Mine added fine!
One of the nicest Amex designs Iāve seen. Itād be interesting to see how a design including the Amex centurion could be adapted to a vertical format, not sure Iāve seen one like that.
Just received the Lloyds Premier card. Back of the card is black with bank details in white. A lime green core. Sorry about the dust - knocking out the old fireplace today.
Wow, not sellotaped to a piece of paper!
That is very nice!
How come it arrived so fast? Mines due within 5 days and I only signed up two days ago.
Very nice. Holding on applying as I donāt need another account but ā¦ I want
First post in 2 years, welcome backš
Maybe this is a silly question, but why?
Surely benefits overlap, do you get value out of them?
Cries in annual fees
Do you have a decision tree/process for deciding which card to pay with?
PingāAn Amex Golf Platinum Credit
Agricultural Bank of China Unipay debit
CCB Tim Hortons (Yes the Canadian onešāāļø) AMEX Credit
Nah, fair question. So none of the US cards have forex fees, thatās the Hilton, Marriott, Green, Platinum and HSBC US card.
The benefits do overlap to a point, but the value is there - the two Platinums are UK/US, US ($695?) was an upgrade from Gold so an extra SUB, also has 5x MR on airfare, which is a large enough spend category to make it worthwhile, also has $200 airline fee credit (not ticketing, but it is useful). The UK (Ā£650/y?) one was also an upgrade with a 100k SUB, the credits are useful but I keep this primarily for travel and CDW insurance - the annual fee for this alone, even if I get no referrals or use none of the benefits (the restaurant credits I do use, for example) easily covers annual family travel insurance (I havenāt claimed since they moved away from AXA, so not sure how good itāll be going forward, but theyāve been great on the occasions I have had issues to date).
Green ($150) was originally for SUB, but is mainly for 3x on all travel/transit - so airfare, hotels, Uber, Grab, trains, subways, etc. worldwide, also 3x on worldwide restaurant spend.
The two Hiltons - one is $150/y, 12x on Hilton spend, 3x on everything else (no other useful bonus categories but they exist); free night at $15k spend, which I did hit last year, I have to work out whether spend is best put elsewhere before going for that though. This has $200 Hilton credit annually. The other is $550/y, comes with Diamond (useful backstop in case I donāt stay enough), $400 resort credit (only specific Hilton properties designated as such, bit restrictive but Fiji is a useful one I can burn it at), plus $200 airline credit and an annual free night certificate (regardless of spend), plus another each at $30k/$60k spend (I donāt hit those). This card also earns 7x HH/$1 on airfare and car rental, so itās the go to for car rental.
BankWest is A$160/y, Iām in year two, there was a SUB spread over two years, and they donāt really offer frequent, decent bonuses, so churning isnāt a concern, Iāll cancel at the end of this year (but in the meantime it has no forex fees and I can spread transactions over 3 months at no cost).
HSBC Green card is a HK debit card, 0.4% cashback but I only really use it to popup Octopus. No fees involved.
HSBC UK WE Ā£290/y was SUB and has a decent earn rate, but given the forex fees is hobbled somewhat. Iām not sure if Iāll keep it in year two.
The next HSBC Premier below is the Australian HSBC Premier credit card - until now itās been golden, zero annual fee and in year one 1.5x QF points per/$1 spend, unbeatable for a free card. Unfortunately HSBC have introduced a $399 fee, so once I hit end of year itās gone, the earn drops to 1:1 and it has forex fees.
ANZ Black was a 140k point SUB, over two years (90/40). Itās not cheap (A$425/y) but worth it for the points. Also had $200 rebated in year one as part of the SUB (so essentially 130k for A$650, 0.5cpp).
HSBC US Premier is $95/y, no forex fees, 50k SUB in year one, also 3:2:1 earning categories - 3x is petrol and groceries, crucially this is worldwide rather than restricted to the US (which some other cards restrict), so this is great as I spend a small fortune on both. 2x travel, beaten by Amex but useful if Amex not accepted. 1x everything else, they transfer 1:1 but otherwise thatās nothing special.
The QF card below is NAB, thatās for a SUB, there is a fee but itāll be gone eventually, earn rate doesnāt make it a keeper.
QF below that is Amex Qantas Ultimate, A$450/y, which earns at 1.25:$1 but also comes with a $450 QF travel credit, which Iād spend anyway, so itās net zero - it excludes me from any other AU Amex, but after my last run it took me three years to get re-approved for an Aussie Amex card, theyāve cracked down on churners (even though I tended to keep the cards for the full year), so Iāll probably keep this just for relationship purposes.
Finally Bonvoy, $650/y - Platinum Marriott, 185k signup bonus, 6x/$1 on Marriott, 3x on airfare, 3x on restaurants (worldwide), 2x elsewhere. Not as generous as Hilton, but still good, especially with the SUB. Also a free night each year. Edit: also $25/month restaurant credit, which is almost half the annual fee.
There are others, either with no annual fee, a waivable fee, or a benefit which I consider offsets the fee, but those are the main ones.
Appreciate this will sound ridiculous to some, and yes, it is a lot of work to keep track of it all haha.
Yes! So my reply to Mariusfanu hopefully explains the earnings in more detail, but very broadly spend goes, in this order:
1 - Anything to meet a SUB target
2 - Category bonuses:
Supermarket/petrol - HSBC
Airfare - Amex Platinum US
Travel/transit exc. airfare - Amex Green
Restaurant - Bonvoy or Amex Green
Hotels - generally by brand issued card, otherwise Amex Green
Domestic AU (if something wonāt accept a foreign card or outside of category spend) - HSBC AU, followed by Amex QF, followed by ANZ Black.
Domestic HK (" " ") - HSBC Green HK debit (this is usually only Octopus topup which wonāt take a foreign card (or credit card it topping up at the airport)).
Domestic UK outside of category spend - HSBC WE
Foreign spend not elsewhere covered, which doesnāt accept Amex - HSBC US or BankWest/Commbank Ultimate (Iatter not shown).
3 - Once calcs are done, targeting any recurring bonuses requiring spend, such as the $15k required for an extra free night on Hilton Surpass. But for example $15k on airfare would earn 75k MR points - thatās worth more than a free night at a Hilton, so itās a tricky one and why I leave these until the end.
I hate that we only get Marriott Silver in the UK.
Still, itās only Ā£95 a year and helps me maintain Platinum.
Can we see some of these in physical form?
