you get to enjoy extra rewards at the expense of Joe’s Coffees everywhere.
The following no fee American Express card rank well in our objective credit card finder, based on our calculation of annualized rewards and promotions minus annualized fees:
- Blue Cash pays 5% back on your grocery and gas purchases and 1.5% on everything else after you spend $6,500 in a year. Use our credit card finder to figure out where this averages out, but for above average spenders it can easily exceed 2%
- Costco True Earnings Card pays 3% back on restaurants and gas, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else
- Blue Sky is effectively a 1.33% cash back card. You get 1 point for every $1 you spend, and you can offset travel expenses on your credit card statement at a rate of 7,500 points per $100. This is one of the highest base rewards rates available that we know of.
Smart spending, and best of luck