All About Foreign Credit Cards

[http_x92]

The Amex Marriott Bonvoy credit card changed its design today. The annual fee is now $US650; previously it was US$450. It comes with "enhanced" perks and benefits though - now giving a complimentary Platinum status with Marriott Bonvoy instead of Gold.

Marriott Platinum status that easily wow, hefty annual fee though considering some of us already have the Hilton Aspire. Platinum status is where big benefits are though, just $200 more. Useful.

Technically this means we could hold onto the card for 15 years and we are past halfway to lifetime Platinum, which is the highest lifetime membership we can get. Hmph.

 

[Viridis]

Ooops, my mistake … Platinum $695

 

[Mr He]

Marriott Platinum status that easily wow, hefty annual fee though considering some of us already have the Hilton Aspire. Platinum status is where big benefits are though, just $200 more. Useful.

Technically this means we could hold onto the card for 15 years and we are past halfway to lifetime Platinum, which is the highest lifetime membership we can get. Hmph.

Haha still not as good as the Amex Hilton Aspire credit card which gives the lifetime diamond status. The Hilton Aspire card is truly a no-brainer.

 

[Mr He]

Found the status has been upgraded in the Marriott Bonvoy app, hooray! The card perks/benefits have been updated too.

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[http_x92]

All up with the current FX rates the card alone would cost about $1000 AUD, oof...

Well I guess no problem using the $25 USD monthly dining credit for me. Free night also not a problem considering coverage is okay here. 25 elite night credits is good. I think all up it is possible to break even.

 

[Mr He]

All up with the current FX rates

True the FX rates in recent months are a bit unfavourable.

Well I guess no problem using the $25 USD monthly dining credit for me

I think it's a positive change, much more flexible and handy compared to the previous US$300 statement credit specifically for Marriott branded hotels and restaurants.

 

[Mr He]

The Amex Marriott Bonvoy credit card had a change of design today

This card has changed quite a bit over the years. Here is a photo I took in early 2019.

 

[blacksultan]

The Amex Marriott Bonvoy credit card had a change of design today. The annual fee is now $US650; previously it was US$450. It comes with enhanced perks and benefits though - now giving a complimentary Platinum Elite status with Marriott Bonvoy instead of Gold. View attachment 296866View attachment 296867View attachment 296869

I have set up a us amex referral thread . You can share your referral link
There .

 

[blacksultan]

The Amex Marriott Bonvoy credit card had a change of design today. The annual fee is now $US650; previously it was US$450. It comes with enhanced perks and benefits though - now giving a complimentary Platinum Elite status with Marriott Bonvoy instead of Gold. View attachment 296866View attachment 296867View attachment 296869

This is a brand new card . The bonvoy brilliant still exists with an af of $250.

 

[Mr He]

This is a brand new card . The bonvoy brilliant still exists with an af of $250.

No it's not. The Bevy one, which comes with an annual fee of $250, is brand new. This one is just enhanced, with new perks and benefits, and an annual fee hike. American Express and Marriott Bonvoy Launch New Bevy Card and Enhance Luxury Brilliant Card

 

[Mr He]

I have set up a us amex referral thread . You can share your referral link
There .

Thanks but probably won't. Amex US is really not that generous when it comes to referral bonus. More often than not I don't even bother to refer. Amex AU is more generous in this regard.

 

[Mr He]

Found this from the "One Year Ago" Moments in my iPhone Photos this morning. The Vincent van Gogh credit card on my old Apple Watch.

 

[Mr He]

Today I’m going to share an IHG co-branded credit card, issued by China Citic Bank. My old card expired in June this year, and the replacement has a new look. I’m not a huge fan of IHG, compared to Marriott and Hilton, but still think it’s good to hold a co-branded credit card, to earn and redeem some IHG points just in case.


China Citic Bank is also the sole issuer of Marriott Bonvoy credit cards in mainland China. The launch of such cobranded credit cards had been speculated for a long while, and it finally happened on 28 June ( Marriott Bonvoy Launches New Co-Branded Credit Cards in China with China CITIC Bank ) . Just within six hours of its launch that day, the bank received over 10000 applications.

 

[grandfatheredgoods]

Today I’m going to share an IHG co-branded credit card, issued by China Citic Bank. My old card expired in June this year, and the replacement has a new look. I’m not a huge fan of IHG, compared to Marriott and Hilton, but still think it’s good to hold a co-branded credit card, to earn and redeem some IHG points just in case.
View attachment 298333
View attachment 298334View attachment 298335
China Citic Bank is also the sole issuer of Marriott Bonvoy credit cards in mainland China. The launch of such cobranded credit cards had been speculated for a long while, and it finally happened on 28 June ( Marriott Bonvoy Launches New Co-Branded Credit Cards in China with China CITIC Bank ) . Just within six hours of its launch that day, the bank received over 10000 applications.

The new card looks pretty slick imo
But 10000 apps damn

 

[Mr He]

Here comes another Van Gogh themed credit card issued by China Minsheng Bank. How good is Starry Night on a credit card!

 

[Mr He]

UnionPay during this LNY period had this David Jones promotion, and it was a great way to stock heaps of DJ gift cards. Heavily discounted DJ GCs, esp. at 10% off, have been increasingly hard to get after DJ changed its GC game a few years ago.

For those who can read Chinese, below are the promotion details:

Here is just one example. (The more UnionPay cards, the better. The same holds true for Amex-AU cards whenever there is a great offer popping up. )

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I think here in Aust, that the reserve bank has some standards on what is allowed on bank cards.
When there was a big moan about bank (single transaction fees), a few years ago, the RBA stipulated that all Visa and Mastercards, debit varieties, had to have the words, Debit on them.
Up to a few years ago, the words Debit on the Visa and Mastercard cards in Aust, didn't have the words on them, and the only way to differentiate them was just to look at the card themselves, as the colours would be different.
Now adays, the more modern cards also have a slight indentation at one side of the card, maybe its meant for a grip when you enter the card into an ATM/card machine, ie, its not all 4 sided being equal.

 

[QF_Flyer]

I think here in Aust, that the reserve bank has some standards on what is allowed on bank cards.
When there was a big moan about bank (single transaction fees), a few years ago, the RBA stipulated that all Visa and Mastercards, debit varieties, had to have the words, Debit on them.
Up to a few years ago, the words Debit on the Visa and Mastercard cards in Aust, didn't have the words on them, and the only way to differentiate them was just to look at the card themselves, as the colours would be different.
Now adays, the more modern cards also have a slight indentation at one side of the card, maybe its meant for a grip when you enter the card into an ATM/card machine, ie, its not all 4 sided being equal.

That could be a similar situation to the UK - I still have a fair amount of UK credit and debit cards, and in recent years replacement debit cards, both Visa and MC, have had "Debit" emblazoned on them.

Many moons ago, UK debit cards didn't really use Visa or MC at all, Switch was the main debit card brand, with Solo (Switch's online only little brother) or Visa Electron being given to those who couldn't get "full" debit cards due to credit reasons or their age. The latter two couldn't generally be used at any offline terminal, like pay at pump petrol, on trains, planes, etc., but almost everything's online now so it doesn't seem to matter.

Switch cards also used to act as Cheque Guarantee (50/100/250 GBP) cards, I think they carried over to Visa when some banks started adopting that (pretty sure I've got a NatWest Visa Cheque Guarantee card somewhere), but the cheque guarantee scheme itself was ended over a decade ago now, I think.

As for the notch on one side, similar to having some braille dots on some cards, it's to aid partially sighted people getting the card the right way around - before, the magstipe assured you could only enter a card one way (as the ATM wouldn't "suck" it in), but most things are chip only now (in fact the HSBC Star Alliance card is the first CC, or even any card, I've ever had which doesn't have a magstripe - not sure how this would work if I tried to use it in the US (for e.g., my US Amex is chip, tap and magstripe, but whatever you do it's signature only, I don't think it even has a PIN).

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

How long are the validity of the overseas cards tho, or do you just like the designs on them.
Ie just keeping them for posterity.
The best one I ever had, was the Ansett Global Rewards one, with the 2000 Olympics logo on it.
Aust bank issued cards are quite bland, if you look at them.
I think a long time ago, we could have our own designs on eftpos cards, to a limited degree, from the banks offering, haven't seen ads for those lately.
Would be nice if we could do it again.
But probably won't be back, as everything now has to be "standard"!
Beyond Bank (South Aust) is just purple, and Bendigo's easy money is lime green.
We don't use the Visa electron term here do we?
Edit: re the notch on the card, its the new issued bank credit cards have now got that little indent.
Good for gripping it at ATMs, yep.
===
According to Finder, Bendigo Bank is the only one that allows people to design their own credit cards.

 

[QF_Flyer]

How long are the validity of the overseas cards tho, or do you just like the designs on them.
Ie just keeping them for posterity.
The best one I ever had, was the Ansett Global Rewards one, with the 2000 Olympics logo on it.
Aust bank issued cards are quite bland, if you look at them.
I think a long time ago, we could have our own designs on eftpos cards, to a limited degree, from the banks offering, haven't seen ads for those lately.
Would be nice if we could do it again.
But probably won't be back, as everything now has to be "standard"!
Beyond Bank (South Aust) is just purple, and Bendigo's easy money is lime green.
We don't use the Visa electron term here do we?
Edit: re the notch on the card, its the new issued bank credit cards have now got that little indent.
Good for gripping it at ATMs, yep.

I don’t think Visa Electron is a thing anywhere any more, it was all wrapped into Visa online/offline, so the end user won’t know the difference (also stopped issues re acceptance, there were a lot of places which didn’t accept it for some reason).

In terms of why I specifically keep them, not for aesthetics (although some do look interesting). I’ve got some legacy cards which are no longer available to new customers, such as the UK Hilton Honors Barclaycard (and some which never were, such as some cashback cards with no forex fees and no cash advance fees, which were issued by MBNA UK to replace the airline cards when they killed the AA/EY/EK/UA/VS credit cards).

I also have a US Hilton Amex which I use regularly (no forex, source of Hilton points and diamond) and an Amex Platinum ICC US$ card, purely for insurance - US$550 is cheaper than most national Amex Platinum cards, and the insurance coverage is comprehensive without affecting my eligibility for Amex SUBs in any specific country. It’s also recently been taken off the market (it was previously available to anyone who didn’t reside in US/SG/EU).

The vast majority of these cards sit in a drawer year round, the ICC is in my travel wallet, MBNA Horizon (fee free everything) and Hilton Amex in my day to day, but that’s about it.