I don’t know about you, but when I think about American Express, I think rewards. After all, the company is known for its Membership Rewards program. In fact, most experts agree that American Express is the reigning master when it comes to rewards credit cards.
One of the biggest changes to the program is the elimination of the double-points program that awarded cardholders with double-points for what American Express called “everyday spending.” This included purchases made at drug stores, supermarkets, and gas stations. Starting this month, these charges will only be worth one point.
On the other hand, the program will issue double-points for all purchases made online. So, if you are an online shopper, the changes might be quite attractive. Unfortunately, you can only earn double points online by shopping at specific stores that you have accessed through American Express’s web portal.
The new program also provides added protection with certain purchases. If you buy a ticket for a sporting event, a concert, or play, for example, and can’t make it to the big event for some reason, you will be covered by a special insurance plan. Pretty cool if you are someone who regularly attends these events and has a tendency to cancel at the last minute. If not, this program obviously won’t do you much good.
To make matters worse, many of the American Express cards will be charging an increased annual fee. Already the least attractive characteristics of the American Express card, the annual fee may jump up to as mush as $125. Ouch!
The main reason behind these changes is to help American Express make larger profits. I understand that credit card companies are in the business to make money – but American Express has been doing just fine until now. In fact, they earned 22.3% of the $1.58 trillion dollars that were charged on credit cards in 2005 alone. Does that sound like they are struggling to you? Yeah, me either.
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