Another one bites the dust, Amex dumped by CBA

[Mr_Gimlet]

Yes, different beasts. In the free space, I am using 28D as credit and ING for cash/ alternative.

 

[burmans]

I currently have a loan with CBA and considered grabbing the Diamond awards set purely for the AMEX lounge. Now that's out the door, I wonder if getting an Altitude Black AMEX is worth the fees. If I have a loan with Westpac I still have to foot the AMEX proportion for annual fees.

Well its worth if for year 1 with the signon bonus. Beyond that maybe not.

 

[Einherjar]

Yeah but since I already have Platinum Edge, the AMEX Altitude bonus won't apply - only the Altitude Visa bonus.

 

[RooFlyer]

My personal banker at CBA unaware of the bank ditching AMEX

 

[burmans]

The Amex option was just about keeping me at CBA.

For me this is the crux of why I think this may come back and bite CBA. By itself I understand why they might want to get rid of the Amex but the implications of this may be larger than they expect

For me

• This credit card has no value for me if the drop the Amex, its one of the worst in the market and the Amex benefits are the only reason I have it. So firstly they will lose my CC business and I suspect a fair few people feel the same, without the Amex this just becomes a very unattractive card.
• If I lose the card then the value of a free Diamond card as part of my package becomes zero which reduces the package value and I'm seriously thinking of whether I really want/need that package. So they might also lose package fees.
• Without the package I'm essentially back in the market for a home loan. So they could lose not only my CC business but my home loan business
• One of the reason I bank with CBA is that I like having most of my banking in one place (this isn't true for CC's but true for transaction/saver and home loan accounts plus a sizeable super balance with First State). Lose the home loan and this benefit flies out the door so I'm potentially in the market to move just about all of these other accounts as I know there are other very competitive deals out there
• Then if I move my personal accounts I might as well move my business accounts too

So in my case one relatively (apparently) small change may well end up with me moving my whole business and I suspect I'm not alone on this.

 

[Einherjar]

For me this is the crux of why I think this may come back and bite CBA. By itself I understand why they might want to get rid of the Amex but the implications of this may be larger than they expect

For me

• This credit card has no value for me if the drop the Amex, its one of the worst in the market and the Amex benefits are the only reason I have it. So firstly they will lose my CC business and I suspect a fair few people feel the same, without the Amex this just becomes a very unattractive card.
• If I lose the card then the value of a free Diamond card as part of my package becomes zero which reduces the package value and I'm seriously thinking of whether I really want/need that package. So they might also lose package fees.
• Without the package I'm essentially back in the market for a home loan. So they could lose not only my CC business but my home loan business
• One of the reason I bank with CBA is that I like having most of my banking in one place (this isn't true for CC's but true for transaction/saver and home loan accounts plus a sizeable super balance with First State). Lose the home loan and this benefit flies out the door so I'm potentially in the market to move just about all of these other accounts as I know there are other very competitive deals out there
• Then if I move my personal accounts I might as well move my business accounts too

So in my case one relatively (apparently) small change may well end up with me moving my whole business and I suspect I'm not alone on this.

Interesting. I like seeing this on both sides of the fence since I also sit on property investment forums.
For me, having a CC is a bonus as my primary focus is building an investment property portfolio.
On this forum, the focus is obviously CC rewards.
Although I completely agree with your first point, my desire with the Amex Diamond was the Lounge access followed by the international fee free.
Your second point & third point, I can't say the package is effectively zero as it usually is a 0.2% lower rate than normal. For a sizeable loan, that's a lot of savings compared to $395. Granted if you switch to another bank such as Westpac and join their $395 package for the same discount of 0.2% you might be better/worse off, depending on the bonus offer of the day. I'm aware Westpac have just lowered their Interest Only rates this week. Moving over to them for an Altitude Black will only waive the Visa but not the Amex Black (which is where I could gain access to the lounge again). The drawback with Altitude is obviously the points system is lower in redemption compared to Amex first and foremost, followed by CBA (with AMEX. If we're just comparing system sans AMEX then I believe the redemption to Qantas is better on Altitude and the same for Virgin). The pros is that it has more redemption value to other flight networks.
Can't make comments on your other points as I personally don't have any accounts other than the loan but I do see your point that loyalty can be switched if other banks can provide value during this time. That's not to say that CBA might release an Amex issued card in the future but that'll just be like Altitude all over again. Separate fees... If there was a way to waive both fees, that'll be nice. Will it happen? Unlikely.

 

[amaroo]

What a drag! Had the DIA card fee free for years... will have an opportunity to max out the OS spend prior to Nov, but that's it for CBA and credit cards for us.

 

[burmans]

Your second point & third point, I can't say the package is effectively zero as it usually is a 0.2% lower rate than normal. For a sizeable loan, that's a lot of savings compared to $395. Granted if you switch to another bank such as Westpac and join their $395 package for the same discount of 0.2% you might be better/worse off, depending on the bonus offer of the day. I'm aware Westpac have just lowered their Interest Only rates this week.

Just to clarify I wasn't saying the package has no value, just that taking the CC out of it means it now has somewhat less value and hence making me question whether I should still have it. I don't have a huge loan anymore so .2% off is worth much less that it used to, and plenty of banks/financial institutions offer a somewhat better rate than that and/or will negotiate without asking you for a large package fee.

 

[Einherjar]

Just to clarify I wasn't saying the package has no value, just that taking the CC out of it means it now has somewhat less value and hence making me question whether I should still have it. I don't have a huge loan anymore so .2% off is worth much less that it used to, and plenty of banks/financial institutions offer a somewhat better rate than that and/or will negotiate without asking you for a large package fee.

Understandable. I'm mainly Interest Only so my loan is usually high and 0.2% is a big deal but home loan packages aside, it's not a 'must have card' to have in your wallet and in turn, if there's nothing keeping you loyal to CBA then yes, it makes moving your business elsewhere all the more easier. I only mentioned Westpac and CBA because they're the Big4 that have competitive home loan rates and a strong chance of drawing equity in the future. If I didn't have a home loan package then I would have never considered the Diamond Awards. Now that AMEX is going, there's nothing going for this card unless they shake it up with some better redemptions and other flight networks.
I'll hold on to my Altitude for a year and see ....maybe CBA will compete with an Amex partner card with better rewards. I'm not betting on it though.

 

[SOPOOR]

I was paying the fee for a few years.
Had it waived two. Years in. A row.
This year no waiving
So they said they could do fee free platinum card so I took the offer.

However next year if I csnt get it waived it will be bye bye.
Had it for 15yrs plus

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Was my keeper with no annual fee however no reason to keep going forward

Will be overseas Oct / Nov, need to be careful no pending transactions carry forward into November. Seems to be a little vindictive to levy transaction fees and no points for a few late posting transactions

 

[Nutcase]

Sad and surprised to see this one bite the dust.

 

[oz_mark]

Sad and surprised to see this one bite the dust.

Shouldn't have been much of a surprise. None of the other banks could make the model work either..

 

[Nutcase]

Shouldn't have been much of a surprise. None of the other banks could make the model work either..

If anyone could have made it work it would have been CBA. They gave up too easily. AMEX clearly didn't do a very good sales job with the Banks.

 

[tlam]

If anyone could have made it work it would have been CBA. They gave up too easily. AMEX clearly didn't do a very good sales job with the Banks.

I don’t think so, because the banks are too greedy, and Amex is so gorgeous they can’t feed the banks anymore.

If what you said is right then how can you explain that CBA is still not accepting Apple Pay? And Apple is not good at the sale job?

 

[Nutcase]

I don’t think so, because the banks are too greedy, and Amex is so gorgeous they can’t feed the banks anymore.

If what you said is right then how can you explain that CBA is still not accepting Apple Pay? And Apple is not good at the sale job?

I agree with you that AMEX is gorgeous but Im not sure what this has to do with the discussion.

ApplePay is a different discussion entirely. There is no benefit to CBA to pay Apple the fee that they want.

Apple should be paying CBA a fee not the other way around given that Apple will get all the spending data. CBA has made a significant investment upgrading their systems to be EMV compliant thus allowing contactless transactions and by extension potential Apple pay transactions. Apple cant just come along and demand fees when they have not contributed to the upgrading of the payments network that they want access to.

This is in contrast to the USA where EMV is well behind schedule and contactless cards not being issued as widely.

 

[oz_mark]

If anyone could have made it work it would have been CBA. They gave up too easily. AMEX clearly didn't do a very good sales job with the Banks.

If the fee that Amex can pay the banks is the same as they can earn from MC/V interchange, what advantage can Amex bring to the points earning potential of the card?

 

[Nutcase]

If the fee that Amex can pay the banks is the same as they can earn from MC/V interchange, what advantage can Amex bring to the points earning potential of the card?

There are other revenue streams to consider. AMEX is also a different product with different features such as lounge access, insurance and service etc. Clearly this is not valued when you reduce the products to commodities hence the dumping of AMEX. Badly sold by AMEX.

 

[odysseus]

Shouldn't have been much of a surprise. None of the other banks could make the model work either..

Because CBA were the least generous with points earn. Effectively their profit was greater on this from points than their MC.

 

[TomVexille]

Because CBA were the least generous with points earn. Effectively their profit was greater on this from points than their MC.

As in they have one of the worst least competitive products, except for the OS Spend part