2% Fidelity Amex goes to Retirement? (items, money)

[joe moving]

I saw this card, and wonder if it is a hoax or what the catch is. We use fidelity for all of our retirement and think they are very solid. I could not find any catch on this card. Basically 2% of it goes to a 529 or retirement account. I really like Amex, and would not give up my Green Amex fora Fidelity Amex unless I get the Amex Customer service.

Does anyone know if this card is any good, or any other card thats going to give me 2% with no gimmicks towards something useful?

I really do not need any more gift cards to Home Depot, etc. I don't want any kind of junk that is just going to encourage more spending.

[Joseph Marnix]

I have a Green Amex, well it's an Open Account for Business opened with CostCo.
No Annual Fee with Amex other than the CostCo annual fee of $35 / yr.

Using the Amex get 1% back on most items, some up to 2%. And 3% back from the CostCo gasoline.

A 2% back towards 529 or retirement sounds valid.

[wheelsup]

Schwab has the same thing but it's a VISA and goes into a brokerage account, which you can withdraw at any time. Essentially 2% cashback on purchases. Then you can do what you wish with the money.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by joe moving

I saw this card, and wonder if it is a hoax or what the catch is. We use fidelity for all of our retirement and think they are very solid. I could not find any catch on this card. Basically 2% of it goes to a 529 or retirement account. I really like Amex, and would not give up my Green Amex fora Fidelity Amex unless I get the Amex Customer service.

Does anyone know if this card is any good, or any other card thats going to give me 2% with no gimmicks towards something useful?

I really do not need any more gift cards to Home Depot, etc. I don't want any kind of junk that is just going to encourage more spending.

I have a Fidelity Amex, but it goes directly to my brokerage account. For every $2500 I spend they put $50 in my brokerage account. Pretty simple in my case, I think you can get the money put into a 529 or IRA as you are suggesting if you want. No catch, Amex charges high merchant fees, not all vendors take Amex, I don't know how long they will keep it at 2% though, seems like they are making only a sliver of profit after paying Amex.

As for customer service I believe it is a different company, FIA card services. Here is gets weird, FIA used to be MBNA, which was bought out by Bank of America. When Bank of America bought MBNA they changed my MBNA card to a Amex from Mastercard. It seems that for the Bank of America Amex I get some sort of BofA customer service, while for the Fidelity Amex I get FIA card services, but it is the same company, maybe different departments.

Since Amex gets the entire merchant fee (and sometimes an annual fee) for their cards, they can provide top of the line customer service for their direct customers. FIA is probably only getting a sliver of profit, so they probably can't be as good, but you still get some benefits built in due to the fact that it is an Amex.

It sounds like you would be happier with Amex's rewards program, and service though.