End of Week 1
At the end of week 1, here is where we stand….
Awesome charges: $8000 of vendor transactions, $750 for autobody work, $2000 for wife’s tuition, $500 for a group dinner (will I charge and take other people’s cash? Sure!) and a couple of trips to Dunkin. Not a bad start though, considering I have another $12,000 worth of invoices due to pay in the next week… Most charges via PLUM ;)
For those interested in Black Card resources, check out:
http://www.blackcardsource.com/
BTW, a couple of things for fellow Amex card holders…
* Always check out the Membership Rewards shopping partners before you make a purchase. Idiot me bought 2 iMacs worth over $4000 and a MacBook pro and didn’t do it online. Thats 23,500 reward points, or a free upgrade on my next coast to coast flight. Ouch!
* The Platinum card has an awesome promotion at the Mandarin Oriental and the Wynn/Encore in Las Vegas: a free night with one purchased. I’ll be using this for our next trip out to the desert in May.
* Make sure you review all the benefits of the cards you have. I spent more time in researching this quest and realized that there are some pretty damned good benefits I wasn’t taking advantage of. Don’t make the same mistakes I did!
Call to Amex
Today I called Amex and inquired about the Centurion. Explaining the issue and that I was hesitant to increase spending unsure if I’d qualify, the woman on the phone didn’t do anything to assist and didn’t have any details. I called the Platinum support line and the operator was very kind and friendly. She transferred me to Centurion, where I was told I had no invitation at this time. Not that I didn’t qualify, but that there was no invitation. She was mum on what the qualifications are and said that the system chooses invitees based on a variety of factors, none of which she knew.
So my assumption and goal is that it will take somewhere in the area of $300,000 worth of charges to qualify. My goal is to do that sometime before the end of 2010. To do so, I’ve already moved vendors over to Amex and plan on using it for most purchases. I’m assuming that just charging to the same vendor will not result in my qualification, so I will use the card for more travel expenses, restaurants, and anything that shows an over-abundance of living ;)
Stay tuned for more details on the quest…!
The Quest Begins!
Our quest for the legendary American Express Centurion card has begun!
A little about us. We have been Amex card members since 1996. Right now we have a Green, Business Gold, Business Platinum, normal Platinum, Blue and a Plum card.
In addition, we have a Presidential Plus Mastercard from Chase - where we do most of our spending. Now, the purpose of this mission is to try to get the Centuron Card (aka “The Black Card”) while not killing our spending on our Presidential Plus. Why? Because as Continental Elite Flyers, we get Flex Elite Miles on CO with each bucket of $15,000 spent.
So, since we can’t guarantee receiving the Black Card - especially with rumors of it going back to invite only… We are instead trying to move more expenses to our Amex cards that were previously handled via checks or other instruments, and keeping the benefits of our Chase card. Of course, if we got The Black Card, those elite miles really wouldn’t matter anymore, because The Black Card offers up elite status anyway.
Step one in our quest: Application for Plum.
The Plum card seems to be a great step for our business. We get flexibility in terms, if we need it. If we pay 10% of a balance, we can float the rest for 60 days. Not bad for a business owner. But even better, if you pay your bill within 10 days, you get 1.5% back. So the first thing we’ve done is acquired a Plum card. Then, we have alerted our vendors that payment must be electronic now and we are willing to pay up to 1.5% of the fee (for those who aren’t happy about this arrangement). What do we care - previously we’d pay by check anyway. At least we are saving postage!
So, follow us on Twitter or via this site and keep up with our quest. Comments always appreciated…!
