<li>annual fee ($150) waived for first year</li>
<li>50,000 membership rewards bonus points that can be redeemed for 2 domestic airline tickets (one for the cardholer and one is a companion one) if I spend $500 on my Card by August 31, 2007.</li>
</ol>
<p>Too good to be true? I am thinking of gaming the system: sign up, charge $500 on it, get the domestic tickets, and eventually cancel it within the first year unless I somehow discover it’s worth the cost (very unlikely). I don’t see anything that says I am obligated to maintain the membership for a certain period of time.</p>
<p>But I am still wondering if there’s any catch.</p>
<p>I have had extensive dealings with American Express’s card division. At least in the past, they were very careful with what they did, and completely unwilling to “trick” anybody. They were also really familiar with “gaming” strategies with their cards – as it happens, they provide lots of opportunities for gaming, and they do a good job making money off the business of the people who identify and take those opportunities.</p>
<p>My son (college student, no money) got an offer for a “green” AMEx card. A few days later he got an offer for a “gold” one. I told him to hold out for platinum. :D</p>
<p>I just want to be clear. Are you saying they know some people like me would be a cost to them but based on their study/research, they project most people won’t “game” it and as a whole, they’d still make money with their offer? That’s what I was thinking but I want people like you to confirm it. ;)</p>
<p>No, I was saying that Amex likes to set up things where customers who are paying close attention and thinking strategically will see a way to get a little windfall. They do it all the time, and those type of strategic “gamers” are a core part of the Amex customer base. They like their relationship with Amex. Amex knows some people are going to do what you are thinking of doing, but it is betting that once it has your attention like that it will keep you around and get you to use the card a lot, and ultimately convince you that it’s worth paying the annual fee for.</p>
<p>Nothing sinister at all. I had a lot of respect for the people there when I did a deal with them. They were very long-term, strategic thinkers, and they had tons of research on their customer and prospect base.</p>
<p>Heard a funny story about the little known American Express “Black” card. This very wealthy guy said he only knew two people who had one: him…and his ex-wife :p</p>
<p>I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with American Express. They seem to me to be one of the few large companies that really take service seriously- but then, that’s their whole business.</p>
<p>Why did I decline? Boy, I don’t know - and in all honesty, I actually regretted my decision as soon as I shredded it. </p>
<p>I thought about it for a while and decided it would be a hassle to keep track and remember to cancel it before next year (before I’d have to pay the exhorbitant annual fee), and to make sure I spent $500 before September, and to jump through whatever hoops I needed in order to get the actual tickets. I guess I figured if I change my mind, the offer will probably come around again.</p>
<p>If I were you I’d hang onto it for a while.</p>
<p>I will say, even if you forgot to cancel after the first year, that $150 fee is a lot less than two tickets to fly across the country. What I love about their flight miles is that you can use them on any airline you wish.</p>
<p>I sure could use that offer. We’ve been members for years, so no free trip for me. Boo.</p>
<p>I think a better deal is the Costco American Express card. There’s no annual fee and they’ve been paying me about $500 per year to use it. It’s cash back so I can spend it on airline tickets or anything else I want.</p>
<p>That’s how I use my Discover card. There is no annual fee and they pay us to use it. We always have our cashback bonuses deposited into our checking account.</p>
<p>Well, poetsheart, there are good reasons businesses don’t like Amex: they charge more than Visa or Mastercard, take longer to process, and have way more paperwork. Discover’s not quite as bad, but close.</p>
<p>Ha! The same offer arrived for my DH today, so I signed us up online. Now I have to find some merchants willing to take AmEx, so that I can spend $500 before September ;)</p>
<p>I was also talking to my neighbor about the Southwest Airlines Visa card, which earns mileage points. I might consider that once my son starts college in fall 2008, since he’ll be flying back and forth to whichever school he ends up.</p>
<p>Amex is the only credit card that Costco accepts. If you’re like me, you can go there to save 50 cents on a gallon of milk and walk out with a cartload of stuff you didn’t know you needed and a nice big hit to your Amex card! </p>
<p>Capital One offers no hassle visa and mastercards and you can redeem the points earned for unrestricted airline tickets (you charge the ticket to the credit card, then call them and they reverse the charge and deduct the appropriate number of points), hotels, merchandise, hundreds of retailers’ gift cards, or cold hard cash. The points never expire (as long as Cap One exists, that is), the annual fee is $29 and the redemption process is super easy through their customer service number.</p>