RBS Black card

nogoodwithmoney11111

Hi,

been offered this card - anyone got any experience of it? usually use amex cashback but the travel insurance and breakdown cover seem worth the annual fee?

any views would help, or is there a similar card that is better value?

thanks in advance

justjohn

rbs royalties gold current account has free travel insurance and breakdown cover. i assume thats what they are bundling with the black card

i have 2 rbs platinum cards with no fees applied at beginning of year and got 13 and 15months interest free. Applied for both cards online on same day and they actualy sent 2 out lol

justjohn

just looked it up 250 pound annual fee

looks carp lol vip lounge in airports i have access to via my rbs royalties gold account free as long as i book my flights with rbs.
The black card charges other passengers in your party 15 pound

even the extended warranty is the same as rbs royalties

i am with rbs for current accounts etc and visa cards. Would not touch that card. mind you i don't earn 75k.

but i still have other cc's with nearly 15k limit

there are a couple of services on the black card , but i would never use them.

speedbird1973

If youre going to use the value added services then it's worth the fee. My Amex card cost £150 a year. In the first year I'll be able to make that up in the first year easily. After that I need to do my sums. Have a look at the math and make your decision.

If you earnt over 75k the concierge service would give you the value from the product. I don't earn that much so like you I don't need a concierge lol

chattychappy

I used to use PriorityPass (the airport lounge card) that is bundled.

A few comments about that:

1) If you generally fly business class, you will get lounge access anyway - so there is no benefit.

2) If you fly with a particular "normal" (ie non low-cost) airline alot and join their frequent flyer programme, you also get lounge access even when in Economy. If they are part of an alliance (Star Alliance, Skyteam, OneWorld) then you get lounge access for all the member airlines. Depending on the airline, you may bring in guests free of charge - eg Gold on StarAlliance allows one guest - or even use their lounge when flying with a different airlines (rarer).

3) PriorityPass lounges are often the "cheapest" lounges. Better than nothing, but often not as nice as the official lounges. So don't even think about getting into the Virgin Clubhouse on it or having fancy showers and a massage. Just depends on the location (eg for some reason at the old Bangkok airport it got you into one of the "First Class" lounges complete with waiter service). Also, they may be a long way from the gate - unlike the lounge belonging to the airline you are flying with. So sometimes it simply isn't worth it - a 20 minute walk for a "free" glass of wine and some pretzels only to walk back again. Great if you have long transits though.

4) You should check that the airport terminals you typically use have a PriorityPass lounge and where it is (google for the PriorityPass website). In some places they have multiple lounges, sometimes even next to each other. Other places there is still no convenient lounge at all.

5) Bear in mind that the lounges PriorityPass uses often have a "day pass" scheme anyway. Either pay on entry (which destroys the whole "exclusive invitation-only" thing) or via a website in advance. The fee is typically £15 to £25.

Overall I found it useful for a while, but as I started using business class more and acquired gold cards with the airlines I used it became less valuable.

PriorityPass is also available direct from their website (very expensive that way) or bundled with Amex Platinum Chargecard (which is how I got it). When looking around, bear in mind that PriorityPass do versions with a limited number of free entries, or no free entries at all (pay each time). Generally it's costly when you get it direct because the kind of people that do that are heavy lounge users. PP offer big discounts to affiliates because for them it sounds great to offer"VIP access" but in practice most people only fly a few times a year, if that. (And might be in Business class anyway.) So it doesn't cost much to provide.

justjohn

Unsure if the rbs royalties gold Prioritypass is the same ...i am sure they call it a vip pass/airport lounge pass. it lets you into a lounge. Usually with an assortment of newspapers/mags etc. FREE alchohol and free snacks/cakes etc. no kids allowed usually. i have only ever used twice.

vip pass is a good service and i do enjoy it.but would not pay for it.
i Would not use half the services on the black card and most of them you can get elsewere.