American Express removes the minimum income requirement from its cards

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• barnaby100 says:

  27 May27 May 18:47

  My parents are their 80s. My mother reports that her friends- all cash rich/ asset rich and most with public sector pensions – are having difficulties getting credit cards and/or decent limits when their spouses die- even when they have been supplementary cardholders for many years. So holding card independently would seem to be a good idea as you age.

• Dannyrado says:

  27 May27 May 20:10

  Have amex stopped transfers to IHG?? I can’t find the option on the website

  • Liz says:

    27 May27 May 21:33

    They don’t do it anymore to IHG

    • Rob says:

      27 May27 May 23:04

      That ended about 5 years ago!

• Thomas says:

  27 May27 May 20:34

  Anex never really make sense in their dealings.
  Been a member since 1991, US based at first. Back in the UK in 2000 and also between jobs, so not even working, I was offered the Black Centurion. Took it of course but stopped when they raised the annual fee.

  • Talay says:

    28 May28 May 01:40

    I was Business Gold on Amex which morphed into Platinum when you couldn’t apply for Platinum and then when Centurion came out I went over to that gratis for a couple of years. Like you I jumped when the fee jumped from £650 or so to ???? and never went back to the charge card.

• Joe says:

  28 May28 May 17:47

  Slightly off-topic:
  I’ve had the BA premium AMEX for a little under two years now. However my income has been reduced massively since going to uni. I’m now considering signing up to the Gold Preferred card in order to get the 20,000 avios bonus. Will a problem occur due to discrepancies in my stated income or now, as of the change, it simply disregarded?

  Thanks in advance

• Stephanie says:

  28 May28 May 21:45

  I applied for AMEX Gold when I got my first job, obviously my income was significantly lower than £40K…but shortly after I submitted the application, I received a phone call from AMEX say they would like to invite me to apply for Platinum card. It was a really tough choice, the £300 annual card fee was a rather large sum, especially if you use “available income” as a measurement (Net income less living expenses). That was probably around 8% of my available income.

  It took me a good minute being silent on the phone before I told the guy that I would accept the invitation. (I fear if I rejected the offer, they might never invite me again, as I was hoping to get Platinum card shortly in the future)

  I did wonder why AMEX invited me, given I was totally honest with my income. But if AMEX could see the spending on my Barclaycard, then it might make sense…I believe there was about 40K spending through my Barclaycard per year.

• Jamil says:

  29 May29 May 10:09

  A friend of mine wants to start collecting Avios. Do you think as the first card, the Amex Gold card would be the best to join? How long does it take to transfer the Amex Reward Points to BAEC for example? Would transferring points from Gold Card to BAEC regularly keep the miles active in your account or do you need actual account activity on your BAEC account for any Avios to remain active?

  Thank you

  • Rob says:

    29 May29 May 10:18

    I would do Gold. No fee and, importantly, you have a year to decide if Avios is for you. If not, you can cash out for something else.

  • Genghis says:

    2 Jun2 June 19:49

    Amex Gold is a good first card. It’s free. Transfers from MR to BAEC take a few days. Set up the link to BAEC prior to when you actually want to transfer to ensure quicker transfer. Any account on BAEC keeps avios active for another 3 years

• Thomas says:

  2 Jun2 June 19:12

  Anyone know how long it takes for the complimentary upgrade to HHonours Gold to process?

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