https://www.ausbt.com.au/commonwealth-bank-axes-american-exp…
Dammit, there goes my fee free, points earning, insured, extended warranty international transactions (come November anyway)
What's left that offers this, Bankwest Platinum?
Official link (Thanks sharetrader)
Don't think that will be happening soon, as they have had record numbers signing up.
Why would you want that when they are so generous in giving points to card users?
You can just not use them if you don't want to…
I guarantee you have used AMEX products before for the points.
Not happening lol..
AMEX is over 100 years old, they are the oldest of the credit companies, and they're not going anywhere.
Probably going to get negged too but oh well.
I too am in the same boat.
Amex as a small business owner has high fees without any benefit. Plus everybody has a visa or mastercard.
As a small business I hate amex and don't accept it and am surprised they're still in business
As a consumer, yes the better points works well for me.
However if the earning points became the same as Visa, I will drop them like a hot potato
Amex is good when u compare it to big banks. People are probably signing up for more amex cards than their own, so obv they r axing it.
Well that sucks. Wonder if we’ll get shop small in time?
Also, seeing as I’m not getting the product I signed up for, shouldn’t I be eligible to cancel and get a prorata refund for my annual fee?
I would expect a full refund of any fee charged.
Let us know how you go with that. If like other banks think the amex was free and you paying for Visa/MasterCard + Rewards.
Wouldn’t consumer law have something to say about that?
Don't know about that. They say in the article that CBA is not even considering changing the annual fee for the card even as it is axing Amex side of the deal.
I only kept my CBA cards on a reduced fee basis and I had it for so long for the free Travel insurance. I finally closed a few months ago and thinking about even cutting ties with CBA. The earning rate is terrible and conversion rate is no less atrocious lol.
This is it for me and CBA now.
Unfortunately it's getting cancelled on November 1 - won't make it to shop small! (Oh no!)
Official CBA page:
https://www.commbank.com.au/latest/amexclosure.html
From 1 November 2018, we’re closing all CommBank American Express Cards and transactions will be declined (some exceptions apply*).
Hadn't even thought of that.. and the Amex Connect offers too
When NAB axed mine, they gave me a slightly better point earn rate on the VISA and kept it going.
Luckily I was already on "no annual fee for life" because I tried to cancel earlier in the year.
I've heard rumours that CommBank will be making no other changes to their credit cards, besides the Amex which I think is very poor. Either raise the benefits of the mastercard or lower the annual fee. If they make no changes come November i'll be asking to have my wealth fee waived or reduced.
All the other big 4 banks scrapped amex cards ages ago.
I can't see any mention on bankwest about amex they only have MasterCard listed.
Bankwest never issued Amex cards.
I thought that. OP posted What's left that offers this, Bankwest Platinum? so thought I'd check
OP was probably referring to waiving of foreign transaction fees on CBA AMEX cards, which Bankwest Platinum Mastercards also provide.
@ctd:
Yeah, I mean to say cards without a FX fee, but with the other benefits attached to them (90 day lost/theft/damage insurance, extended warranty etc) though not necessarily Amex cards.
Just looking at the features/benefits of Commbank Platinum, while you'll lose Amex's zero international tx fees and Amex Connect, you still get all the other benefits if I read it right:
Does that sound about right?
Yep, those benefits still apply to the Mastercard.
From what I've found so far, still seems the best option (keeping CBA card and without paying additional annual fees) is the Bankwest Zero Platinum for overseas transactions with the extra benefits, and for Amex Connect and Shop Small, Amex has some no annual fee options
(also noticed from your link that CBA quietly reduced the points too, when the points thing changed last year was 3 for overseas Amex and 1.25 for Mastercard, now 2.5 and 1)
Wow, Bankwest Zero Platinum does look attractive: zero foreign tx fees, and complimentary travel insurance via Allianz.
No mention of purchase security or extended warranty though — which is maybe how they keep the annual fee to zero.
I guess if you keep your Commbank Platinum/Diamond, that's fine. If you want to leave Commbank altogether, this isn't a perfect replacement.
Let us know if you find better alternatives : )
Yeh, it's in the Insurance PDS
They keep it free since there's no rewards points scheme attached to it.
NAB did it now CBA i miss my amex.
I have cba amex and other amexs and visas.
And cba product, points earn ratios, fees are the most ridiculous.
I've only had it because I got reduced fees etc.
This the nail. In the coffin for me.
Will vote with my feet and cancel it when the time comes.
I don't reward my loyalty to companies who offer sub value products
I got a Commbank diamond as part of my home loan, but this is the last straw. Going to refinance out by the end of the year.
My current setup is the CommBank Diamond Amex and MasterCard (which I get for no annual fee as part of my home loan package) as well as a Velocity Escape Amex.
Will most likely keep the MasterCard, because I don’t think there is another card that has the potential to give me 0.625 velocity points per dollar without paying an annual fee.
I’m annoyed that i’ll lose my no foreign transaction fees and the 2 Amex lounge passes per year but I don’t go overseas that often so no huge loss.
I’m now considering come November, scrapping my Velocity Escape card and upgrading to the Velocity Platinum. Even though it has an annual fee, it earns more points and other perks such lounge passes and a free return flight.
What's the benefit in getting AmEx through a bank rather than AmEx directly?
I already had a Mastercard, the bank just gave an Amex tied to the same account.
One statement for both Visa/Mastercard and AMEX charges. The incentive used to be you'd receive more points for purchases on the AMEX, but now that's gone.
What are people doing with their award points? I don't exactly want to spend them now…but I'll look at closing my CBA credit card account fairly soon and jump ship to another card provider.
I've got a fair few and convert it to $500 coles vouchers at a time. I have little need to convert them over to velocity or an airline partner.
Even though im a CBA customer through my other accounts I would imagine cancelling would close my awards account up and lose the points.
I'd personally redeem or sell them asap. CBA have been aggressively devaluing their reward points over the last couple years to the point where you're paying so much more for those gift vouchers. We/most all know that redeeming gift vouchers are the worst way to maximise point value but for those who do not travel often enough, it's the direction I've always taken.
It's not just CBA, all banks are doing it, obviously due to the new regulations on credit cards etc etc.
I remember $500 mc/ visa gift cards were around 90-100K up until about 12-15months ago now they've gone up to 140K. It may not seem like a lot but when you have millions of reward points that is a massive loss in value.
I'll admit it has been very good for our business, over the many years, however those days are now numbered, just waiting for my next statement to finalise (just got back from Europe) before I use up all the remaining points I have left and close the account.
Damn! I used to buy big value items on my amex and return them few hours later and get credit back on my linked mastercard - giving me 1.5 points for a free for no effort.
I wonder if this could be one of the reasons they are axing the linked cards.
CyberMurning on 07/06/2018 - 12:00 Comment score below threshold.