Is a 'World Elite Mastercard 'Posh' ?

Marchitiello

gettingthere28 wrote: »

There is no fee as the person that has it also has a NatWest Black Current account, so the fee is Waived.

So with the fact that there is no fee is it still worth it ?, or is the Barclacard Amex still better ?.

There is nothing special or premium about the Barclaycard Cashback duo Amex/Visa cards. The words cashback on them makes them less special if anything IMHO. Those cards do not carry a fee at all, whilst the RBS/Natwest do, and the fee is indeed waived for Black Account Customers, because they already pay £24 per month for that account for which they need to have a minimum income of £100k per year, so the RBS Black Reward World Elite MasterCard would still be considered a premium although it does not carry any premium benefit that the World Elite website speak of.

chattychappy

20 years ago when I was relatively young and doing business in Asia, Amex Platinum (no black in those days) was considered posh. Posh things were noticed: which hotel you are staying in, which airline class you fly in, which kind of swiss watch you are wearing, how you dress etc. They would even ask which type of car picked me up at the airport (Merc or "something else").

Out of all the "posh" effects, Amex Plat was the cheapest. It really was noticed in places like Taiwan where the most local business men had was Gold. To some extent it reversed the effect of being so young and I looked more credible. Quite useful when I was doing deals which might involve credit.

But even in the 1990s, there was little effect among my friends or in the UK. I gave an additional card to my 22 year old female assistant. She had great fun boasting to her mates that she had a company Amex plat card.

I really think nowadays it makes no difference. You will only impress people that you don't need/want to impress!

Roger1

Anthorn wrote: »

Lastly, little known is that the travel benefits including the Priority Pass for which the Amex Platinum is famous is available with a pre-paid VISA card - T24 Black.

I'm steering clear of your attempt to compare bank-issued AmEx credit cards and AmEx-issued chargecards.

Your mention of the T24 Black prepaid card led me to check. The included Priority Pass membership is the basic $99 annual fee membership with no visits included. Lounge visits cost $27 p.p. By contrast, the AmEx platinum CHARGEcard includes unlimited PP membership for the cardholder who can take a guest. A supplementary AmEx chargecard holder also gets a PP unlimited membership. For families/friends/business colleagues, this could mean up to 4 lounge visits per account, with no additional charge per visit.

So, no comparison.

The T24 card is aimed at a different clientele. For me, a Visa prepaid card with a $150 joining fee doesn't begin to look interesting, even with a 'free' $99 PP membership.

HiToAll

GothicStirling wrote: »

No-one cares what Credit Card you have. If you had 'real' money, you wouldn't be using CCs at all.

what a load of rubbish.
people have credit cards for all sorts of reasons, a lot of which are nothing to do with not being able to afford whatever it is they buy using a card.

Marchitiello

Roger1 wrote: »

I'm steering clear of your attempt to compare bank-issued AmEx credit cards and AmEx-issued chargecards.

Your mention of the T24 Black prepaid card led me to check. The included Priority Pass membership is the basic $99 annual fee membership with no visits included. Lounge visits cost $27 p.p. By contrast, the AmEx platinum CHARGEcard includes unlimited PP membership for the cardholder who can take a guest. A supplementary AmEx chargecard holder also gets a PP unlimited membership. For families/friends/business colleagues, this could mean up to 4 lounge visits per account, with no additional charge per visit.

So, no comparison.

The T24 card is aimed at a different clientele. For me, a Visa prepaid card with a $150 joining fee doesn't begin to look interesting, even with a 'free' $99 PP membership.

Indeed, and if I understand correctly there is even a monthly fee for the T24.
The Amex Gold Chargecard as well come with 2 lounge entry per year plus the option to buy more.

rebecca1982

My other half has the Natwest card you're on about and we have had Amex cards in the past. We have the card because we're Natwest Private Banking customers.

To be quite honest, credit cards are simply a tool to collect cashback, get better protection on purchases or smooth over large purchases / get a 0% deal so our physical cash is still in the bank earning interest rather than being tied up in something that's probably a depreciating asset anyway.

As for being "posh", it's hard to actually figure out who actually has real money these days anyway. With access to credit I have friends who work bog standard customer service type jobs and spend almost all their earnings on the payments for a Range Rover Vogue or Mercedes.

To the untrained eye, these people look "posh" because they have a swish car. Yet they are literally 2 paydays from absolute destitution if they ever lost their job.

No assets, all liabilities and all have to rent rather than own a home. It's a scary place to be and not one I would be comfortable with. C'est la vie of course, it's their choice and the cars they own are very nice!

In my view, making a big thing of having a "posh" credit card is pretty much in the same bracket as purchasing a luxury car on HP and barely being able to make the payments. You'll impress those who don't know better, to the genuinely wealthy / upper class or asset orientated, you'll look as silly as the next guy.

If anything, I've noticed that the people who tend to notice the little genuine markers of wealth, tend to treat us very differently once they put two and two together. It's for that reason we don't display much of our money and keep it tucked away at the bank.

People are funny and emotional about money, so best to pretend you have exactly the same as anyone else for an easy life IMHO. If you're rich or poor you'll be discriminated against in some fashion so best to just give the appearance of fitting in.

Ryan101

rebecca1982 wrote: »

My other half has the Natwest card you're on about and we have had Amex cards in the past. We have the card because we're Natwest Private Banking customers.

To be quite honest, credit cards are simply a tool to collect cashback, get better protection on purchases or smooth over large purchases / get a 0% deal so our physical cash is still in the bank earning interest rather than being tied up in something that's probably a depreciating asset anyway.

As for being "posh", it's hard to actually figure out who actually has real money these days anyway. With access to credit I have friends who work bog standard customer service type jobs and spend almost all their earnings on the payments for a Range Rover Vogue or Mercedes.

To the untrained eye, these people look "posh" because they have a swish car. Yet they are literally 2 paydays from absolute destitution if they ever lost their job.

No assets, all liabilities and all have to rent rather than own a home. It's a scary place to be and not one I would be comfortable with. C'est la vie of course, it's their choice and the cars they own are very nice!

In my view, making a big thing of having a "posh" credit card is pretty much in the same bracket as purchasing a luxury car on HP and barely being able to make the payments. You'll impress those who don't know better, to the genuinely wealthy / upper class or asset orientated, you'll look as silly as the next guy.

If anything, I've noticed that the people who tend to notice the little genuine markers of wealth, tend to treat us very differently once they put two and two together. It's for that reason we don't display much of our money and keep it tucked away at the bank.

People are funny and emotional about money, so best to pretend you have exactly the same as anyone else for an easy life IMHO. If you're rich or poor you'll be discriminated against in some fashion so best to just give the appearance of fitting in.

Very true and something I can totally relate to. I have NatWest Private Account, a Lloyds Bank Private account and Barclays Premier Account, I have the NatWest Black Mastercard as well as Barclays Black Credit Cards.

So what do they have ?, well the NatWest card is Black with Purple Edges (As is their Debt card).

Am I happier now than I was before when I had a bog standard Current Account and card, No I am not !. I don't have to worry about money or what to spend it on, but I can honestly say I am not as happy as I used to be, and yes if you start to appear to have money its noticed, and sometimes not in a good way.

If I hand over a Black card in a shop I don't think personally it makes on bit of difference to the staff at all.

What does the current account give me, well a named contact that I can phone or email and a freephone number !, I don't have to call a Call Centre with press 1 for this, 2 for that etc. I will admit being able to email someone when you have a problem or query is far better that phoning a call centre, but to be honest that's about it.

And on the rare occasion when I have had to complain (Lloyds) I get a phone call back the same day as they get the letter.

But remember I am paying for all this, its not free, well Lloyds Private is but thats another story.

bigadaj

rebecca1982 wrote: »

My other half has the Natwest card you're on about and we have had Amex cards in the past. We have the card because we're Natwest Private Banking customers.

To be quite honest, credit cards are simply a tool to collect cashback, get better protection on purchases or smooth over large purchases / get a 0% deal so our physical cash is still in the bank earning interest rather than being tied up in something that's probably a depreciating asset anyway.

As for being "posh", it's hard to actually figure out who actually has real money these days anyway. With access to credit I have friends who work bog standard customer service type jobs and spend almost all their earnings on the payments for a Range Rover Vogue or Mercedes.

To the untrained eye, these people look "posh" because they have a swish car. Yet they are literally 2 paydays from absolute destitution if they ever lost their job.

No assets, all liabilities and all have to rent rather than own a home. It's a scary place to be and not one I would be comfortable with. C'est la vie of course, it's their choice and the cars they own are very nice!

In my view, making a big thing of having a "posh" credit card is pretty much in the same bracket as purchasing a luxury car on HP and barely being able to make the payments. You'll impress those who don't know better, to the genuinely wealthy / upper class or asset orientated, you'll look as silly as the next guy.

If anything, I've noticed that the people who tend to notice the little genuine markers of wealth, tend to treat us very differently once they put two and two together. It's for that reason we don't display much of our money and keep it tucked away at the bank.

People are funny and emotional about money, so best to pretend you have exactly the same as anyone else for an easy life IMHO. If you're rich or poor you'll be discriminated against in some fashion so best to just give the appearance of fitting in.

Very sensible post, just hope the 'money tucked away at the bank' is a figurative expression, we know that banks are poor homes for significant sums and there are other investments that make more sense for most people.

m4rc

I don't know which cards they are but my stepmom has a few by invitation only. I think most are charge cards as she just clears the balance at the end of the month, she doesn't need credit cards. She has someone from the bank regularly visit at home to sort banking biggest purchase I know she's made on the card was a new Porsche 911, she just got it on a whim passing the dealership in a chauffeur driven car and decided to send the driver off as she fancied a Porsche.

I don't know if it's the metal American Express card but I do know she has one. Can't remember the bank she's with, not a high street one, but apparantly she could spend any amount she wanted and they would allow the transaction to go through and talk about it later. Not sure how true that is but hey. I don't know how much she's worth but it's millions and goes up each year.

Me, I have a few rubbish credit cards with high interest rates and low limits, and I have to go into the bank to speak to anyone - not that hey want to talk to me! And I have no money. I could try waving my capital one card around, but that's as exciting as my wallet gets. You'd think I could get a little off her, but I suppose that's why the rich have so much - they keep it all!

How the other half live eh. What I do know is she doesn't swan around showing off her cards. She dresses well but it's not all labels and showing off, she's in her 60s and distinguished I'd guess you'd say, she isn't brash and people wouldn't know she was loaded, but they would guess she wasn't poor.

drunk1

Get a Coutts card then you're laughing!!