April has come and is quickly going.  Here is an update on our progress:

* My last Amex Biz Plat bill was over 50K (yes, one statement).  I’m progressing nicely!

* My plum card is averaging 5-10k per month.

* I’ve slowly moved expenses from my Chase CO card to my Amex.  Its tough because for each 15k on my Chase card I get Elite Qualification Miles on CO (EQM’s).  But if this all works out I can count on the Black Card giving me status anyway.  Main expenses moved are travel, dining and other items that may indicate a lavish lifestyle!  If I fail on my quest, I’ll move 100% of my spending to the CO card.  That way I’ll get at least silver elite each year (even though silver is worthless) and tons of miles.

* Thanks to Amex’s bonus 5000 miles for spending more than 10k/mo on my biz plat card, Last month I gathered over 60,000 membership reward points.  That can be a round trip upgrade to Asia on CO.  Using a full fare BusinessFirst price factor thats a value of $.14 per mile.  As opposed to cashing in on Amex where its $.01 per mile.  Not bad!

* I used Amex Platinums Fine Hotel & Resorts program to book some great properties in Asia and for a trip to the West Coast soon.  Great program and the hotel gives you a special welcome note when you arrive.  Bravo!

My total spending since inception of this idea 3 months ago is over $95,000.  Add in a payment to the IRS in a bit and we’ll be more than 1/2 way to the $300,000 goal.  All before the end of April ;)

Talk to you all soon!

QFB feels we’re making progress towards the goal.  We’ve convinced tons of vendors, suppliers and whatnot into taking American Express.  Thus far, we’re amazed at how many have offered to take it and don’t care about the commission.  Where this happens we are using our Platinum and at this point earning 25,000 MR points per month.  Not a bad start!  

And, for those who pass the cost to us, we accept up to 1.5% of it and charge on the Plum card.  Then at least we break even.

Best of all, a new promotion until Feb 2011 has come out, where spending $10,000 on your business Platinum will net you another 5,000 points per month.  So at this point you can really gather up the points which can be used for travel all over the place - you can transfer to tons of airlines or even buy tickets with points as a currency.

The promo is here and has no signup: https://www212.americanexpress.com/dsmlive/dsm/int/businessplatinum2010pilot.do?vgnextoid=1813451a0caf6210VgnVCM100000defaad94RCRD&om_rid=DSSL4z&om_mid=_BLjDHcB748hsSp&om_lid=axp9

If you’re charging $10,000 on a corp card consistently, you’ll earn at least 180,000 points over the next year.  At this pace I’m looking at 300,000 points.

That isn’t even counting my taxes.  They are going on my Amex too ;)

Till next time…..

QFB

QFB gets Google alerts for the Black Card and today we received one linking to eBay….

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMERICAN-EXPRESS-BLACK-CENTURION-CARD-AMEX!!-RARE!!_W0QQitemZ280456274948QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20100125?IMSfp=TL100125155009r32991

Now why would someone want to “collect” an old Black Card?  And, why would someone who had one want to sell it?  Frankly, its probably been reported lost or stolen.  In which case someone needs to investigate.

The sickest thing is that its received 12 bids!  From no price to $35.00.  Crazy!

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…!