Citi Diamond Preferred Credit Card? (pay, million, rent, account)

[Veneer]

So I just got this credit card in the mail and it's a black credit card. Since the card is black, is it as prestigious as those other black credit cards like the American Express and other cards that are out there?

[rwfloberg]

In a short answer, no, AmEx black is super super exclusive and invite only I believe. Black cards are more prestigious than standard issue, but AmEx black is the black standard

[Veneer]

Ok thanks

[earlyretirement]

NO WAY. Not even close. Those Citibank "Black" cards are nothing too special. A good FICO score and you can get one. I have the Citibank Executive Black card. Nothing too special although it does come with an American Airlines Admiral's Club membership. It's like $500 a year annual fee.

However the Centurion American Express card is Invitation only. You have to spend over $500,000 per year to get invited. Typically you have to have a very high net worth as well (think Multi-millionaire) And even then it's something like $2,500 annual fee. Yes, you heard that right.... you have to pay it every year. Plus a one time initiation fee of $7,500.

Personally it's not worth it. Most of the perks you can get with the Platinum American Express. I got an invitation several years ago but no way I'd pay that annual fee. A big waste of money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_Card

[debtmonger]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

NO WAY. Not even close. Those Citibank "Black" cards are nothing too special. A good FICO score and you can get one. I have the Citibank Executive Black card. Nothing too special although it does come with an American Airlines Admiral's Club membership. It's like $500 a year annual fee.

However the Centurion American Express card is Invitation only. You have to spend over $500,000 per year to get invited. Typically you have to have a very high net worth as well (think Multi-millionaire) And even then it's something like $2,500 annual fee. Yes, you heard that right.... you have to pay it every year. Plus a one time initiation fee of $7,500.

Personally it's not worth it. Most of the perks you can get with the Platinum American Express. I got an invitation several years ago but no way I'd pay that annual fee. A big waste of money.

Centurion Card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So when you are late making a payment on your exclusive Centurion American Express card, does AMEX send out someone to your mansion in a limo, wearing a tux, a bottle of bubbly in hand, to collect by cleaning out the safe?

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

NO WAY. Not even close. Those Citibank "Black" cards are nothing too special. A good FICO score and you can get one. I have the Citibank Executive Black card. Nothing too special although it does come with an American Airlines Admiral's Club membership. It's like $500 a year annual fee.

However the Centurion American Express card is Invitation only. You have to spend over $500,000 per year to get invited. Typically you have to have a very high net worth as well (think Multi-millionaire) And even then it's something like $2,500 annual fee. Yes, you heard that right.... you have to pay it every year. Plus a one time initiation fee of $7,500.

Personally it's not worth it. Most of the perks you can get with the Platinum American Express. I got an invitation several years ago but no way I'd pay that annual fee. A big waste of money.

Centurion Card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I can't imagine paying ANY fee for a card, but I can tell you're not wasteful spender -- so what makes this card worth 500 bucks a year?

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I can't imagine paying ANY fee for a card, but I can tell you're not wasteful spender -- so what makes this card worth 500 bucks a year?

Oh, there ARE plenty of cards worth paying an annual fee for. I have several of them. Nope, I'm not a wasteful spender. I'd like to think I'm VERY good with my finances. The reason I got the Citibank Executive Card was for the simple fact that I got 40,000 American Advantage miles to sign up for it when I first signed up and when I got it, they counted any spending towards my "Million Miler" status on American Airlines.

Also, they waive forex fees when traveling internationally. I typically spend over 100 days traveling abroad including living in Europe for 3 months last year. I typically use my American Express cards but many places in Europe don't take American Express.

So with all those reasons it was worth paying the $500 a year fee. But Citibank got rid of the Million Miler points/miles this year so I won't renew when it comes up for expiration this year. (See - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...d-mm-poll.html )

But there are VERY good reasons why you'd pay an annual fee for certain cards. For example, I pay $500 a year for my American Express Platinum card. WELL worth it with amazing benefits, travel insurance, rental car insurance, purchase protection, double warranty when buying stuff.

Some of the benefits are amazing! I not only have a Platinum American express card from the USA but one from the UK as well as I do lots of banking there.

Check out some of these amazing benefits!
http://www.americanexpress.com/lacid...e_Benefits.pdf

It's WELL worth the annual fee. Especially for someone like me that spends so much time on planes traveling.

You can't assume these high annual fees aren't worth it for these premium credit cards. They are well worth the benefits.

The USA AMEX Platinum benefits can be seen here:

Platinum Card® Member Benefits

Also, amazing. They have purchase protection including if you accidentally drop something and damage it for the first 90 days. Both cards have different sets of benefits and BOTH are worth paying for me. Well worth the $1,000+ a year I pay in annual fees. Not to mention the other good cards out there like SPG card, etc. Much just depends on how much traveling you do, etc.

I never carry a balance and pay all the cards in full each month. In fact, in the UK they just debit my bank account directly for whatever the bill is each month. I don't even send in payments.

If you take the time to read some of the benefits on those links you will get why it's worth it to pay these fees. Heck, my UK Platinum card if my bags are delayed more than 4 hours, they will reimburse me up to $500 to go out and buy essential things I need. I've had to take advantage of that several times before and I NEVER had hassles getting reimbursed.

Also, there are travel inconvenience benefits that even cover you when there are flight delays/cancellations due to weather. Case in point, a few months ago I got stuck in Denver in that blizzard. My flight was cancelled and I got stuck in Denver overnight. The blizzard was really bad and the entire airport was shut down. Nothing the airline could do.

Well with the Platinum card they have a benefit where I could spend up to $1,000 on hotel, dining, food, gas, rental car for the extra day etc. You can bet that I got 2 nice suites at a nice hotel and we dined out. We spent the entire $1,000. The only thing AMEX didn't pay for was the tips I left on the restaurant bills and they don't reimburse for valet parking. Everything else was reimbursed. (And the kicker is if the flight would have gotten delayed and I was kicked on another flight, I would have had another $1,000 to spend on hotel, restaurants, etc.).

My only point about the Centurion card NOT being worth it is that the Platinum card at $500 a year covers many of the benefits that the AMEX Black card has. Several of my friends and clients have the AMEX Centurion card and for the most part it seems to be a "prestige" type thing. I could care less about that sort of thing. But I do LOVE the benefits of the Platinum card and well worth the annual fee. I just find it very silly to pay $7,500 for an initiation fee to get a credit card. LOL.

You can read about some of the amazing benefits on forums like this: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...p-rewards-410/

Also, you have to consider that the US AMEX Platinum card gives you $200 back each year with your favorite airline. You can just buy gift certificates and use them yourself. Yeah, not too valuable if you never travel but for those that do it's just like a rebate for part of your annual fee.

[Tallysmom]

I can see when we retire and start traveling this will be something to look into.... 18 more months! ( I hope)

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I can see when we retire and start traveling this will be something to look into.... 18 more months! ( I hope)

ABSOLUTELY! If you will travel often in retirement, the card (especially the UK US dollar Platinum card) is really a must. It will more than pay for itself many times over. Especially with the horrible airlines these days. I can't tell you how many times it has "saved" me with reimbursements for hotel/dining when flights are delayed, etc. And many times I've taken advantage of the delayed baggage reimbursement. When bags are delayed more than 4 hours I ALWAYS will go out and buy things I need. Especially when I was traveling for business. AMEX never turned down my requests for purchases, even going out and purchasing expensive Armani shirts or ties for meetings.

Also, if you rent cars often, you NEVER have to get any of the insurance. Even personal/medical liability, etc. They will cover everything. I've known people that have totaled rental cars before and AMEX picked up the entire cost of the car.

Also, something REALLY important is the medical insurance that AMEX covers you for (with the UK Platinum card). Check out that benefit. It's truly amazing.

These cards are well worth the annual fee for those that travel. Congrats on your upcoming retirement!

[mdwfa2001]

Its 250k a yr for 2 yrs to get invited...and no u dont need h8gh net worth to obtain one. Couple buddies I know have it..and they are far from high net worth. Its for b8g spenders not necessarily high net worth.