Amex Centurion Card eligibility in Australia

[Pointy Bird]

Forget the bling. I only use my phone for the centurion card.
Extra points which do not expire never hurt, no matter how many you have (I have well over 10m).
I am still travelling a lot - even though it's all domestic now.
With less 1st class flights available at Saver rates, it will be easy to use the points all up later...
I have found the service exceptional (as you would expect/hope). Multiple trips booked by my manager always with double bookings at the same time eg Next week I am off to Queensland, but at the same time, the manager booked another trip to NSW in case Queensland was Covid affected. The manager booked flights, hotels, cars, dinners ( every night) at both locations and as soon as we knew which trip was possible, they canceled everything else for us. That would have taken me many hours to arrange. They also made sure there were nil cancellation fees even if advertised otherwise - right until the last 24 hours.
My centurion 5k pa fee is tax deductible so only circa $2600pa for me.
The initial signup fee was waived.
I have listed the other benefits previously.
In summary - if you spend a lot, travel a lot and can get the fee tax deducted - it is worth it.

 

[jonboixxx]

I've recently done similar analysis to see if my Centurion card is worth keeping. I spend about $200K a month on this card. I'm fortunate to have significant business spend that allows this to happen. At an extra 0.25 points / dollar, that gives me an additional 600K MR earn each year compared to a Platinum charge, which is worth $3K in Amex credit which is the worst possible redemption rate.

You don't get the Plat charge travel credit which is unfortunate, but you do get the Amex Reserve credit. Centurion also gives a Net a Porter credit, and the grocery credits have all helped balance out the annual fee. My credit limit and my relationship manager make the card a no brainer for me, but if I didn't earn enough additional points, I would reconsider the card as currently, without travel, the majority of the perks are not very useful

Did they require any financials on your personal card at that level of spend? My predicament was their credit department limiting me on my personal charge card when I am spending $750k/month across 4 individual corporate cards (earn is not as great ) I was forever ringing credit as I refused to give them the personal financials that they were insisting, but I think I have them trained now

 

[Pumbaa]

Did they require any financials on your personal card at that level of spend? My predicament was their credit department limiting me on my personal charge card when I am placing $750k/month across 4 individual corporate cards (earn is not as great ) I was forever ringing credit as I refused to give them the personal financials that they were insisting, but I think I have them trained now

I used to have the same problem. I had an individual Plat Business Charge for each business that I owned, but because the stock ordered was owned by Amex until the bill was paid, there wasn't really any limit issues. But having to pay 3 x annual fees for cards that had an inferior earn rate on top of my $5K Centurion wasn't great.

Fast forward, my main suppliers finally accepted payment with my personal Amex Cent. With Covid, they capped out my limit around $120-$150K, so i had lots of fun paying down the card before it was due to put more on it. My relationship manager was awesome throughout, and managed to get credit to give me a $180K hard limit without any financials required!! If I want a higher limit, they want to see all my business financials, which I haven't attempted yet, as $200K is the limit I actually pump through the card.

 

[jonboixxx]

I used to have the same problem. I had an individual Plat Business Charge for each business that I owned, but because the stock ordered was owned by Amex until the bill was paid, there wasn't really any limit issues. But having to pay 3 x annual fees for cards that had an inferior earn rate on top of my $5K Centurion wasn't great.

Fast forward, my main suppliers finally accepted payment with my personal Amex Cent. With Covid, they capped out my limit around $120-$150K, so i had lots of fun paying down the card before it was due to put more on it. My relationship manager was awesome throughout, and managed to get credit to give me a $180K hard limit without any financials required!! If I want a higher limit, they want to see all my business financials, which I haven't attempted yet, as $200K is the limit I actually pump through the card.

Well done, it sounds like a great result for you. My relationship manager has been fantastic but she butted heads with credit all the time, until recently.

 

[Bell21]

Forget the bling. I only use my phone for the centurion card.
Extra points which do not expire never hurt, no matter how many you have (I have well over 10m).
I am still travelling a lot - even though it's all domestic now.
With less 1st class flights available at Saver rates, it will be easy to use the points all up later...
I have found the service exceptional (as you would expect/hope). Multiple trips booked by my manager always with double bookings at the same time eg Next week I am off to Queensland, but at the same time, the manager booked another trip to NSW in case Queensland was Covid affected. The manager booked flights, hotels, cars, dinners ( every night) at both locations and as soon as we knew which trip was possible, they canceled everything else for us. That would have taken me many hours to arrange. They also made sure there were nil cancellation fees even if advertised otherwise - right until the last 24 hours.
My centurion 5k pa fee is tax deductible so only circa $2600pa for me.
The initial signup fee was waived.
I have listed the other benefits previously.
In summary - if you spend a lot, travel a lot and can get the fee tax deducted - it is worth it.

Sounds like the YMMV is well worth it for you, esp. having the relationship manager - big time saving by the sounds of it.

 

[SOPOOR]

some of you guys spending is mindboggling amazing

 

[Bell21]

some of you guys spending is mindboggling amazing

lol, my thoughts exactly - we have @jjonnboy @ $9M pa - do I hear a raise?

 

[jonboixxx]

lol, my thoughts exactly - we have @jjonnboy @ $9M pa - do I hear a raise?

Nah, it's COGS that I'm fortunate that Amex will process. Points are at 2:3, which is still a lot, but for me, part of the equation of being self-employed. Anyhow, I shouldn't have raised total clearance, because my gripe was about Amex credit department blocking my personal card sometimes.

 

[Bell21]

Nah, it's COGS that I'm fortunate that Amex will process. Points are at 2:3, which is still a lot, but for me, part of the equation of being self-employed. Anyhow, I shouldn't have raised total clearance, because my gripe was about Amex credit department blocking my personal card sometimes.

Yeh I get it - I run a much smaller business (no real COGS equation) but I find the charge card credit really helpful on a smaller scale

 

[jonboixxx]

Yeh I get it - I run a much smaller business (no real COGS equation) but I find the charge card credit really helpful on a smaller scale

I love their charge card, 2.25:1 =1.125 airline (when they resume).

 

[samh004]

My centurion 5k pa fee is tax deductible so only circa $2600pa for me.

I should really start a separate thread but as a WFH, sole-trader, how – or what – do I need to be doing to make the annual fee tax deductible? Just for the PC this would be useful!

 

[woomp001]

Don't forget – it's been reported, I can't confirm from personal experience – that you actually lose some benefits too, such as the $450 travel credit! Perhaps it's only that benefit that gets worse, but that's still a huge loss when you're paying $3500 more. If you do the equations it's then actually more like paying $3950 more!!

That is bizzare....

Did they require any financials on your personal card at that level of spend? My predicament was their credit department limiting me on my personal charge card when I am spending $750k/month across 4 individual corporate cards (earn is not as great ) I was forever ringing credit as I refused to give them the personal financials that they were insisting, but I think I have them trained now

Yes yes, I have found the same thing...

When I first got the Plat Charge, I thought it was unlimited, like they say on the website..... So I put through 50K in the first few weeks (like I use to on my Plat credit card, so it shouldn't have been any surprise), and they put it on hold..

So I call up confused... I thought it was a charge card, with "no pre set limit" as claimed on your website I naively said.....

They wanted fins to let me put through more than 50K a month... I never got around to it, and instead just transferred 50k across immediately to lift the hold, and then kept it to around the 40-50k a month for the first 3 months or so, and then just started nibbling away....

Now a few years later, I've put through over 100k in some months, with a peak balance of like 160K just before I pay the last month, and never a sniff of a hold...

I guess they have some algo's running, and the algo didn't seem to consider my spend or history across the entire AMEX platform, only each individual card/product...


In any case, mad respect! 750K in a month is heavy duty!

 

[woomp001]

I've recently done similar analysis to see if my Centurion card is worth keeping. I spend about $200K a month on this card. I'm fortunate to have significant business spend that allows this to happen. At an extra 0.25 points / dollar, that gives me an additional 600K MR earn each year compared to a Platinum charge, which is worth $3K in Amex credit which is the worst possible redemption rate.

You don't get the Plat charge travel credit which is unfortunate, but you do get the Amex Reserve credit. Centurion also gives a Net a Porter credit, and the grocery credits have all helped balance out the annual fee. My credit limit and my relationship manager make the card a no brainer for me, but if I didn't earn enough additional points, I would reconsider the card as currently, without travel, the majority of the perks are not very useful

Forgive me if this is a silly question... what is the grocery credits piece you mention about?

 

[blacksultan]

With such large spend you’ll should open a US Amex and transfer the miles across for a better transfer ratio .

 

[woomp001]

With such large spend you’ll should open a US Amex and transfer the miles across for a better transfer ratio .

Is that even possible??

I thought you needed a US bank account to have a US AMEX account??

 

[samh004]

I guess they have some algo's running, and the algo didn't seem to consider my spend or history across the entire AMEX platform, only each individual card/product...

Yes, the amount you can effectively charge is based on previous spend, so over time it can both go up and go down, depending how you spend month to month.

Forgive me if this is a silly question... what is the grocery credits piece you mention about?

At the start of this year and middle of last year there were offers able to be saved to the card that allowed you to receive credits on groceries. I think the one at the start of this year was $400 back for PC and a little bit more for Centurion.

Is that even possible??

I thought you needed a US bank account to have a US AMEX account??

There are other, detailed threads, in this forum you should peruse for the answers to that. For example, the more than 2000 posts in this thread:

Strategy to obtain US Amex

Get an apartment in NY, W53 St and they will send u heaps of CC unsolicited.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Bell21]

Is that even possible??

I thought you needed a US bank account to have a US AMEX account??

Lol as said above - there's an extensive thread - black sultan is one of the Kings of this topic (fyi not laughing at you - just chuckling about that other thread - one of the most complex threads I've ever seen in a good way - but the contributors on it are v helpful)

 

[woomp001]

With such large spend you’ll should open a US Amex and transfer the miles across for a better transfer ratio .

I just started wading through the 2000 post thread cited above... OMG!! Head blown, had no idea....

Why oh why do Aussies get so badly screwed over??

 

[albyd]

We’re a small market with relatively fewer card issuers than the US. Smaller markets esp like Fiji get even smaller range of offers. We’re very lucky considering.
If Citi as one of the largest global card issuers Couldn’t make a go of it …

 

[blacksultan]

Let me know if a referral link is needed .

Is that even possible??

I thought you needed a US bank account to have a US AMEX account??