I agree with Clocks in that it has to do with your usage. If you are going for a CashBack optimization strategy, you won't be spending much on each card, so I'd say True Earnings would be the way to go. I paid for my honeymoon with that - the 2% travel CashBack was nice for charging our cruise.

rigor said:i remember a while ago, that neiman marcus only accepted AMEX or their innercircle(?own? brand) credit card or cash. not sure if they still do that. Why? because at one point there was exclusivity to AMEX.

Perhaps when the Gold and Platinum cards really meant you were pimp. I guess all they have left these days is the BLACK AMEX card.

It makes sense if you have the need to spend absurd amounts of $$ on items at Neiman Marcus you should be able to carry the AMEX card.

I still to this day have been declined (several times) for neimans' card. Have like 160K in AMEX lines last time i checked.


Yes, they are still AMEX only.

AMEX starwood.

cannot go wrong if you are all about onepass miles and bvg

i feel really dumb. I assumed my gold business rewards card had BVG. How wrong i was. I had to return the laptop i just bought and re-buy it with my spg AMEX. once the free year is up im dumping business gold.

For the record....ONEPASS = NONEPASS, no offense but a hard system to deal with. I find Star Alliance much better.

Platinum/Centurion cards also reimburse u for LOST ITEMS, not just stolen or damaged items...this is a BOON if you lose something and I always feel safe dragging along that nice camera or laptop with me.

Gold, IMHO isnt really worth it and is really the entry level AMEX charge card. They are pushign it really hard fee free for the first year. So I guess that devalues the "wow" factor with gold, the new platinum is the centurion and the platinum I think still holds its own pretty well. Centurion was just nicked the Starwood Prefeered GUest (SPG) Platinum to Gold, something Platinums have as well.

The real difference comes in to the level seperating gold and platinum. Mostly because the platinums $400 fee is hard to justify even with BVG and EVEN if you coudl claim something was "lost"

The lounges rock though, seriously and if you travel to Mexico or "unpublished" areas in the middle east, asia and europe, there are even AMEX Platinum/Centurion lounges. I think a very private unheard of one is in MEXICO CITY Internatonal Airport.

But thats only if you travel a lot. Otherwise, I've been treated ifne as Gold but did notive I get very good CSRs (not Indian) when I do call, 24 hours a day including platinum/centurion travel services and concierge (who booked me a 25 seat table at santana row little italys in san jose the night before...HARD!)

Bicmos -

When you cancel the card you cancel the service since it all ties back to the card, you can always call and let us know.

You should have copy of the receipt - what if the rebate folks had lost your submission.

Mastercard also doubles the original warranty time period up to a maximum of one additional year. "If, however, the original warranty is for more than one year, no coverage will apply." Will Mastercard extend the warranty if the warranty is exactly 1 year?

qcumber98 said:wutsdadealio said:dawhim said:
well said. I found myself using AMEX blue for most things rather than my citi dividends just because I needed their service to be there for a peace of mind.

Citibank also offers extended warranty as well. Because of that and the CashBack, I use my Citibank over AMEX.

"AMEX extends the terms of the original manufacturer's warranty for a period of time equal to the duration of the original manufacturer's warranty, up to one additional year (up to three additional years for Centurion card members), on warranties of five years or less that are eligible in the U.S." AMEX Link

Mastercard also doubles the original warranty time period up to a maximum of one additional year. "If, however, the original warranty is for more than one year, no coverage will apply." MC Link

Only Visa Signature cards have the extended warranty benefit and they extend up to one additional year for warranties of three years or less. Visa Link

I learned this the hard way because who really spends time to read the fine-print in the card benefits anyway? Case in point, I tried to file a claim for a dead Lexar jumpdrive that I purchased with my MC. Since Lexar's warranty is two-years, I thought that MC would extend the warranty to three years and then I can file a claim. Unfortunately, that is not true and MC customer assistance told me to suck it. In a separate incident, I tried to file a claim for a dead Canon digital camera that I purchased with my AMEX Blue. The camera was still under warranty. I originally bought the camera for $270 and it would have costed me $220 to send it to Canon and have them fix it. I filed a claim with AMEX over the phone and it was easy. They did not ask me to send in any paperwork and in a few days, I got $270 back. For this reason, I use AMEX over Citibank.Text

To clarify a few points just made....Yes Mastercard will give you an extra year on a 1 year manufacturer's warranty, but if the manufacturer's warranty is more then 1 year, then there is no extra coverage by them. And there is an exception rule: if the product has up to a 1 year warranty, and you take (up to) 1 additional year warranty with a service contract, Mastercard WILL cover you for the 3rd year...
Regarding Visa's extended warranty, they will add up to 1 additional year on manufacturer's warranties of up to 3 years (example: if your product comes with a 3 year warranty, you get a 4th year through Visa)....If you have, say, a 1 year manufacturer's warranty, and purchase any service contracts, Visa won't give you an additional year).
Visa also will sell you (at very reasonable prices) a service contract to cover your item up to a full 5 years (see their website for more details).
Lastly, while it IS true that the Extended Warranty feature is standard only on the Visa Signature Cards, each bank has the option of supplying the feature on Gold/Platinum Cards....Citibank and Chase DO this...therefore, a Citibank or Chase Gold/Platinum level Visa Card DOES HAVE EXTENDED WARRANTY....
Also, a minor advantage with Visa is that you can (not required to) register the product with them in advance, so that if you need to use the service, you don't have to go looking for the paperwork....and also...you can register the product or file claims ONLINE....

Here in PR , we belongs to AMEX Latinamerica and their credit cards are not as good as in the US. Their best card a Platinum credit have a max. credit limit of $25000 and you must apply for just one credit card.