Mine is a gold charge card. This means I have to pay the full amount every month. There is no concept of minimum payments. The total amount has to be paid or the card account gets closed. There is an annual charge, but the reward points are enough to cover that and there is enough left for some freebies.
I have a Citibank visa card too. I usually get substantial cash back from that. But Citi discontinued the visa platinum card. I used to put all my daily needs on that card. I even bought my car using Citi and icici bank credit cards, but that is another story.
Anyways, after Citi discontinued their platinum plastic, which, in my opinion, had the best reward points mechanism ever, I was actively looking for a credit card. A Citi rewards card is good but I was spoilt by the platinum.
So when I met the guy from Amex, I was surprised that they were offering a card to me. I thought Amex had gone out of business, I mean why pay for a credit card when you can get out for free? Who in their right mind pays for a credit card? And for what?
But then the man showed me the reward points mechanism.
I won't go in the details. They are available online. Suffice it to say that it is much much better than any of my current credit cards. I did some quick calculations and found that I would make more money from an Amex than a visa card for the same amount spent.
I was really tempted.
See I only have the gold card. Not the black one. And I don't travel so much. Only once a year to my native place. That is a combination of flight, train and then bus.
Most of my expenses I put on my credit card. Right from vegetables, groceries, restaurants bill, bus tickets, train tickets, bills, insurance, car repair, bike repair etc.
I pay my bill in full every month, so basically the credit card company gives me a interest free loan every month.
So it seemed to be a good match to get an Amex charge card.
Here are the advantages of the card:
Unmatched reward points. I can say this with confidence.
Excellent customer service: After calling them you would realize what you have been missing all these days. They treat you like a real customer not like a pest.
Accepted online everywhere.
Disadvantages
In the offline world, t the acceptance is slightly limited. Big bazaar accepts it. But your smaller neighbourhood shop might not. It's not a problem if you buy things online mostly. Or stick to the shops like big bazaar.
You don't get reward points for insurance or utility bills excluding telephone. This might be important if your major card usage is for insurance bills.
