Centurion Card - Is it worth it?

[RichardKopf]

Strange way of calculating. The business platinum card gives you up to 125,000 bonus points per year (=0.5 points/$ on top of the 1 point/$), while the cent gives you up to 250,000 bonus points. So you only get 125k bonus points more and you don't even have to be a big spender to get these. Just 25 purchases at Bing Lee over $500 also give you 125,000 bonus points (or is there a lower limit)? These are the total bonus points you can accumulate over a year including all bonus points from promotions, as far as I know.

But in any case, there are cards where the number of points you earn is unlimited and where you can earn way more than with a Centurion card. For example the citibank select gives you 1.33 SQ miles/$ unlimited for domestic purchases and 3.33 SQ miles/$ unlimited for overseas purchases. In your case, RichardKopf, you could have earned between 3.325-8.325 million SQ miles with Citibank select instead of "only" 3 million MR points on your $2.5 million annual spend.

I appreciate your input, but the calculations are misconceived. I am talking about the Membership Rewards 50% bonus which applies to the first 250k spend on Plat and 500k spend on Cent. Regardless of any retailer bonuses, Cent receives 250k bonus points on 500k spend. Our spend exceeds any charge card's maximum bonus structure, so we use multiple cards. If it were possible, I would have 10 Amex Plat cards, as they provide the best value for us, but you can't do that. It's max. 1 per person, so I have 1 of every type of card and so does my partner.

I didn't want to confuse the issue, but we operate a suite of 7 cards with Amex, with negotiated fees (with the exception of Cent) and other deals, which cannot be discussed. We also operate an incentive scheme for our contractors which offers them points. This is impossible with SQ as one may only have 5 nominees. QF allows any redemption as long as you choose the traveller's relationship to you.

Most importantly, the calculation is out of realistic context. It's unlikely that a bank like Citi could deal with, or allow us to operate accounts the way Amex does. Just yesterday, I bought a ticket ex Indonesia on Citi Visa and they called within minutes to confirm the charge. We make hundreds of foreign charges every month and Amex rarely bothers me with phone calls as it understands our needs. It's unlikely that Citi would offer a credit line of 300k-400k, so while your calculations are theoretically possible, they are unlikely.

Last, it's worth money to me to be able to communicate with an Amex employee who knows me personally, face to face, over the phone, by email, and just fixes problems, rather than an ESL parrot who toes the company line. The only real benefit with Citi is that they always remove the card fees, when asked, so we keep a few of them, just in case.

If anyone knows of a better way to accumulate air/hotel points than multiple Amexs, I would be very pleased to know, keeping in mind that as a business, we don't want to waste time switching cards to earn a few signup points.

 

[exp1k]

You can't expect me to know your individual situation, but I was also talking about the 50% bonus points. Up to 100k with plat, 125k with plat business and 250k with cent. Most people wonder if it is worth getting cent over plat, which is the topic of this thread, and I was saying that cent gives only 125-150k more bonus points per year than plat.
Last year I hit my 50% bonus points cap before reaching the corresponding spend level. From that I infer that at least some bonus points you earn from promotions are also included in the bonus cap of 100k, 125k or 250k points.

 

[exp1k]

If you have a Centurion and you take the complimentary Platinum card that comes with the Centurion, do you get up to 250k bonus points on the Centurion plus up to 100k bonus points on the Platinum, so a total number of 350k bonus points?

 

[RichardKopf]

EXP1K,

I had no expectations of your knowledge of my situation, but you made calculations which were not realistic, nor based on my situation. No harm.. let's drop it and get back to maximising points

 

[RichardKopf]

If you have a Centurion and you take the complimentary Platinum card that comes with the Centurion, do you get up to 250k bonus points on the Centurion plus up to 100k bonus points on the Platinum, so a total number of 350k bonus points?

We have a Cent account (prob soon to become 2, once the Bus Cent is released - May is likely), 2 Plat Bus charge accounts and the 2 free Reserve cards plus the QF Ultimate, all of which have their individual bonuses. Unfortunately, in our particular case, we exceed the combined bonus point threshold and will make further arrangements with Amex.

Getting back to the thread, we earn the most points and bonus points by including Cent in our card suite. Last year it was 7 first class international trips, plus a few domestic in business, plus redemptions for suites in European hotels with Starwood. I would never pay for these, but their combined value made our suite of cards worthwhile. We also have 4 Visa accounts for those merchants which don't accept Amex, and use particular ones for foreign purchases. However, all these Visa cards have either spend and earn limits, or both. Amex gives me comparative freedom to spend.

I understand it may be possible to maximise points by having more, different cards, paying cards off more frequently, or signing up for new ones to get signup bonuses, but it's enough to deal with the 10 cards we have, currently. In fact, it takes about 2 hours of my time, each week and about $6000 worth of annual labour cost to do the paperwork for all our cards.

Again, whether Cent is worth it or not, depends on each cardmember's situation. I'm sure there are a lot of people with considerably more wealth than me, who would gain much less benefit and those with less, who gain a greater benefit.

When I asked the question of another Cent member before accepting the card, he advised me to make a spreadsheet with a list of benefits of that card and use the facts, and the attached emotion, to make the decision.

 

[RichardKopf]

Most people wonder if it is worth getting cent over plat, which is the topic of this thread,

Perhaps I haven't read the thread completely, but the title is "Centurion Card - Is it worth it?" This is not a comparison for me, as I use both Cent and Plat. The Plat is well worth it. The Cent is also worth it to me.

 

[exp1k]

No worries, but if you really want to earn 8 million SQ miles with citi, I guess it would be possible to put 200k or whatever amount on your credit card account in advance every month and just spend that instead of having a huge credit line. Citibank points can also be converted to CX miles (at a better rate than Amex), so you can spend your miles on Qantas flights as well.
Apart from the bonus points, I agree that Amex has much more professional service compard to citi. Overall it is best to have a Centurion and a Citibank Select. That's the perfect combination in my opinion.

 

[exp1k]

Perhaps I haven't read the thread completely, but the title is "Centurion Card - Is it worth it?" This is not a comparison for me, as I use both Cent and Plat. The Plat is well worth it. The Cent is also worth it to me.

I would say 99% of people who ask that question have the plat card and wonder if it is worth getting the cent as compared to their existing plat.
The platinum card is so worth it, but justifying the extra $3400 for the centurion is not so obvious...

 

[RichardKopf]

I would say 99% of people who ask that question have the plat card and wonder if it is worth getting the cent as compared to their existing plat.
The platinum card is so worth it, but justifying the extra $3400 for the centurion is not so obvious...

You are definitely correct about Plat Amex. The 1200.00 for the Bus card is a bargain, even if you don't get a rebate on it. From my point of view they pay me to have it.

The difference between Plat Bus and Cent is 3100.00. If we say the additional 125000 bonus points are worth 1250.00, it leaves 1850 to justify, which is only 50.00 different from my original example.

 

[RichardKopf]

No worries, but if you really want to earn 8 million SQ miles with citi, I guess it would be possible to put 200k or whatever amount on your credit card account in advance every month and just spend that instead of having a huge credit line. Citibank points can also be converted to CX miles (at a better rate than Amex), so you can spend your miles on Qantas flights as well.
Apart from the bonus points, I agree that Amex has much more professional service compard to citi. Overall it is best to have a Centurion and a Citibank Select. That's the perfect combination in my opinion.

Interesting idea. I looked at Select when it was released but the Citibank part turned me off. We already have enough points to fly. We use SQ points from Westpac Krisflyer Visa foreign spend and Membership Rewards conversions for most SQ/TG/UA. I hate the SQ redemption phone line but Star Alliance first awards are a bargain using SQ points (lower cost and less taxes on other carriers). What I really want is a way to get value transferring card points to a hotel program. They all seem to be coughpy value. My current goal would be about 500000 Starwood points a year to save me about $20k, now that redemptions earn status with SPG. Any ideas with that?

 

[exp1k]

1000 Amex -> 1000 Virgin Atlantic -> 2000 Hilton points. So 25k Amex points give you a free night at any Hilton/Conrad/Waldorf.
For the same amount you only get about 8000 SPG points which is good for C&P but not good enough for a free night at high category hotels.

 

[RichardKopf]

1000 Amex -> 1000 Virgin Atlantic -> 2000 Hilton points. So 25k Amex points give you a free night at any Hilton/Conrad/Waldorf.
For the same amount you only get about 8000 SPG points which is good for C&P but not good enough for a free night at high category hotels.

Thanks. If I ever need HH points, I'll do that, but while HH is comping Diamond, I need to earn status only with SPG. Currently spending about $20k plus a lot of points, each year. C&P is no good to me except in Thailand where it's nearly 100% for suite upgrades, as you can only book the lowest room type. I use 5th night free a bit, or just normal redemptions so I need a way to increase SW value.

The current best method, for me, is to use AXpoints to pay for hotel stays. Say a $200 (cat 4 SPG) hotel would cost 20000 Amex points, which is; a/ less than the AX-SPG conversion and b/ earns points, hence lowering the overall cost.

 

[flyer999]

I recently received an invitation and tried to do the math based on my spend of $15k per month. It doesn't seem to work for me. Am I missing something?

 

[RichardKopf]

I recently received an invitation and tried to do the math based on my spend of $15k per month. It doesn't seem to work for me. Am I missing something?

You are correct. On 15k monthly spend, the plat card is great value, but you could only justify Cent for the 'show off' value.

 

[exp1k]

If you get the card now, you can still get the CX Diamond benefit for one year, which is very good value if you don't have Oneworld Emerald already. There are indications that CX Diamond might become a permanent Centurion benefit, which would be fantastic.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I am talking about the Membership Rewards 50% bonus which applies to the first 250k spend on Plat and 500k spend on Cent...............Cent receives 250k bonus points on 500k spend.

Are these points really bonus pts? I thought basically ALL Amex cards earnt 1.5pts up to cap if cap exists - ie Standard Amex earn - not sure why you call these bonus pts - my apologies if I am misinterpreting what you write.

 

[RichardKopf]

Are these points really bonus pts? I thought basically ALL Amex cards earnt 1.5pts up to cap if cap exists - ie Standard Amex earn - not sure why you call these bonus pts - my apologies if I am misinterpreting what you write.

I call them bonus. Points because Amex calls them bonus points. In the Membership Rewards online ' My Points History', the points earned are listed as 'base points' and 'bonus points'. Bonus relates to the 50% bonus up to the cap.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I call them bonus. Points because Amex calls them bonus points. In the Membership Rewards online ' My Points History', the points earned are listed as 'base points' and 'bonus points'. Bonus relates to the 50% bonus up to the cap.

Goddam you right - all these years and never considered the .5 as bonus - yet I sit and look at them called bonus pts in front of me day after day - I gotta stop drinking.

 

[Deleted member]

Is this a credit card we are discussing here? Or the charge card? And is there a difference in the points I don't get?
I have bothe the cr card and ch card ( plat) but only use the charge card gaining ( I believe) 1.5 points per $ spend

 

[sparoz]

Richardkopf pretty much got it all covered - each to their own. 125k extra bonus point = a J ticket to Asia - which in itself pays for the card. Of course, you have to be able to spend that much to make it worthwhile. Business Cent is interesting as I would be able to get more points that way. The advantage of Amex to me is its flexibility - I can pick and choose who I want to fly, with most other cc I am restricted to fly with only certain carriers. If you are only spending 15k a month, it is probably not worthwhile. I basically haven't need to pay for a ticket for a while for my personal travel. Everything that comes with the Cent is a bonus, especially the HH Diamond was useful in my recent travel to the Gold Coast. If CX Diamond becomes permanent, then I would probably use CX exclusively.