American Express from Blue to Green

Dot

My blue Amex card was changed to green with no explanation. I did not give it a second thought (decided the MD preferred green - or something! ). However, just recently I have discovered that there are a number of different coloured charge/credit cards and wonder if anyone can tell me the benefits of any one over the others. I currently pay an annual fee as well as a fee for rewards membership, do not get any cash back and probably spend between £10-12k pa. After reading a thread on "blue or platinum cards' I do not feel I am getting a good deal.

nh

I can't answer your question, but does Amex usually charge an annual fee? I thought not.

Why don't you get cashback, the best thing about Amex is the 1% cashback.

You pay for rewards? What are they?

I would ring Amex and ask for a card with no annual fee and cashback (or is it because you have low credit rating that you have that card?)

M_Thomson

Dot wrote:

My blue Amex card was changed to green with no explanation. I did not give it a second thought (decided the MD preferred green - or something! ). However, just recently I have discovered that there are a number of different coloured charge/credit cards and wonder if anyone can tell me the benefits of any one over the others. I currently pay an annual fee as well as a fee for rewards membership, do not get any cash back and probably spend between £10-12k pa. After reading a thread on "blue or platinum cards' I do not feel I am getting a good deal.

Are you sure that you did not have a Platinum or Gold Charge Card before rather than a Blue Credit Card? There was a Green Credit card that they used to do which charged a fee of I think £12 a year and did Membership Rewards for around £23.50 a year. But It's not available on the website any more.

Dot

M Thomson - yes that is the one, although the annual fee is £37.00

nh - rewards are like air miles which you spend on flights, hotels, white goods, etc.

I have just spoken to Amex and, apparently, my card is a charge card - rather than a credit card - and gives better benefits for travelling - which I have never used. They have suggested I move to a credit card and have suggested the platinum one so, here goes.

Thank you both for your comeback.

M_Thomson

So how come they changed you from a Blue Credit card to a Green Charge card? Just intrigued as they are two types of products.

Dot

I did not ask but, knowing modern technology, the computer probably decided it was the best for me based on my spending habits. I think I had a number of holidays that year.

M_Thomson

Dot wrote:

I did not ask but, knowing modern technology, the computer probably decided it was the best for me based on my spending habits. I think I had a number of holidays that year.

I am just wondering cause if you have a Blue Credit card they shouldn't be able to send you a Green Charge Card without you signing new terms and conditions as they are different types of products.

Dot

I did not sign any new agreement but I do get 'updated' terms from my banks and card companies every so often, so it may be that one of these said something about the change. I must admit I do not read them as carefully as I should - I tend to skim read them and pick out bits I feel necessary to concentrate on.

almahadeus

It's really dangerous not to read letters from your credit card company or bank- by all means bin the adverts from other companies, but always read letters relevant to you! You are right to wonder about what happened with the blue to green thing, if it happened to me I would be screaming blue murder!

Amex platinum is good for cashback if you use you credit card over a certain amount per year, under that threshold blue is better- one of martins articles gives the exact figure, can't remember it from memory.

Dot

Changing to green did not bother me (until the chat about cash back made me look further into my card) as I always pay my cards off in full and could not even tell you the interest rate on any of them.

As far as reading blurb is concerned: I deal with the finance side of a medium sized engineering company and read all the important stuff that comes in there. However, with everything that goes on at home I just never seem to have the time to study all the bits that come through, that I know I should scrutinise. I also know that 'not having time' is no excuse as we can always make time for the things we really want to do - but who really wants to read through the pages and pages of terms and conditions?

Anyway, I have applied for platinum now so will shortly be scrapping the green.