For me this is the crux of why I think this may come back and bite CBA. By itself I understand why they might want to get rid of the Amex but the implications of this may be larger than they expect
For me
- This credit card has no value for me if the drop the Amex, its one of the worst in the market and the Amex benefits are the only reason I have it. So firstly they will lose my CC business and I suspect a fair few people feel the same, without the Amex this just becomes a very unattractive card.
- If I lose the card then the value of a free Diamond card as part of my package becomes zero which reduces the package value and I'm seriously thinking of whether I really want/need that package. So they might also lose package fees.
- Without the package I'm essentially back in the market for a home loan. So they could lose not only my CC business but my home loan business
- One of the reason I bank with CBA is that I like having most of my banking in one place (this isn't true for CC's but true for transaction/saver and home loan accounts plus a sizeable super balance with First State). Lose the home loan and this benefit flies out the door so I'm potentially in the market to move just about all of these other accounts as I know there are other very competitive deals out there
- Then if I move my personal accounts I might as well move my business accounts too
So in my case one relatively (apparently) small change may well end up with me moving my whole business and I suspect I'm not alone on this.