Good AMEX card with BVG

[bolido2000]

I am sure many of you miss Blue's BVG. This seems to be the cheapest and easiest AMEX card with BVG. 30 dollar anual fee with first year's fee waived plus Starwood points for every dollar you spend. AMEX

 

[huesmann]

What's Starwood?

 

[Neuroanatomist]

http://www.starwood.com/

"Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is a large hotel and leisure company. The Company conducts its hotel and leisure business both directly and through its subsidiaries. The Company's brand names include Sheraton, Westin and Four Points by Sheraton."

Looks like a good deal to me.. time to finally call and cancel that Amex Blue

 

[robilium]

Did I miss something?

Blue doesnt have BVG anymore?!

 

[alchemize]

Wow not bad, I think I'll bite. I bet if you call after the first year and say you want to cancel they will waive the $30 fee too.

 

[Crank]

Not to threadcrap, but the Optima Platinum has BVG and has NO annual fee - it's the card I use.
I read periodic predictions on these boards that BVG is going away from the Optima card, but they're never true, and Amex has never given me any reason to think they might be.

 

[JYA]

Originally posted by: Crank
Not to threadcrap, but the Optima Platinum has BVG and has NO annual fee - it's the card I use.
I read periodic predictions on these boards that BVG is going away from the Optima card, but they're never true, and Amex has never given me any reason to think they might be.

Hi Crank.

I didn't find anywhere mention that Optima Platinum has the BVG. Could you confirm that? Here is the card.

 

[JYA]

FYI, Clickciti mastercard from Citi bank also have the BVG (They call it Price Protection).

 

[DUKAT1]

I will confirm that my no fee Optima Platinum card has both the BVG and the buyer's assurance program. Have used them both & never a problem.

BTW, my brother has a blue card that still has BVG as one of it's benefits. He just got new cardmember terms and it is still included.

 

[MrConsumer]

According to a previous conversation I had with BVG people at AMEX, the no fee Platinum Optima will drop Best Value Guarantee at the end of August. This cancellation was postponed from June 1.

If you have certain Fidelity accounts, the special Fidelity Gold Amex card apparently still has BVG (according to the AMEX website), an no annual fee. This "charge" card automatically pays your bill in full from cash in your Fidelity account each month.

Edgar

 

[GetReal]

Originally posted by: MrConsumer
According to a previous conversation I had with BVG people at AMEX, the no fee Platinum Optima will drop Best Value Guarantee at the end of August. This cancellation was postponed from June 1.

If you have certain Fidelity accounts, the special Fidelity Gold Amex card apparently still has BVG (according to the AMEX website), an no annual fee. This "charge" card automatically pays your bill in full from cash in your Fidelity account each month.

Edgar

I was told the same thing several times by different AMEX CSRs and BVG CSRs . Apparently the only cards that will continue to carry BVG are the fee based personal account cards. All AMEX Optima, corporate, and small business cards will be dropping BVG. The only cards to keep BVG will be the sponsored AMEX cards that have benefit premiums payed for by the sponsors. So basically all you are left with are the brokerage cords such as the Fidelity Gold AMEX, and the Delta Platnium Skymiles card.

I have the Delta Platnium Skymiles card and despite its $135 annual fee it is still an excellent deal if you want BVG. You get double miles on almost everything you purchase with the card. Even though they claim only certain store types qualify for double miles, I have yet to find any purchase that did not qualify. In addition to the $1000 per year BVG benefit, you also get a free unrestricted companion ticket on Delta each year you renew. This ticket is 100% transferrable and has absolutely no fare resstrictions. If you do not need the voucher, you can easily sell this voucher on eBay for more than the annual fee of the card. The last one I listed earlier this year sold for $280.00 or more than twice the card's annual fee.

 

[KrayzyAzn]

Originally posted by: DUKAT1
I will confirm that my no fee Optima Platinum card has both the BVG and the buyer's assurance program. Have used them both & never a problem.

BTW, my brother has a blue card that still has BVG as one of it's benefits. He just got new cardmember terms and it is still included.

There were long long thread about this, and I dont think any blue card has BVG. I just got the Starwood, it indeed has BVG, cant wait to use it.

 

[Leland]

I'm nervous about going the Delta route, but that sure does sound attractive.


The only problem being that I never fly Delta.

Another problem, do you think enough AT people will read this and flood the market with unrestricted companion tickets?

 

[fishlet]

Why I didn't find BVG unver Delta Plantinum's benefit? I found The Purchase Protection Plan and The Buyer Assurance Plan. Is BVG under one of these two plans?

 

[Crank]

I've never seen the BVG listed as a benefit of the Optima card on the Amex website.
I don't believe they're dropping it from the Optima card, but hey, I've been wrong before. No offense to the people that have spoken to AMEX CSR's, but during the whole Blue BVG thing there were people posting constantly that they'd heard all sorts of things from CSR's that never ended up being true - and even though AMEX has better CSR's than most CC companies, they're still not all that knowledgeable about the card in general - my experience anyway.

Even if they do drop it on my card, I'll find another card that offers it - even if there's a $50 fee per year (like the Gold card), it's a small price to pay for $1,000 worth of the easiest price-matching ability around....not to mention the outstanding deals that can be engineered when rebates are taken into account.

Thanks to BVG, I've made my AMEX my #1 card of choice for EVERYTHING.....I'd imagine they're earning a lot more than $1K per year in merchant fees from me, so it should be worth it for them. If I had to go to the Gold card (which I believe doesn't allow for a revolving balance), then I'd ONLY use the card for BVG opportunities - that wouldn't be to their benefit, but hey, maybe I'm just atypical?

 

[Nostrada]

thanks, got me one of these.... BVG, here I come

 

[Slickone]

More info on the Clickciti mastercard?

 

[wuhoo]

they kept rejecting me from optima b/c my blue limit was too high, then i dropped my blue limit and still rejecting it. i dont understand, as i also have a corporate amex

ive heard the clickciti card is worthless b/c you can only pm certain companies. not sure, but i was reading on it earlier and there were several other reasons it wasnt worth it to me

 

[AMEXplat]

Originally posted by: GetReal

All AMEX Optima, corporate, and small business cards will be dropping BVG. The only cards to keep BVG will be the sponsored AMEX cards that have benefit premiums payed for by the sponsors. So basically all you are left with are the brokerage cords such as the Fidelity Gold AMEX, and the Delta Platnium Skymiles card.

That's the 1st I've heard that amex corp/sm business gold & platinum is dropping BVG. Pls confirm, tx; maybe I'm reading all this wrong.

 

[bolido2000]

Well..like I said this is the easiest card to get. I applied to the optima platinum, but my application was rejected. If you are poor college student like me I think starwood is the way to go (got my card already). The delta card seems interesting...is it hard to qualify for it?? Also..what websites do you guys go to find the lowest prices?? I use ibuyer, pricewatch and pricegrabber.

 

[Optical]

WTF!!! How can some people still have BVG on their Blue card when they cleared to me that it's going to be dropped? What's going on here?? Is this a person-to-person basiss thing?

 

[HollyWoodBri]

Does anyone know of the AMEX Corporate card has the BVG? Thanks.

 

[chinnboy]

IMHO the ClickCiti is/was the best price matching card. I can't remember whether they will match up to $1,000 or $500, but for sure more than the AmEx $250 limit. I used it last year on the Passport Nikon 995 deal and got a $365 check back matching a sleazebag camera site to Ritz. I've never seen anything to suggest that they restrict what websites can be used for matching. Plus you get a 1% rebate credited to your next statement.

Unfortunately, Citibank has not offered new ClickCiti cards for a long time, and I believe the ones out there will not be reissued when they expire, as mine does in 2004.

 

[huh!!]

chinnboy, can you tell me the phone number or link to make a claim with the clickciti card? The CSRs seem to be clueless about this benefit.

 

[chinnboy]

Sure. Claims go thru Citicorp Insurance Services at 800-377-7200 . You call them, they assign you a claim number and they mail you a claim form.

BTW they do pay the difference up to $1,000 per item, maximum $5,000 per year.