What credit card(s) do you recommend for financing your AM business?
- Thread starter NamEno
- Start date
I wonder how much i have to spend for amex to bump my 1.5% plum to a 2.0% plum or if thats even still possible. I've never asked them.
I'm also grandfathered with the AMEX Plum card at 2% cash back. You do have to make an "early payment" but that's not a problem if you are getting wires.
The card is great. And they didn't ask me for tax returns until I was doing well over $100,000k a month on it. Even then they didn't require me to send them in. I just had to keep prepaying it throughout the month to keep the balance below $100k.
The card is great. And they didn't ask me for tax returns until I was doing well over $100,000k a month on it. Even then they didn't require me to send them in. I just had to keep prepaying it throughout the month to keep the balance below $100k.
Nope - people at 2% were grandfathered in. If you got your card anytime after they changed policy (late last year, I think), then you're stuck with 1.5%. Still not bad if you're doing volume.
Like I said there are different ways to play it depending on the person's situation. For a newbie yeah 2% is not bad but they can then BT or float it on 0%, you disagree they should exploit every possible option? For someone doing volume they should be able to get better than 2% terms by negotiating, if you can't get more value out of a strong monthly 200k spend relationship than $4k then that's your experience, if you've gone out and tried to do better and haven't been able to then the market is really in the crapper over there. Personally i'd say they should at least comp you a few things on top of that if they don't already and you haven't looked around. If anyone disagrees then so be it, in my experience around the world $200k a month throughput gets better than a 2% treatment. I seriously doubt the US with it's range of providers is much worse than elsewhere in the world even in the current climate.
The article mentions going for new cards in increments of $10k to get 5%. At that level it's really not worth the headaches would you agree or disagree? I think the disconnect is that there is a wide range of spend, different strategies are used if starting out or already established, starting out you try to hustle for every % in which case BT or floating makes sense, once established you really should have relationships built to be able to get better than 2% value, if not then continuing to hustle is easy enough money.
And if you could save or make $5k or $6k instead of $4k you would say it's not worth the time. So which is it? For you perhaps 2% is great for the effort and a little side bonus but is it really the most you can get for your money? Are you that busy to not get another card and just send the money over once a month or call around and see what someone else can do? Most providers should be falling over themselves to get a sure bet $200k a month relationship on their books without taking into account any additional deposits.
I didn't say Premier or Citigold are the best thing out there, it's for the mass affluent (or effluent take your pick), but it's a small step up the chain where people get comfortable with the idea that the more you deal the better the terms. Most accounts where a modest home loan gets you a free pass are mostly a gimmick, they do give you some benefits though and get you into the relationship mindset if you ever make it bigger. Same with something like Centurion, almost anyone can get one now so the product has been diluted, rather than place all perks on the product (the card) they now place it on the relationship (the private bank) which is the way most work. If you managed to get all the perks from various relationships and the 2% is the cherry on top and the last benefit then great. Most don't see it that way though, they just see the 2% and think it stops there.
Amex is crap outside of the US, I don't know how or where you've tried to use it. In Australia for example it has the highest merchant rates so many smaller places don't pick it up since the customer base is also low, as a result it's not accepted widely for simple crap like petrol at a lot of the non-chain stations. Forget about most of Europe too. Diners Club is worse but they've merged most accounts with MasterCard now I believe. Mastercard/Maestro Cirrus and Visa/Plus pretty much own the world market, the others are still in existence mostly through their US membership clinging on, similar to JCB from Japan.
I'm currently on a 5% cashback special until the end of the year (normally 3%) then transferred to another card where I get 2% before paying it off while the money sits in an account for 2 months that did 7% pa last year. Not a business account but the bank doesn't care. I'm outside the US too so the Amex Plum would mean i'd have to get a presence there from my quick scan of their signup form (since it's not offered in my market) and start thinking about liabilities and other shit which would go against my current chosen strategy of low overheads and small footprint which gives me flexibility should things get worse.
I wouldn't be using a USD card in a non-USD or non-pegged country on a consistent basis (over a span of years) as the exchange rate will be against me at times, but it's your choice, the last year or so has been pretty good but the years before that not so much in the countries i've moved through and the current trend doesn't look all that positive. My cards are in a pegged currency and the conversion fee is reimbursed by the bank but I can also pick up a USD card if I really felt the need.
It's interesting to see how many play what appears to be a somewhat straight corporate strategy though, some interesting viewpoints. As a contrast the people I hang with use a more personal strategy with their money and shift it as needed and have the personal relationship create commercial ones as needed. So instead of going to HSBC commercial directly for example they go to HSBC private and have them create multiple commercial relationships at favourable terms without needing to front up minimums for each. I'm not sure if it works the other way though, gopher does your commercial contact do you any personal deals like personal asset redistribution/protection and off-shoring of your private funds? Do you get many perks under commercial such as gifts, private parties etc?
And why would a 0% for 12 months on that or an extra couple of % in cash or points not be?
You tell me never to post again when i'm saying to go talk to your providers if you're doing volume and then you post shit like this? Amex Card Services isn't a traditional bank in it's way of thinking though so they're less likely to care. If you were with Amex and their (Private) Bank arm it's a different story and you probably wouldn't be worried about an extra .5% and wouldn't bother with a plum.
You guys are missing the point.
Starting out 2% isn't bad but those people can do better by BT/floating that (and people have made a nice chunk of change floating for other purposes) if they really wanted to, it's usually not a waste to minimize expenses when starting out but doing it like the article suggest would not be the best way to go about it.
Once people have volume they should be able to get better terms with providers from all sides and find something that works with minimal fuss, if that means you've tried everything and still the 2% is the best thing going then so be it.
The article is still messed up in the ways i've pointed out before and i'm yet to be convinced otherwise.
I'm scared to reply bc I don't want another 5000 word essay with only 3 sentences of actual value, but I see a couple flaws in what you're proposing:
1. I would be hard pressed to find a credit card that would give me 0% interest on 200K. Most 0% cards have limits of like 5-10K. Most credit cards won't even give you a leash of > 30K even with excellent credit and a 20% interest rate. Maybe AUS is different.
2. Even if I could find a credit card to give me that float at 0%, where would I put the money? The stock market? No thanks. The best 12 month CD I could find in 5 minutes of research is 2%.
Also, I don't think you understand how the Plum card works. I only get 2% cashback if I pay off the balance every month. Otherwise, they give me another 30 days (I think) to pay it off. It's an Amex charge card which is different than their credit cards in that they expect you to pay the full balance every month.
But thanks for mentioning the Amex banking solution. I'll have to look into that.
Smaxor: care to elaborate on why the BofA credit card you're using is better than an Amex?
1. I would be hard pressed to find a credit card that would give me 0% interest on 200K. Most 0% cards have limits of like 5-10K. Most credit cards won't even give you a leash of > 30K even with excellent credit and a 20% interest rate. Maybe AUS is different.
2. Even if I could find a credit card to give me that float at 0%, where would I put the money? The stock market? No thanks. The best 12 month CD I could find in 5 minutes of research is 2%.
Also, I don't think you understand how the Plum card works. I only get 2% cashback if I pay off the balance every month. Otherwise, they give me another 30 days (I think) to pay it off. It's an Amex charge card which is different than their credit cards in that they expect you to pay the full balance every month.
But thanks for mentioning the Amex banking solution. I'll have to look into that.
Smaxor: care to elaborate on why the BofA credit card you're using is better than an Amex?