5 Things to Know About ‘Luxury Card’ Credit Cards
The heavy metal cards have big annual fees without the benefits to match.
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Luxury Card, the provider of a trio of glitzy credit cards for high-end customers, is all about flash. The company markets three premium cards, which all have hefty annual fees and are made of metal:
Luxury Card Mastercard Titanium Card.
Luxury Card Mastercard Black Card.
Luxury Card Mastercard Gold Card.
But the shine on these cards dims considerably when you consider their lackluster benefits compared to what other, cheaper cards in their class have to offer.
The Luxury Card Mastercard Black Card is not the same product as The Centurion Card from American Express, which is commonly referred to as the Black Card.
1. The cards are pricey
Issued by Barclays, the cards in the Luxury Card portfolio have annual fees in the triple digits, but they get even more costly if you want to add an authorized user to the account.
Luxury Card Mastercard Titanium Card. $299 annual fee; $149 per authorized user.
Luxury Card Mastercard Black Card. $699 annual fee; $249 per authorized user.
Luxury Card Mastercard Gold Card. $1,199 annual fee; $349 per authorized user.
A high annual fee on a credit card isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker if you can make up the cost by taking advantage of the card’s rewards and benefits. But with the Luxury Cards, that can be hard to do.
2. The rewards are just OK
The Luxury Card website claims that card members receive “industry leading rewards.” But when you dig a little deeper, you realize that the rewards aren't better than the competition.
Here’s how much they're worth:
Luxury Card Mastercard Titanium Card: Points are worth 2 cents apiece for airfare redemptions and 1 cent apiece for other redemptions.
Luxury Card Mastercard Black Card. Points are worth 2 cents apiece for airfare redemptions, 1.5 cents apiece for cash back and 1 cent apiece for other redemptions.
Luxury Card Mastercard Gold Card: Points are worth 2 cents apiece for both airfare redemptions and cash back and 1 cent apiece for other redemptions.
Sure, the points on these cards can be worth up to 2 cents apiece, which is double the standard rate of 1 cent per point. But most purchases made with a Luxury Card only earn 1 point per $1 spent. (All three cards earn 2 points per $1 spent on airfare and hotel bookings through luxurycardtravel.com.)
Given a 1x rewards rate, and assuming you redeem all of your rewards for 2 cents apiece, you get essentially the same earnings rate as the $395-annual-fee Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. Each mile is worth 1 cent with that card, but you earn 2 miles per dollar on most purchases.
Plus, with the Venture X, it’s possible to squeeze even more value out of your miles by transferring them to one of Capital One’s travel partners. This card has multiple airline and hotel partners that let you transfer miles at a 1:1 rate. (Terms apply.) Through strategic rewards transfers, you might be able to make one mile worth up to 5 cents.
The cards in the Luxury Card collection don’t have transfer partners, so the value of one point tops out at 2 cents.
3. Some of the perks are fancy
As is usually the case with premium cards, the offerings in the Luxury Card collection come with some swanky perks. Here are some of the most valuable:
Annual airline credit. The Luxury Card Mastercard Gold Card offers a $300 air travel credit toward qualifying purchases. The Luxury Card Mastercard Black Card offers $200 a year.
Annual dining credit. If you have the Gold card, you get a $200 credit toward dining. Black cardholders get $100. According to the terms and conditions for the cards’ rewards program, dining is defined as restaurant transactions, which may not include food delivery.
$120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee every four years. These programs can get you through airport security and customs faster. The credit is available on the Black and Gold cards, but not on the Titanium.
Priority Pass Select membership. This perk, which gets you and your guests into airport lounges around the world, is available on all three cards.
Concierge. All three cards offer 24/7 access to the Luxury Card Concierge. This service assists with such tasks as recovering items left behind at a hotel, planning a special event or arranging a last-minute delivery.
4. They're made of heavy metal
The cards from the Luxury Card collection are mostly unspectacular, but they do stand out in one way: They all have attractive metal designs. The Luxury Card Mastercard Gold Card is even plated in 24-karat gold.
5. Overall, the cards are so-so
To be clear, the cards in the Luxury Card portfolio aren’t terrible. But if you’re spending a fortune on an annual fee, you might reasonably expect more valuable perks.
Consider this: In the Luxury Card family, only one — the Luxury Card Mastercard Gold Card — offers $300 in airline credits, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application credit and a Priority Pass Select membership. Meanwhile, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and American Express Platinum Card® offer similar benefits for smaller annual fees.
SOME CARD INFO MAY BE OUTDATEDAll information about The Centurion® Card from American Express and the Business Centurion® Card from American Express has been collected independently by NerdWallet. The Centurion® Card from American Express and the Business Centurion® Card from American Express are not available through NerdWallet. |
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