Comments on: Would You Pay Over $400 for a Credit Card?

By: Hank

Hank — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:07:45 +0000

While I don’t have a Platinum card, I do have a Gold AmEx card that I love. The annual fee for it is a more reasonable $150 a year. The one thing that I like about the service American Express provides is their fraud protection. AmEx does not put up with vendors who cheat customers or fraudulent card activity. You get your money back right away while they investigate unlike Visa or Mastercard which are more on the merchants’ sides. You can say whatever you want about other cards having the same, but it’s not true. I like paying for AmEx’s pitbull attitude and tenacity on protecting its card holders.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:06:23 +0000

Being a “bargain crusader,” I will never pay an annual fee for the use of a credit card, as long as a free one exists out there. I agree with Samir, in that bonus rewards are just that, a bonus. Most of the visitors to this website (and I hope I’m not generalizing) are not in a financial position to be paying $400+ a year for credit cards that boast access to airport lounges and “prestige.” Maybe someday when I’m a CEO and the “prestige” matters, I’ll think about it, but most likely not even then. I’ll stick with my run-of-the-mill FREE Mastercard and their rewards points…

By: Samir

Samir — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:24:06 +0000

I have never payed an annual fee and to be perfectly honest, if a card started charging me annual fees, they’d quickly lose me as a customer.

I’m not 100% positive about this, but don’t most credit card revenues come in from charging merchants their service fee, instead of charging customers interest? For every transaction anyone charges, about 1-2% goes straight into the credit company’s wallet. I’d imagine that’s a much bigger payoff overall than charging delinquent accounts interest.

Regardless, I think there will continue to be free options. For me, a card is just easier, quicker and safer than cash. The bonus rewards are just that, a bonus. If I had to choose between free and bonus rewards, free would win out, unless I was getting 1% back on every dollar I spend and my fee was much much lower than that (maybe $25 max?).

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:43:00 +0000

I think it really depends on the individual. For someone that travels a lot, that black card can come in handy. But, is it necessary? Probably not. And could the credit card companies get away with charging more? Probably. If your going to pay $400, you’d probably also pay $600.
For the average joe, $400 is probably too much to just have the opportunity to hold the card. They’d rather opt for the no annual fee with minimal perks.

By: David G

David G — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:03:24 +0000

If the “Black Card” will get you into the major air carriers lounges then for anyone traveling international and especially Asia should grab it. Making 10 trips per year means an extra $40 per trip for lounge access. I’ll pay it. My question is do they list the airlines and airports that this applies?