How to Maximize Rewards Points
Maximizing Membership Rewards points on your Amex is truley an art. There are many people who use complicated transfering processes to maximize their point value instead of redeeming their points directly through American Express. Typically speaking, transferring your points directly to your primary hotel/air carrier can usually be more beneficial, than redeeming through American Express. I am going to be writing an indepth post on how to maximize reward points, but I wanted to offer up the chance for you all to contribute. How do you maximize your reward points? Which programs to you transfer them to and why?
MasterCard is at it again
If you remember, awhile back I reported about MasterCard’s new Diamond studed card (in partnership with Dubai First), well they did it again. MasterCard has teamed up with Kazkommertsbank, the second largest bank in Kazakhstan, to create another diamond studded credit card. This card, called the “Diamond” will sport a 0.02 carat diamond in the center, if the card is for a woman it will feature a large peacock, and if the card is for a man it will feature a winged horse. New cards will be issued will start being issued in the next 2 weeks and the annual fee will be $1,000. Only 1,000 cards will be issued starting November 13 and they are estimating 30 cards will be issued every month, with a credit limit of $50,000.
In order to get an idea of how the people in Kazakhstan are receiving this new card, I asked Borat for a comment. Borat said:
Very Nice!!!
How To Spend Your Rewards Points
I recently received the new “First Collection” catalog from Amex. It is basically a list of high priced items that you can buy with your gobs of American Express membership rewards points, which most black cardholders have. It has nice wine for $50,000 points, a pool table for 2.3M points. But best of all, it had a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo. For 9.5M points, your can have a 12 month lease on a new Gallardo from Lamborghini Chicago.
For Centurion members, MR points can be converted into statement credits at a rate of $.01 per point. This means that a 12 month lease through the rewards program translates to $95,000. I think I would rather take the statement credit.
Amex Reevaluating Their Credit Risk Ratings
MSNBC released an article today discussing how American Express is reevaluating how they rate consumer credit risk, in terms of issuing credit limits. Apparently Amex is now taking a lot of things into account, when issuing credit lines, including geographic region, home prices, mortgages, and specific places where they shop. Also, it appears that 50% of their credit line adjustments are now lowering a credit line, where they used to be just 20% before. I reported awhile back about cards being declined (including Centurions) and credit limits lowered, but it appears we could see a new round, or much larger dosage of this.
I have also heard a lot of buzz on flyertalk forums and a few others, about business accounts being put under financial review and frozen by Amex, and Consumer credit lines being slashed. Has this affected anyone recently?
Centurion Invitation for 007 World Premiere
Several European Centurion members have reported receiving invitations to the world premier for the upcoming James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. The premier is being held in London and the details of the event are:
Date : 10/29
Starting : 5:30 PM doors open. Movie starts at 8:00 PM
Afterparty : From 10:30 till late, location: top secret
Location : Odeon Leicester Square in London
Dresscode : Black Tie
Cost: €5000 and the money is donated to ‘Help for Heroes’ and ‘The Royal British Legion’.
In case you haven’t seen a trailer for the movie, here it is:
Who Needs AAA If You Have A Black Card
An infrequently talked about benefit of having a Centurion card is the roadside assistance. Black cardmembers, and platinum ones too, receive roadside assistance service if you run out of gas, break down, etc. This program comes with a $50 credit for service, so if you need a tow, the first $50 of the tow will be covered. AAA’s program, only the first 3 miles are covered, and each mile is charged at $3/mile. Meaning, the Centurion benefit is about 5x more free towing coverage.
Another benefit of AAA is the rental car benefits. However, with the Centurion card, members receive Hertz status as #1 Gold Club, a Midsize to Premium upgrade, and guaranteed availability from reservation line. In addition to Hertz, Centurion members also receive status as Avis President’s Club, which includes a 2 class upgrade, and guaranteed availability as well.
If you’re saying “well AAA also has discounts at other places like Payless Shoes (10% off)”, I say wouldn’t you rather have a $1000 gift card to Mikimoto.
So there you have it, if you pay the $5k initiation and the $2.5K annual fee, you can save about $60/yr by not getting AAA.
On a side note, I recently did an interview with a producer from a national news network , and she told an interesting roadside assistance story. In gathering information for her television piece, she was told by an individual about someone who got stuck in traffic near and was about to miss their flight. So they called their Centurion concierge and arranged for a helicopter to pick them up on the side of the road and take them to the airport. Can AAA do that?
Move Over Mikimoto, $5 Off TGI Friday’s
Yea that’s right, $5 bucks off a meal at TGI Fridays. I went to check my mail today, hoping I might have a Mikimoto gift card, or a Cannon PowerShot camera, but instead I have a voucher for 5 bucks off TGI Friday’s when I spend $15 or more and pay with an Amex card. Now that is a promotion if I have ever received one. The colors and layout of the mailing seem to resemble the Blue Cash card, so it might be coupled with that card (I do have one and used to use it a lot until I got the personal platinum card).
Speaking of more gifts, it is getting close to Christmas time, I wonder what Centurion is going to mail out this year? Last year the Cannon Powershot was sent out right before Christmas. Anyone want to take a stab at this years gift? Maybe American Express will read this (and they do) and you will get your wish. So if you haven’t opted into marketing promotions with Centurion (personal members only), now would be the time to do so.
Statistically, How Rare is the Black Card?
This post is sort of a food for thought post. I was interested to know exactly how rare the Centurion card really is, so I did a little bit of research with the US Census department. Any of the population and household numbers I got from Census.gov and from CNN.
There are roughly 19,000-20,000 Black cards in the United States. I am not sure on an exact number as it is difficult to get, but we do know that it has become a little easier to get it over the last year or so, really increasing this number. The number I am really interested in, if I could ever get it would be the cancellation rate of black cardmembers.
- The estimated August 2008 civilian population for the US is 303,588,896. Assuming 20,000 Centurion members, roughly 0.00658% of the population has a black card.
- There are an estimated 111,162,259 households in the US, roughly 0.0179% of households have a black card.
- There are 9,200,000 households in the US worth over $1M (excluding primary home), which is approx 8.27% of the US households. Again assuming 20k black cardmembers, roughly 0.217% of millionaire households have a black card.
- There are approx 1,190,000 households in the US worth over $5M, which is about 1.07% of US households. Roughly 1.7% of households over $5M have black cards.
You are more likely to die from Brain cancer than you are to be in a household that has a black card. I just read the brain cancer statistic, I had to add it is. Look on the bright side though, you are more likely to be in a household worth more than $5M than have a black card. I would rather have that any day.
Even More Free Black Card Gifts
It appears that good things come in groups of 3. First, Amex recently sent Centurion members a Mikimoto gift card, and now they just recently sent 2 more things out. A few days ago I received word that several members had received a $500 credit at the Wynn Tower Suites, which can be used toward rooms. There have been a lot of discounts popping up for Vegas and this one is a pretty good one.
In addition to the $500 Wynn credit, I just got an email today from someone saying they just received a $500 gift card to Domenico Vacca, where Men’s suits start around $4,900. Here is a picture below of Jacob the Jeweler (left - who was recently sentenced to 16 months in prison for laundering money for the Black Mafia Family) with Domenico Vacca (right).
Remember, you must be opted in to marketing promotions with Centurion to receive these gifts.
Best Buy Jumps On Black Card Bandwagon
It became public today that Best Buy inadvertently sent out an email to a small group of rewards customers for their new “Premier Black” program. The new rewards program is will supposedly include access to a best buy concierge, exclusive shopping privileges and a little more. This is the email that went out:
It makes me chuckle when I see companies trying to harness the pop culture power the Centurion brand has gained. But nothing made me laugh more than reading about the new bar in Arizona that opened, called Black Card Ultra Lounge.
