Another one bites the dust, Amex dumped by CBA

[dontwanttoregister]

Commonwealth Bank axes American Express credit cards

Will miss the Sydney airport lounge benefit.

 

[Comoman]

Now that is a pain in the proverbial.

I have so many DD's on this card.

 

[RooFlyer]

Me too. So much for avoiding overseas fees when using the AMEX.

 

[k3nnis]

So is there any use with the mastercard diamond? I get this card via my home loan package.

Worth transferring to Velocity?? I also have a citibank signature (free fo rlife) VISA. not sure which has better rates.

Will the free travel insurance still be valid after this ditching of AMEX?

 

[RooFlyer]

Good catch by AusBT.

 

[Paddy55]

Bugger! Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!

 

[dontwanttoregister]

CommBank have updated their site with a little more info, but there's nothing there to suggest they are going to make changes to compensate for the benefits lost (ie no hint of fee-free international transactions on the Mastercard)

Changes to CommBank American Express® Cards - CommBank

 

[burmans]

So is there any use with the mastercard diamond? I get this card via my home loan package.

Worth transferring to Velocity?? I also have a citibank signature (free fo rlife) VISA. not sure which has better rates.

Will the free travel insurance still be valid after this ditching of AMEX?

I have the card for free with my loans package too. So will "keep" it for the insurance but won't be using it.

Way to decimate a business, I can't really see any reason people would actually use Commbank credit cards aside for stupidity/laziness. And yes I realise that's true of many people and their banking products but surely over time they will lose a fair bit of business!

 

[robbo135]

My platinum edge says specifically that the reduced annual fee would still apply.
Does your letter mention that for your charge?

Nup mine said nothing about annual fees. I guess I'll find out in March 2019 !

 

[featheast]

I have the card for free with my loans package too. So will "keep" it for the insurance but won't be using it.

Way to decimate a business, I can't really see any reason people would actually use Commbank credit cards aside for stupidity/laziness. And yes I realise that's true of many people and their banking products but surely over time they will lose a fair bit of business!

I have CBA credit card free with my home loan as well. Apart from the overseas transactions on AMEX, I do use the MasterCard quite often when Amex is not accepted (which is a lot of places, unfortunately, in Australia). I don't really want to have another Master card simply for the points but paying some annual fee.

 

[RooFlyer]

Curious as to who ends these deals, I assume it is an Amex decision based on meeting targets or something along those lines. Little reason for the associations/affinity partners for cutting off a commission source? Law Society of NSW recently ended their partnership with Amex. Very disappointing.

Have a read of the AusBT article in the first post. CBA/banks no longer making good profits over high AMEX surcharge, which they used to share (now only same as MCard etc), so out it goes!

 

[ChrisFlyer]

No surprises about CBA, obviously their strategy of giving bugger all points somehow hasn't proven profitable enough!

 

[dontwanttoregister]

A quirk of CBA is that supplementary cards have the same number as the primary cardholder. Paypal wont allow two accounts to have the same card, and the Amex/Mastercard was a handy way of dealing with this problem. Well, thats out the door now too!

Maybe its time to bite the bullet, go elsewhere and get me an Apple Pay compatible card! Hardly worth paying for the 'Wealth package' on the homeloan anymore, better off going for a no-frills, no/low-fee, lower rate mortgage.

 

[GSP]

Like dontwanttoregister, I've also had the Black Amex/MC for a number of years as part of the Wealth package, however I've now wiped out the deficit and are in +ve only keeping it active until the year runs out (November for me). The flexibility for additional (large) borrowings combined with the benefits of the card (TI and OS fee free on Amex) had me thinking of keeping the package open, but whilst the TI will remain and pretty dodgey earning on the MC, almost certainly will give it the lemon and sarse prior to renewal time.

 

[burmans]

Maybe its time to bite the bullet, go elsewhere and get me an Apple Pay compatible card! Hardly worth paying for the 'Wealth package' on the homeloan anymore, better off going for a no-frills, no/low-fee, lower rate mortgage.

I was lucky enough to get my package fee free this year, but will definitely have to do the calcs next year to see if it is worth switching. Either or no frills loan or one with a great sign on bonus.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

I'll be feeling the loss of no international fees. I know lots of places don't accept Amex, but many do and so - for example - I will have to fiddle with my Uber options whereas at the moment I just use the Amex anywhere in the world.

May look at moving everything to Bankwest next year. The Amex option was just about keeping me at CBA.

 

[Einherjar]

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.
Explorer looks to be the only 'non business' option.

(Not limiting myself to Qantas/Virgin cards)

 

[Einherjar]

May look at moving everything to Bankwest next year. The Amex option was just about keeping me at CBA.

I haven't compared the difference between BankWest vs 28Degrees but I've heard if you're signing up, BankWest appears to be a better model.
I signed up for 28Degrees because despite it being a $6000 minimum limit, I can call up and drop it to $500.
You can't do that with BW Platinum because they'll downgrade your card and you'll use the international fee free capability.
I only use 28Deg for overseas purchases and I usually load up cash - I try and keep my overall credit limit low for borrowing capacity for future investments.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

I haven't compared the difference between BankWest vs 28Degrees but I've heard if you're signing up, BankWest appears to be a better model

I do have 28D but the Bankwest QFF product looks quite good.

 

[Einherjar]

I do have 28D but the Bankwest QFF product looks quite good.

Ah I was talking about BW Zero platinum since I'm comparing non award, overseas transaction fee free and no annual fee. The Qantas is a different area entirely.