Anyone Have a Black/Carbon Card?

[Noah930]

Anyone have one of those "coveted" Black or Carbon type credit cards? Other than the snob/prestige factor what's the allure? Effectively you're paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in annual fees for the associated concierge service. Is it worth it?

[porsche4life]

Supposedly they get you special treatment at restaurants, etc....

I did some research on them when the last thread about them was going on. Some have little or no fees, and you rack up rewards and stuff a little better than other cards... Plus you get a flashy card...


The amex is Ti by the way...

[red-beard]

I'm waiting for the Uranium and Plutonium cards

[Noah930]

So impractical. You'll need a wheel barrel and leaded clothes to carry one of those around.

[red-beard]

Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too.

[krystar]

i want a carbon fiber credit card......

[motion]

Hookers and blow.

[red-beard]

I was recently offered the Visa Version. I don't think I travel enough to need the perks that the $495 yearly charges provide.

[Hugh R]

I use the United Visa card and every couple of years it gets me two r/t to Europe.

[RWebb]

just have a bar code tattooed on your forehead

[Embraer]

my ex had the amex one. she had to spend 250K a year on it. kind of ridiculous, but she thought it was cool. whenever she'd buy a plane ticket through the amex concierge service, they'd automatically make it 1st class. lots of perks at hotels around the world. still, she had it mostly for the "wow factor" when she'd pay for stuff at Saks and Neiman Marcus. *sigh*

[Cdnone1]

Depends on how much you travel, entertain, dine out and the level at which you like to do those things.
Steve

[EdT82SC]

These things are going down market now because I got a solicitation in the mail for the black amex last month. My wife had to tell me what it was because I had no idea. Probably because I am a cheap mofo. $500 annual fee my A$$! I'll stick with my measly platinum card with $0 fee that gives me 2% back on everything.

[Langers]

Only $500 annual fee for black AMEX in the states? It's $5000 here.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Cdnone1

Depends on how much you travel, entertain, dine out and the level at which you like to do those things.
Steve

Yup. At some point, it becomes easier to consolidate all the bills into one and let the concierge service deal. I hear the AmEx and Visa services are quite nice...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Stupid waste of money. Unless it comes with escort service BJs on demand I can't see why anyone would ever throw away that kind o money on fees from which there is no benefit whatsoever derived.

I'll just spray paint my Amex card black and watch my "street cred" go up. Like that matters at all to me.

I dump/change credit card companies all the time based on best rates, offers, etc. anyway. They're dime a dozen. The only card I pay any kind of fee at all for is Amex, and it's because it's a good card and I get a good rate and airline miles on it. Even so if they ever tried to charge me $500 a year (or $5,000) in fees I'd dump them faster than a high school girl dumps boyfriends.

I don't need my ass kissed by a "concierge" service either. I've used such things a fee times and I always end up feeling awkward and annoyed by it. It's just weird. I don't derive any extra enjoyment from such things at all.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by EdT82SC

These things are going down market now because I got a solicitation in the mail for the black amex last month. My wife had to tell me what it was because I had no idea. Probably because I am a cheap mofo. $500 annual fee my A$$! I'll stick with my measly platinum card with $0 fee that gives me 2% back on everything.

That offer sounds more like the AMEX Reserve Rewards card. It's a high-end card but not exclusive like the ones the OP was asking about.

Yahoo's front page had this article on exclusive credit cards today. It's superficial but a little interesting.

invitation-only-credit-cards: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

I think you have to be both truly rich and into the flash of appearing very rich in order for the secret exclusive cards to make any sense. It's pretty common knowledge that many of the invitation-only cards require $250,000 in charging per year. The Black card will get you into secret sales and travel stuff, but you'd have to be into the whole superficial scene for it to mean anything to you. You can get the same concierge service any number of places. If you're spending $250,000 a year on clothes and travel, someone would be willing to offer you that service for free.

[stealthn]

So my platinum card is so last week? Man I can't keep up these days

[speeder]

I know people who give those cards to their kids. Myself, I use a couple of VISA/MC debit cards.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by RWebb

just have a bar code tattooed on your forehead

Actually, a microchip implanted under the skin on your forehead or hand would work just as well. It can contain your Soc Sec #, all identification, and vital information including medical records. A GPS would enable the govt to track all legal citizens. Any govt person or agency with the proper scanner can know who you are and track your location.
The supposed benefits to you is that we would be safer since law enforcement would have more control and medical personnel would have access to complete records in case of emergency. Of course there are some nasty downsides like complete loss of privacy and other more long range concerns.