"Enhancements" to MR earn on Platinum Card, Reserve & Centurian

[wafliron]

I'm going to keep it simple and go 100% citibusinessgold... 1.25 and transfer to qf is fine for me...

they also recently raised the points cap.

Are you talking about the increase from 80k to 250k per year, which happened maybe 12 months ago? Or has points cap on CBG been further increased?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

My wife's "devaluation" letter arrived today for her Platinum Charge.

So mine must not be far away.

It is the end of a productive era. Whether it is a complete walk away from Amex spend is going to very much depend on what special promotions they continue to offer. If they dry up, it will be by bye Amex.

At present it certainly will be bye bye Platinum Charge.

 

[thehound]

Can anyone find any further information online about the new ability to buy MR points for $25/1000 pts? Where is this option to be found on the Rewards pages?

If you can simply buy Amex points then some very interesting, and more importantly very pain free options open up. Rather than mess around for endless hours on the phone to US Airways Dividend Miles for example, and still end up with a lengthy complicated itinerary (unless that's your aim of course), you can buy the requisite Amex pts, transfer them to KrisFlyer and fly business to London for $4700 inc taxes, Paris for $4500 inc taxes. That's not bad in my book - I'd be happy to pay extra for increased availability and zero hassle. The next cheapest paid for business PER-Paris/London flights otherwise are in the order of $6k with Qatar.

 

[Images]

Platinum Rewards Reduction

American Express have just sent out information informing Platinum Card holders that changes to reward points will come into operation from 1st October.



I think that this is a major change from the 1.5 points per $ and will seriously put in doubt the viability of my Platinum card. As I am retired most of my card spending is on domestic, travel and entertainment charges. What do other members feel and what is the best Am Ex card to change to assuming that other cards will not also be devalued?

 

[Deleted member 18152]

Re: "Enhancements" to Membership Rewards scheme for Platinum Card / Platinum Reserve

Not having bothered with Amex Platinum for about 10 years let me just say that there are alternatives. On travel insurance look at Chubb through a broker and on credit cards obviously we need to be watchful for changes but there are plenty of alternatives that have their strong and weak points.

May I ask which brokers you can buy Chubb Travel Insurance through as a leisure traveler? My search was unsuccessful. Cheers!

 

[Jane-Doe]

It will be a tough decision to keep a card that attracts a surcharge from businesses, with a points earn that's less than Citi Select and an annual fee that's higher than Citi Select.

 

[Pumbaa]

It will be a tough decision to keep a card that attracts a surcharge from businesses, with a points earn that's less than Citi Select and an annual fee that's higher than Citi Select.

While I very much dislike the "enhancements" to the Plat charge card, they do have clear benefits over the citibank select.

1) Free domestic flight
2) Free access to Virgin lounges
3) SPG Gold, Accor Platinum, Club Carlson Platinum status
4) Favourable transfer options(Asia Miles 1:1, SPG 2:1)
5) 1 year of Marco Polo Gold has been great!

So after taking all these into account, while my I really want to downgrade to a edge card, my head is telling me the charge card still has significant benefits. I'm starting to travel more and have always spent a lot of my money on restaurants. I should be neutral/slightly ahead in terms of credit card earn. Thing that annoys me the most is the insurance downgrade!

 

[greenfrog86]

While I very much dislike the "enhancements" to the Plat charge card, they do have clear benefits over the citibank select.

1) Free domestic flight
2) Free access to Virgin lounges
3) SPG Gold, Accor Platinum, Club Carlson Platinum status
4) Favourable transfer options(Asia Miles 1:1, SPG 2:1)
5) 1 year of Marco Polo Gold has been great!

So after taking all these into account, while my I really want to downgrade to a edge card, my head is telling me the charge card still has significant benefits. I'm starting to travel more and have always spent a lot of my money on restaurants. I should be neutral/slightly ahead in terms of credit card earn. Thing that annoys me the most is the insurance downgrade!

Call them to talk about it and discuss your spend - they can give you a bit of a breakdown of your spending categories...

Whilst I'm not too impressed by the changes, I spend a bit on travel and restaurants so its not going to be too bad for me. All my basic spend and bill payments will go to the Citibusiness gold...

 

[k3nnis]

Hi Pumbaa,

What benefits have you gotten with cx gold lately? Any examples?

Cheers,
K.

While I very much dislike the "enhancements" to the Plat charge card, they do have clear benefits over the citibank select.

1) Free domestic flight
2) Free access to Virgin lounges
3) SPG Gold, Accor Platinum, Club Carlson Platinum status
4) Favourable transfer options(Asia Miles 1:1, SPG 2:1)
5) 1 year of Marco Polo Gold has been great!

So after taking all these into account, while my I really want to downgrade to a edge card, my head is telling me the charge card still has significant benefits. I'm starting to travel more and have always spent a lot of my money on restaurants. I should be neutral/slightly ahead in terms of credit card earn. Thing that annoys me the most is the insurance downgrade!

 

[Pukka]

When it comes to the ATO Amex are selling MR points for about 0.83 cents each which is more than they offer to cash them out at (about 0.7 cents each). Now they are proposing to sell them for 2.5 cents each which is just insane when compared with their competitors offerings and the inherent value of the points. If Amex can only make money selling MR points for 2.5 cents each then maybe they deserve to go broke.

I also cannot be bothered with the hassle of a card that has four different earn rates and the highest rate is conditional on establishments being on a particular list. A card that offers me a straight 1.5 points per dollar is far more attractive. If the plat charge still had the best travel insurance I would be in a bit of a quandry but since its now one of the worst, if not the worst, on offer among the premium cards the decision is going to be very easy for me.

I imagine these changes will amount to a significant negative change to the terms and conditions entitling us to a pro rata refund of the $900 when we cancel?

Do any other cards give points for ATO payments?? I put about 500K a year through the ATO & 300K on stock for my business. I contacted Citibank select & they said no points for ATO payments or for " running a business through the card" or if you put the card in credit more than 10K.

 

[greenfrog86]

Do any other cards give points for ATO payments?? I put about 500K a year through the ATO & 300K on stock for my business. I contacted Citibank select & they said no points for ATO payments or for " running a business through the card" or if you put the card in credit more than 10K.

Many 'personal' cards don't allow business expenses and you will find many threads here about people's experience with trying this (with mixed success - some people have had their cards cancelled).

It wouldn't work for $500k spend, but the Citibusiness card is one of the easiest cards to get that allows business spend, as it essentially works as a personal card...

Others will post some practical experiences, however if you are not comfortable 'breaking the rules' then you will have trouble finding many options

 

[thehound]

Do any other cards give points for ATO payments?? I put about 500K a year through the ATO & 300K on stock for my business. I contacted Citibank select & they said no points for ATO payments or for " running a business through the card" or if you put the card in credit more than 10K.

I'm sure that Cove can comment on this! By the sounds of things he uses Select for all ATO payments for his business, with 100% success of achieving points (correct me Cove if I'm wrong!), as well as often putting the card into credit for this purpose.

On a different note, has anyone any further information re my previous post about how to buy Amex points under the new rules?

 

[cove]

We use Laura at Cowdens in Perth to do Chubb travel policy.

 

[oz_mark]

On a different note, has anyone any further information re my previous post about how to buy Amex points under the new rules?

I think you have to call to do it, and also note that you buy them during the redemption process - you can't buy points to sit in your account.

(The 'new' rules actually started August last year!)

 

[k3nnis]

seems like most of the mcdonalds I can get 3 points per $

 

[wafliron]

Do any other cards give points for ATO payments?? I put about 500K a year through the ATO & 300K on stock for my business. I contacted Citibank select & they said no points for ATO payments or for " running a business through the card" or if you put the card in credit more than 10K.

Almost all cards technically disallow (in their T&Cs) earning points for business transactions, but almost none of the card issuers seem to enforce this. AFAIK, Woolworths is just about the only card issuer who have actually been known to cancel cards if they suspect business spend is going through them. So, you should just try to figure which card(s) will earn you max points for min cost and go for those, bearing in mind there's always a small risk of the card issuer eventually catching on and cancelling the card.

On that last point, with over $800k/year of spend I'd suggest the Citibank Select card (as you've already been exploring) will probably be the best "value" option for you assuming you're happy with KrisFlyer / Velocity / AsiaMiles points. I've personally put hundreds of thousands of dollars of business tax through my Select in the past few months without issue, and have also earned full points even when I've started with the card ~$100k in credit. I know others on here have had the same experience too.

It wouldn't work for $500k spend, but the Citibusiness card is one of the easiest cards to get that allows business spend, as it essentially works as a personal card...

Ironically, I checked the CitiBusiness Gold card's T&Cs a few months back and they say business transactions are not allowed

 

[Pukka]

Almost all cards technically disallow (in their T&Cs) earning points for business transactions, but almost none of the card issuers seem to enforce this. AFAIK, Woolworths is just about the only card issuer who have actually been known to cancel cards if they suspect business spend is going through them. So, you should just try to figure which card(s) will earn you max points for min cost and go for those, bearing in mind there's always a small risk of the card issuer eventually catching on and cancelling the card.

On that last point, with over $800k/year of spend I'd suggest the Citibank Select card (as you've already been exploring) will probably be the best "value" option for you assuming you're happy with KrisFlyer / Velocity / AsiaMiles points. I've personally put hundreds of thousands of dollars of business tax through my Select in the past few months without issue, and have also earned full points even when I've started with the card ~$100k in credit. I know others on here have had the same experience too.



Ironically, I checked the CitiBusiness Gold card's T&Cs a few months back and they say business transactions are not allowed

So I'm guessing its officially no but unofficially turn a blind eye to it. I sent an email to Citibank& this was their response

Thank you for your interest in opening an account with us.

For general information, we advise that only retail transactions earn
points. Please refer to the list below for the types of transactions
that do not earn points:

- cash advances
- balance transfers
- special promotions
- fees
- purchases of foreign currency and travellers cheques
- foreign exchange and ATM/ Bank charges
- interest charges
- finance charges
- government charges
- insurance charges
- payments to Citibank loan accounts
- purchases in excess of limits on the Account, transactions made in
operating a business and if the account is more than $10,000 in credit
only.

Furthermore, please note the conversion of Rewards points listed below.

- four Rewards points per dollar spent on international purchases
- earn additional three Rewards points per dollar spent with Citibank
Bonus Partners.

Additionally, we inform that there is no Rewards cap.

:shock:

 

[cove]

Our two Citi Select cards are our best and most used credit cards this year. Mrscove has the Qantas points that transfer monthly and I have the non Qantas one where I warehouse the points to avoid expiry.
Currently there are no "enhancements" on all of our American Express Ultimate cards so they remain my best direct branded cards.

 

[Pukka]

Spoke to my relationship manager today & he said since I use the points for flights I should get a Qantas Ultimate Amex credit card as you can earn unlimited points & you get 1.5pts per $ spend so I could put all my tax through it. Apparently its unaffected by the changes due to an exiting deal with Quantas.

Worth a look I suppose although I don't normally fly with them so don't know what the points structure is compared to say VA or SAL

 

[xtoss]

got my letter too for the charge card, pretty sure I will pull the pin on this card now and look for something else.

do they refund pro rata the annual fee?