Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

[Pumbaa]

The loss of bonus points for restaurant and travel takes the shine off it somewhat though.

It was great while it lasted. I think for most people, after all said and done, earn rates will be roughly the same, some a little worst, some a little better.

Agreed Platinum charge is the only winner here, but being the prestige card that Amex offer, it should be. One big change for me is I'll cancel my Edge card and put all my spend on my Amex Cent. I spoke to my relationship manager this morning, and he did inform me that Amex Cent card holders will be earning 2.5 points a dollar, which is a little higher than Platinum.

 

[downloadingdata]

Accept the point about Visa/Mastercard being accepted everywhere, but Amex isn't.

But the earn rate comparison is not correct. Citibank everyday spend only yields 0.5 point / dollar, whereas Amex plat charge earns 1.125 which is more than double. Granted, if you spend at supermarkets/travel/fuel then you get closer/more than Amex, but that's not the largest spend category for most people. Everyones spend proportions are different, but on a 250k annual spend, most people would be getting a lot more points with a plat charge vs a visa prestige, but as everything YMMV.

I don't agree that Citibank prestige has more benefits than Amex Plat, but like everyone YMMV.

Agree. I dont purport that somehow the visa prestige is the new (old?) holy grail of premium credit cards after the amex deval. There are plenty of visa/mc earning 1pt/$ for everyday spends and citi pales in comprison.

And yes, at the end of the day, its about the circumstances of the individual that dictates the most suitable product for them. I am just disappointed that the shift in strategy for amex (which led to the deval) would dramatically reduce the number of customers for which their products like the plat charge would be of good value.

 

[Daver6]

I can't see me keeping the Platinum Charge card beyond this and don't see it an being a winner/improvement. Value is extremely poor now and can't see how they can justify the $1450 annual fee. The increased everyday spend rate is marginal and best and still eclipsed by the QF Ultimate card.

Also, the extortionate 3% overseas surcharge can't be justified with the reduced earn rate either now on the charge card.

I'll likely just stick with the QF Ultimate card as it has the best rate for everyday spend and pays for itself with the QF travel credit.

Two things I ponder now though. Amex really aren't differentiating themselves from the other cards, yet as others have mentioned, not nearly as widely accepted. Secondly, this surely will have an impact on Qantas' income.

 

[lacuska1]

well you have to question the value of this so called'free miles' I just booked a Qantas first class return from MEL-SIN and the tax alone was more than 650 AU$ -at the same time I used AA milage for the same flight and the tax was less than 200AUS so who is ripping off who?? QANTAS or the australian goverment??so where is the value-for less than 450 you can get a return economy for this 7 hour flight-everything is a rip off nowadays-

 

[Dr Ralph]

This has been coming for sometime. Loyalty has never been something to be revered. Some are very slow to realise this. The game is always changing. Stop panicking. Churn and burn strategy will continue!

Certainly made the "sit out 18 months to wait for another signup bonus" strategy more costly.

There is no indication that sign up bonuses will change. In fact, with the devaluation, they may even increase.

 

[lacuska1]

anyway amex is one of the worst card as acceptance goes-and still the highest rate of 'comission' the only good thing about the explorer card that you can spend the annual fee of 400$ towards flight or accomodation or sightseeing-which of course are still inflated price but at least you can get back a bit -otherwise it's a useless plastic that good for nothing with this new rules...

 

[NM]

well you have to question the value of this so called'free miles' I just booked a Qantas first class return from MEL-SIN and the tax alone was more than 650 AU$ -at the same time I used AA milage for the same flight and the tax was less than 200AUS so who is ripping off who?? QANTAS or the australian goverment??so where is the value-for less than 450 you can get a return economy for this 7 hour flight-everything is a rip off nowadays-

The $650 charge is not all tax, but is called an airline copayment which is made up of the real taxes (which will be exactly the same as the AA redemption) plus carrier surcharges which were previously called the fuel surcharge. But I totally agree that this deceptive practice by QFF is wrong and massively reduces the value of QFF points compared with other program options.

 

[Dr Ralph]

SPG can't convert to QF though.

It can if you buy the packages. I bought a 7 night package and took the additional points as QFF.

 

[psi999]

This has been coming for sometime. Loyalty has never been something to be revered. Churn and burn strategy will continue!



There is no indication that sign up bonuses will change. In fact, with the devaluation, they may even increase.

Hopefully something like the below will not be coming to Australia, from US based AMEX cards:

American Express Adds New Language Restricting Sign Up Bonuses (Looks At Closed & Open Cards) - Doctor Of Credit

We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.

Whole new world. If AMEX are hurting it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

 

[kkl]

DJ amex will have the same earning rate but conversion rate will be affected?

As DJ points concert directly to MR?

 

[dajop]

It is good that we have had decent warning. But what p@#s me off, is the devaluation of existing points. They could just reduce the earn rate by half rather than reducing the transfer rates, but no let's reduce our liability by half whilst we're at it too. Half of our customers won't even notice. I liked being able to have my MR points there to transfer when needed, but now I'm going to have to decide which program to transfer to ... probably KF, I'm sure I'll use them within 3 years.

 

[travelnutjohn]

A comparison to Visa is not complete without mentioning that visa is accepted everywhere and often at a lesser surchage than Amex. You do not NEED an Amex to accompany your visa but you definitely NEED a visa/mc to go with your Amex.

Amex has always been a differetiated product but the problem is the devaluation is so severe such that it will become just an inconvenient Visa with ever so slighly better earn rates. Even if your annual spend is $250k, you are only earning 30k more airline pts per year than a Visa - far less than a typical sign on bonus for a new card.

On other travel benefits, it is only worthwhile if you do not already have airline status. The Citi prestige visa arguably offers much more value than the plat charge.

spot on,
when I had my own micro business, I was approached by the bank to see if I would accept amex as part of my merchant facilities, and the fees were 2-3 times of visa if I recall,

I understood that amex had a better rewards program, but out of prinicpel and protest I declined the amex option, to me it was ludicrous as a business owner pay 2-3 times for getting nothing in return,
now that amex and visa and no different in terms of rewards ,
I hope as part of economics, amex either disappear into history or they change their model from now on

 

[SOPOOR]

so im assuming that most people get the most value by transferring their points into various ariline programs to travel premium class

even though the earn rate for the cards has barely changed, the airline transfer rate has halved,

so what will be the best redemption after the new changes>

had a look at amex travel, and flights are no good,
hotels are ok, if you can get them priced well
0.7% as part of cash back isnt great

 

[bbqwer]

Members with 5million+ MR, what are you guys going to do ? I have no idea what to do. Transfer to KF can last 3 years only
My original plan was 10 years business class!

 

[Saltywings]

Members with 5million+ MR, what are you guys going to do ? I have no idea what to do. Transfer to KF can last 3 years only
My original plan was 10 years business class!

Looks like your life plans got devalued by the same amount as MR #facetious

On a more serious note: guess that just means you'll have to fly more in those 5 years! The horror /s

 

[jinks485]

spot on,
when I had my own micro business, I was approached by the bank to see if I would accept amex as part of my merchant facilities, and the fees were 2-3 times of visa if I recall,

I understood that amex had a better rewards program, but out of prinicpel and protest I declined the amex option, to me it was ludicrous as a business owner pay 2-3 times for getting nothing in return,
now that amex and visa and no different in terms of rewards ,
I hope as part of economics, amex either disappear into history or they change their model from now on

Amex says it’s had to close the gap between the merchant fees it charges and those of its competitors, and this is one of the main reasons for the devaluation.
I've certainly noticed Amex acceptance go up a lot recently (and without surcharges).

 

[dajop]

Transfer to KF can last 3 years only

KF miles can cover almost 5 years of travel, as you can issue tickets twelve months in advance and those tickets have 12 months validity from date of first sector (i.e. book a ticket now for travel on Nov 1 2019, will have a ticket validity until Nov 1 2020).

 

[dajop]

Amex says it’s had to close the gap between the merchant fees it charges and those of its competitors, and this is one of the main reasons for the devaluation.

Yeh, it's true .. but apply that going forward, not retrospectively, that's where corporate greed comes in. I get it though, USD earnings in Australia have taken a dive (thanks to FX), and they need to do something about it. This seems as good idea as any.

 

[desafinado74]

Just sickening to see how much better the points earning scene in the US is, compared to here ! Now i have to decide which to cancel, the AMEX Velocity Plat or the Explorer card.

 

[zenyattamondatta]

Amex says it’s had to close the gap between the merchant fees it charges and those of its competitors, and this is one of the main reasons for the devaluation.

No need to take their spin at face value.

RBA changes don't need to impact AMEX directly, impacting their competitors is enough to make a devaluation feasible. I'm a little surprised the party has lasted this long, to be honest.