American Express £25 membership fee

northturton

I received a postal mail from American Express this morning about how they're doubling nectar points, and for these "enhanced benefits", they'll charge me £25.... er? no. I'd rather have the same points and no fee. I'm leaving.

Marksfish

I rang them yesterday and rejected the new t&c's. The operator then told me that is a new FREE Nectar card, but with half the points. I transferred to that over the phone and am awaiting my new card

northturton

Seems bonkers that they create work for themselves - people should have to opt in to a new deal like this, not opt out of changes. Or do they hope that people will put it off and forget... until its too late.

reclusive46

Its not really an annual fee considering you can make it back in one foursquare offer.

don_simon

reclusive46 wrote: »

Its not really an annual fee considering you can make it back in one foursquare offer.

True, but presumably you could switch to the no-fee version and still get the foursquare cashbacks.

The real question is whether you spend enough (£5000 per year) to earn enough Nectar points to cover the £25 charge.

[Deleted User]

More and more cards are charging annual fee's these days and I expect more current accounts will be hot on the heels of the Santander 123.

koala987

I got this letter today as well and I went to the online address given on the letter, and there you can apply for the no-fee card. It has a higher APR(20.9%), but if you pay off the balance every month, it's no problem. You only get 1 Nectar point for each £1 you spend.

I think I can live with that rather than paying a £25 fee.

chattychappy

Par for the course with Amex. They have used this approach for decades. I went green-gold-platinum (chargecard) without ever opting in. Each time, by chance, the "extra" benefits did work for me. After a while on platinum I cancelled it altogether.

JakeGreen

chattychappy wrote: »

Par for the course with Amex. They have used this approach for decades. I went green-gold-platinum (chargecard) without ever opting in. Each time, by chance, the "extra" benefits did work for me. After a while on platinum I cancelled it altogether.

I'd pay the £450 for the Platinum if it was a credit card and would try to use the 'benefits' as i normally clear my CC balances in full each month. Sometimes I need a few months to clear the balance so charge cards have no appeal to me unless they offer a decent rate of cashback

[Deleted User]

JakeGreen wrote: »

I'd pay the £450 for the Platinum if it was a credit card and would try to use the 'benefits' as i normally clear my CC balances in full each month. Sometimes I need a few months to clear the balance so charge cards have no appeal to me unless they offer a decent rate of cashback

I've thought about getting the platinum JUST for the benefits and not using it for purchases at all. Not worth it at thmoment as they've scrapped the bonus 50000 sign up points but if that comes back ill thin about it.

Also need to do some calculations to figure out if the other benefits are worth the cost...

chattychappy

Lazyloki wrote: »

I've thought about getting the platinum JUST for the benefits and not using it for purchases at all. Not worth it at thmoment as they've scrapped the bonus 50000 sign up points but if that comes back ill thin about it.

Also need to do some calculations to figure out if the other benefits are worth the cost...

In the end, that's how I used it. Most of my spend was foreign so no point using Amex for spend. I got it just for 1) priority pass, 2) travel insurance for the additional/supplementary cardholders (who were my staff - ie did not need to be family members). Most of the other "benefits" consisted of the dubious opportunity to buy more services from Amex.

Priority pass became less valuable as I increasingly got access to airline's own lounges (through flying business class or frequent flyer status) and Amex started messing around with the insurance policy at short notice to the point where I felt couldn't rely on it for my staff. I personally became ineligible for the insurance anyway. (More than 270 days out of the UK in a year. I think the standard was no more than 180, but I had upgraded to 270.) So I cancelled it. When I was younger it was quite something to have a Plat Chargecard (no Centurion card in those days), particularly when entertaining in Asia. I think the swank value is non-existent these days.