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I’ve been doing some illness-related tidying of my wallet and have finally got around to cancelling my Amex ICC dollar card. Stopping payment my cheque was the last straw, worsened by repeated late payment fees due to rubbish Royal Mail, but I should have given up years ago.
I had the choice of transferring my dollar-based points into one of the schemes it covered (I was looking at Virgin on a 3:2 ratio) or a straight currency-based conversion from the US to my UK card. The difference was not insignificant. For a token 100,000 USD points, this would have converted directly to the devil’s 66,000 Virgin points, but via a straight transfer to my UK card it would be nearer 80,000 Amex points, which converts to… 80,000 Virgin points or Avios.
After some checking, transfer to the Amex Reward Card was accepted. Now I need to finally close down all of my Amex points and wait out for a good application offer in a couple of years (!).
I should close mine. Only value now is potential 1:1 to Singapore.
Glory years were when Jumeirah had fixed reward charts and you could get 5p per Amex ICC point on peak dates.
Thanks for the data point @Lux . I’ve had the ICC dollar card for sometime and find myself thinking a bit about the value proposition every year!
USD136 per annum for a card whose only key benefit is earning 1 point per USD on US spend is not great: You need to spend 13.6k to break even on a 1c p/pt basis. However, what other cards earn any points on US spend without a hefty FX fee?
Also, it’s not just relevant for US trips. Lots of international hotels (e.g. Maldives) also bill in USD.
Online points purchases normally settle in USD also.
All of this, plus the asymmetric KrisFlyer conversion opportunity that Rob mentions, keeps me renewing…
As it’s no longer issued I may be hanging on to a legacy card that I can’t re-apply for if I regret giving it up but I’d be happy if any on here could suggest an equivalent for US spend?!
You’re right @guernsey, I’d held the card for so long that i likely only broke even on the fee and points. But it was useful when I was doing some parallel banking in my USD-paid days.
As for earning on USD spend, this is why my legacy MBNA Horizon card will never be cancelled – 0.5% rebate on an exchange fee-free card is an ongoing benefit, although I’ve never looked into the underlying exchange rates.
I’ve been using my ICC as a store of MR points and for insurance.
Thanks for the data point @Lux . I’ve had the ICC dollar card for sometime and find myself thinking a bit about the value proposition every year!
USD136 per annum for a card whose only key benefit is earning 1 point per USD on US spend is not great: You need to spend 13.6k to break even on a 1c p/pt basis. However, what other cards earn any points on US spend without a hefty FX fee?
Also, it’s not just relevant for US trips. Lots of international hotels (e.g. Maldives) also bill in USD.
Online points purchases normally settle in USD also.
All of this, plus the asymmetric KrisFlyer conversion opportunity that Rob mentions, keeps me renewing…
As it’s no longer issued I may be hanging on to a legacy card that I can’t re-apply for if I regret giving it up but I’d be happy if any on here could suggest an equivalent for US spend?!
I keep hold of the Platinum ICC as it allows me to store MR while closing all UK MR cards, retains SQ 1:1 and is much cheaper than buying travel insurance in Australia. I keep thinking of consolidating, I have a US Amex where I could move the points to (and actually spend on, given the lack of forex fees), so it really is just a travel insurance policy for me, but I think even that alone means it pays for itself.
You’re right @guernsey, I’d held the card for so long that i likely only broke even on the fee and points. But it was useful when I was doing some parallel banking in my USD-paid days.
As for earning on USD spend, this is why my legacy MBNA Horizon card will never be cancelled – 0.5% rebate on an exchange fee-free card is an ongoing benefit, although I’ve never looked into the underlying exchange rates.
Thanks for the feedback @Lux – the MBNA certainly sounds like a keeper!
I’ve been using my ICC as a store of MR points and for insurance.
I keep hold of the Platinum ICC as it allows me to store MR while closing all UK MR cards, retains SQ 1:1 and is much cheaper than buying travel insurance in Australia. I keep thinking of consolidating, I have a US Amex where I could move the points to (and actually spend on, given the lack of forex fees), so it really is just a travel insurance policy for me, but I think even that alone means it pays for itself.
@QFFlyer That’s a good point about the Platinum ICC insurance. Unfortunately the cover from my plain old ICC Green is not nearly as compelling!Amex UK currently won’t issue new cards to Guernsey residents so churning is not an option for me but that is also a great point about the utility of the ICC cards. Not something that had occurred to me but makes a lot of sense.
You’re right @guernsey, I’d held the card for so long that i likely only broke even on the fee and points. But it was useful when I was doing some parallel banking in my USD-paid days.
As for earning on USD spend, this is why my legacy MBNA Horizon card will never be cancelled – 0.5% rebate on an exchange fee-free card is an ongoing benefit, although I’ve never looked into the underlying exchange rates.
I also have the MBNA Horizon Cashback VISA (alongside many other legacy reward/forex spend cards not opened to new applicants), and I occasionally use it to keep it alive (it use VISA standard exchange rate), but right now the best forex spend reward cards are probably the NatWest/RBS Black MasterCard Word Elite (carry a fee) or the Chase UK MasterCard World Elite MasterCard (1% capper at £15 per month though- £1500 equivalent spend), both offering MasterCard standard exchange rate, which for the majority of currencies and time, beat VISA rates
A reminder that the free Virgin card is FX free in the Eurozone and you’re getting 0.75 miles per £1 with it.
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