Costco/amex/visa

[alancw3]

so just curious what you guys are doing? the only reason i ever had an amex card was because of being costco member. so now after 3/31 costco will accept visa cards. they would like citi bank but any visa card is my understanding. i have been bombarded with application for a new amex card but am inclined to decline.

[fuzzalow]

As long as you never carry an outstanding balance month-to-month, it doesn't matter what the issuing institution of your Visa card is. Get the one that you don't pay a yearly fee for and carries some type of benefit you might like and use. Never carry forwards a balance due.

For reasons of coverage as to what payment CCs a merchant will accept, Amex; Visa and Discover cover pretty much all of it. Those are the only cards needed. Do not carry multiple credit cards just so you can float more consumer debt dispersed among the cards. Never carry forwards a balance due.

Amex is the only card I carry with an annual fee. No longer even necessary for business as I have a corporate card for allowable expenses but some employers don't do that so you'll still need an Amex card. Even Amex now allows a running balance. Never carry forwards a balance due.

I get offers for the Amex Platinum card all the time. Haven't figured out why I need it and Amex hasn't convinced me yet either. Must be the pretty color!

[kramnnim]

I've had a couple variations of the Amex Blue Cash for ~12 years, there are no fees and some of the bonus offer stuff is good. Recently I had $20 off a $50+ Jet.com purchase and a...$25 (?) off $75 Newegg purchase. I also used their car rental insurance thing, it's a set price per rental.

They also did the "warranty extension" thing before other cards did, I've used it twice- once on some 3T bars that broke (they refunded the full $250 purchase price) and another time for a Garmin 800 with broken tabs. ($310 refund)

Took some hassling to get those refunds as they seem to automatically reject the claims, but for $500+, it was worth it.

So yeah, pretty happy with my Amex card. Mainly use my Citi Double Cash now, as the cashback % is slightly higher.

[PSC]

I like my Fidelity Amex card, no fee and pays 2% cash back. Not bad. I only have a Visa debt card so it looks like that's what I will be using at Costco. My only other card is a MasterCard, it won't be worth getting a Visa CC just for Costco purchases.

[572cv]

I like my Fidelity Amex card, no fee and pays 2% cash back. Not bad. I only have a Visa debt card so it looks like that's what I will be using at Costco. My only other card is a MasterCard, it won't be worth getting a Visa CC just for Costco purchases.

A Fidelity Visa card also gives cash back. If you set up a fidelity mycash account you can sweep the cash into that. The Amex blue card is useful for traveling, no annual fee. Amex is really good about protecting their customers. The card gives points which have periodically accumulated enough to be a pleasant surprise.

I always pay off the bill monthly.

[tuxbailey]

I am going to cancel the AMEX card when Costco switch to Visa. Only reason to have it is for the benefit accumulated via Costco. I will probably put all my purchases through the United Airline Explorer Visa for miles accumulation.

[josephr]

Last time I was in a Sam's Club, they only took MasterCard or Discover, not Visa nor Amex. I have an Amex card with Delta SkyMiles from when I traveled a lot with my previous job. I have a MasterCard for back-up for situations when they don't take the Amex. My check/ATM card is Visa...so, guess I'm covered if someone invites me to Costco.

[ntb1001]

In Canada, Costco switched to Mastercard a year or 2 ago. I have one...I use it at the Costco gas station, and in the store. They give you money back with it.

[Bruce K]

I carry a Visa and an Amex.

The Visa is for when they don't take the Amex.

The Amex has a fee but I have purchased computers, airline tickets, and used the concierge service to get all kinds of cool deals and access to interesting events that value far and above the annual fee each year.

BK

[dalava]

Amex used to have some cachet (for wealthy people) and as such, they don't like you to have a balance (that's not where they made the money) but charge merchant higher fees than others (that's where they made the money).

But that's all changed now, except Amex still charges merchant higher fees than others, and that's why you see some merchants don't take Amex - a pretty standard practice in many countries, less so in the US.

Credit cards are all making money now on the balance you carry and other misc. fees. There are very little differences between Amex, Visa, and MasterCard. If you don't carry balance, then any card gives you the best rebate in the form of cash or miles (which can turns into cash). For frequent travelers, hotel or airline affiliated credit cards typically are the best deal.

If you carry balance on your credit card, then pay it off fast, regardless what kind of card, before thinking about another credit card.

[oldpotatoe]

so just curious what you guys are doing? the only reason i ever had an amex card was because of being costco member. so now after 3/31 costco will accept visa cards. they would like citi bank but any visa card is my understanding. i have been bombarded with application for a new amex card but am inclined to decline.

Always surprising to me they accepted AMEX and no other..since the $ COSTCO has to pay for every swipe is big(twice or more than Visa/MC). For a place the thrives on discounted/small margin stuff..this reduces margin even more.

Had a guy buy a $13,000 bike, used his AMEX...$494 out of my hide...3.8%..thence stopped taking AMEX.

[zmudshark]

Always surprising to me they accepted AMEX and no other..since the $ COSTCO has to pay for every swipe is big(twice or more than Visa/MC). For a place the thrives on discounted/small margin stuff..this reduces margin even more.

Had a guy buy a $13,000 bike, used his AMEX...$494 out of my hide...3.8%..thence stopped taking AMEX.Costco pays AMEX 0.6%, will pay even less with Citi (under 0.4%). Not quite the same deal as most retailers get.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-17/costco-seen-paying-almost-zero-to-accept-cards-in-citigroup-deal

[oldpotatoe]

Costco pays AMEX 0.6%, will pay even less with Citi (under 0.4%). Not quite the same deal as most retailers get.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-17/costco-seen-paying-almost-zero-to-accept-cards-in-citigroup-deal

wow...size DOES matter:D

Still like $50million plus or minus expense. tho..AMEX ought to be paying them.

[alancw3]

thanks all for the replies. i think i will not get another amex card after all of their mailings. the only reason i had to begin with was because of being a costco member. i have a visa card with my bank that from what i read will be accepted by costco. no reason to get a city visa card.

[Black Dog]

Always surprising to me they accepted AMEX and no other..since the $ COSTCO has to pay for every swipe is big(twice or more than Visa/MC). For a place the thrives on discounted/small margin stuff..this reduces margin even more.

Had a guy buy a $13,000 bike, used his AMEX...$494 out of my hide...3.8%..thence stopped taking AMEX.

Ouch. Most Canadian retailers simply add the 3-4% to their prices knowing that most buyers will use credit cards. Some retailers give a 3-4% 'discount' for those that pay with cash or debit card. It is astonishing how the credit card companies have us all squeezed tightly by the tennis balls, effectively taking a few points on most purchases and then ~20% interest on those that run a balance. We then buy into the rewards cards, but the return is always less than the extra cost of using the card. Convenience...:rolleyes:

[Polyglot]

Although it will rarely apply to most people, Amex is the only of the CC issuers who compiles an International profile of their customers and therefore it can be very useful in maintaining your credit report when you are abroad. Indeed, after 7 years, abroad, your US credit report disappears completely and you have to start anew, whereas Amex will report everything to the credit agencies in the US upon request. Had I not had an amex card when I moved to the US, I would not have had any credit report or access to a mortgage. Indeed, I was even turned down for a Sears card, then with one call to Amex, I was being hounded by all CC issuers and was given very good mortgage rates.

Amex is also unmatched when it comes to protection of their good customers, with super speedy card replacement, good insurance coverage, very easy challenging of charges, very good and clear year-end reports... Somebody cloned my Visa card and it took more than two weeks to have it replaced, I had an Amex cloned and it was replaced in 2 days free of charge.

On another note, please be aware that if a second member of your household has an "extra" card linked to your first card, in the event of your death, the other cards will immediately get cancelled. I just needed to deal with this following the death of my father. My mother's credit cards were all immediately cancelled which led to minor hassles dealing with funeral homes etc...

[alancw3]

Although it will rarely apply to most people, Amex is the only of the CC issuers who compiles an International profile of their customers and therefore it can be very useful in maintaining your credit report when you are abroad. Indeed, after 7 years, abroad, your US credit report disappears completely and you have to start anew, whereas Amex will report everything to the credit agencies in the US upon request. Had I not had an amex card when I moved to the US, I would not have had any credit report or access to a mortgage. Indeed, I was even turned down for a Sears card, then with one call to Amex, I was being hounded by all CC issuers and was given very good mortgage rates.

Amex is also unmatched when it comes to protection of their good customers, with super speedy card replacement, good insurance coverage, very easy challenging of charges, very good and clear year-end reports... Somebody cloned my Visa card and it took more than two weeks to have it replaced, I had an Amex cloned and it was replaced in 2 days free of charge.

On another note, please be aware that if a second member of your household has an "extra" card linked to your first card, in the event of your death, the other cards will immediately get cancelled. I just needed to deal with this following the death of my father. My mother's credit cards were all immediately cancelled which led to minor hassles dealing with funeral homes etc...

interesting.

[PSC]

My sister in law works for a bank and says the only card that Costco will be taking is the Citibank Visa card and not just any Visa credit card. Any one got insight if this is true?

[alancw3]

My sister in law works for a bank and says the only card that Costco will be taking is the Citibank Visa card and not just any Visa credit card. Any one got insight if this is true?

if i am not mistaken when costco issued the original press release several months ago they stated that citibank will be issuing visa cards with certain cash backs but that any visa card will be accepted. that makes sense. if a merchant accepts visa he accepts visa. never had a merchant look at who issued the card.

[sitzmark]

Terms for the Costco co-branded Citi Visa could change - not all terms have been published to date - but as of the latest info on their website any Visa will be accepted for payment. The immediate advantage of the co-branded card is that it also functions as a membership card allowing entrance into Costco stores and authorization at Costco pumps. Like the Costco Amex it will have picture ID on the reverse. In lieu of signature or smudged signature on back of card 99.9999% of the time merchants look at the picture ID and process the transaction. My experience. I don't sign picture ID cc's because sigs on my high use cards eventually get smudged or rubbed off anyway.

Thanks OP for reminder to revisit this issue. Have had a Costco Amex since the beginning. The rebate terms were once even better than today. While I have many cc's, most are securely stored and used sparingly. I'm not a wallet person and only carry my DL, Costco Amex and ApplePay wallet with me. Have recently made an adjustment to use BJ's cc (Visa) at BJ's pumps for the extra $0.10-$0.15/gal discount on BJ gas. With the cc discount BJ gas is about same price as Costco - sometimes even less. Prior to the BJ cc gas discount I used Costco Amex for all purchases at BJ's. Using Costco Amex almost exclusively over the years has resulted in some very nice annual rebate checks. Need to explore the exact terms of the Costco/Citi rebate card before deciding if it will be the one (physical) card I carry at all times. It would address the few businesses that "don't take American Express". My wife carries the whole house (seemingly) with her in her purse and is often my savior in those situations. Costco is currently the only business I frequent that will not accept an electronic version of its membership card for entrance/purchases, which creates a challenge for my almost nonexistent wallet.

For the past few years my collection of merchant issued cc's has grown for businesses where I make major purchases. If someone offers me 6, 12, 18, 24+ months of "free money", I'll take it. With the extended zero interest terms I can redeploy that money to earn a return equal to or better than the rebate value if I had charged it to Amex or another rebate card.

As others noted, Amex has been phenomenal when it comes to protecting transactions. Maybe 5 or 6 times in 20+ years that I've disputed a charge, but in every case Amex immediately backed out the charge and corrected the problem. I've had a couple of minor issues with Visa related transactions and the amount of my time invested was significantly more than with Amex. With Amex it was literally a phone call and "don't worry we'll take care of it".


My sister in law works for a bank and says the only card that Costco will be taking is the Citibank Visa card and not just any Visa credit card. Any one got insight if this is true?

[verticaldoug]

Always surprising to me they accepted AMEX and no other..since the $ COSTCO has to pay for every swipe is big(twice or more than Visa/MC). For a place the thrives on discounted/small margin stuff..this reduces margin even more.

Had a guy buy a $13,000 bike, used his AMEX...$494 out of my hide...3.8%..thence stopped taking AMEX.

The EU enacted a cap on card interchange fees at .2% for CC and .3% for Debit. The whole fee structure of the US market is outrageous. The whole interchange market in the US is tiered to maximize the profitability and get around the anti-trust agreements.

[bikinchris]

I've had a couple variations of the Amex Blue Cash for ~12 years, there are no fees and some of the bonus offer stuff is good. Recently I had $20 off a $50+ Jet.com purchase and a...$25 (?) off $75 Newegg purchase. I also used their car rental insurance thing, it's a set price per rental.

They also did the "warranty extension" thing before other cards did, I've used it twice- once on some 3T bars that broke (they refunded the full $250 purchase price) and another time for a Garmin 800 with broken tabs. ($310 refund)

Took some hassling to get those refunds as they seem to automatically reject the claims, but for $500+, it was worth it.

So yeah, pretty happy with my Amex card. Mainly use my Citi Double Cash now, as the cashback % is slightly higher.

When I left a brand new pair of Oakley M Frames in a rental car, they paid for new ones. Funny how no one in the rental office saw them.

[Porschefan]

I was offered an AMEX Blue card to "replace" my Costco Amex. I accepted mainly to take advantage of a $200.00 statement credit for charging $1K in the first 90 days of use (no problem!).

Will wait to see what the new VISA from Costco offers as far as cash rebates go and use whatever card pays best rate. Maybe my REI VISA, which has cash rebates also. The AMEX rebate was always nice - several hundred $$ every year. I'm pretty certain that whatever Costco comes up with will be competitive.

STP


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[oldpotatoe]

The EU enacted a cap on card interchange fees at .2% for CC and .3% for Debit. The whole fee structure of the US market is outrageous. The whole interchange market in the US is tiered to maximize the profitability and get around the anti-trust agreements.

Wow and yup..in the shop, I had a pretty good rate for Visa/MC..after getting smacked on the bike $ bike, stopped accepting AMEX altho I still had the 'plumbing' to take it. Mr Visa/MC must have swimming pools filled with $100 bills. They ought to be paying retail places to use their cards..afterall, w/o retail, these places wouldn't exist.

[Exonerv]

Anyone using the Amazon Visa? Seems it could cover all the bases if accepted at Costco...

[sitzmark]

Anyone using the Amazon Visa? Seems it could cover all the bases if accepted at Costco...

Have Azon Visa. Rarely use - got it during checkout for some special promo long ago. Annoying because it is the default payment when ordering from Azon and have to manually switch. Get more cash back using C-Amex so no reason to use.

From the little searching I've done CapitalOne Quick Silver 1.5% cash back on all purchases with no limits seems like good option if carrying separate Costco membership card to get in store/ buy gas is not an issue.

[alancw3]

[QUOTE=Porschefan;1884362]I was offered an AMEX Blue card to "replace" my Costco Amex. I accepted mainly to take advantage of a $200.00 statement credit for charging $1K in the first 90 days of use (no problem!).

Will wait to see what the new VISA from Costco offers as far as cash rebates go and use whatever card pays best rate. Maybe my REI VISA, which has cash rebates also. The AMEX rebate was always nice - several hundred $$ every year. I'm pretty certain that whatever Costco comes up with will be competitive.

yep me too. just got my $200 credit on most recent statement on new card. this was a no brainer. amex lived up to it's offer.

[buldogge]

Dunno when the Costco/AMEX relationship will officially end (and they don't seem to either) but I just followed up on an AMEX Business Gold (with 75k points reward offer) to replace the Costco AMEX (which will eventually be a non-working card according to AMEX).

As far as VISA, I have both Chase Ink Plus Business and Chase Sapphire personal, so should have it covered, either way.

Other than the Costco AMEX and REI VISA, with their relatively weak 1% rewards, I'm brand-new to the rewards game...

-Mark in St. Louis