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I've noticed recently looking through that virtually all the Mastercard and Visa card's on offer in North America are branded as "Platinum" cards.
In most of the Asia Pacific region the Platinum card is the top-card, equivalent to or exceeding the Visa Signature in the North American market. Both Gold and Platinum cards are required by (Visa/Mastercard) to be issued with a reasonably high credit limit - US$4,500 for the Gold/US$9,000 for the Platinum in New Zealand for example.
It seems very strange to me that in North America - Classic, Gold and Platinum level card's have the same features - right down to qualification requirements.
Is there a reason for this or has it just happened ?
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Most of the offers I've noticed state in fine print that you may get a different level based on your application. I'm sure that even if that weren't the case, they all advertise "platinum" as a marketing tool.
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I think the requirements for "gold" have lowered over the years, and then platinum was introduced to give another level. And the requirements for that have gone down too, so there are levels like Visa's "Signature" and such. In the end, the requirements are set by the issuing banks for Visa and MC, as are the related benefits. The card level of gold, platinum, whatever is not the guarantee of certain benefits that it once was, at least in my experience.
It's still possible to get a plain classic or whatever card too, but you typically have to have really bad credit and/or really low income to end up with one of these. The fine print of all offers says if you don't qualify for the higher level ones you may be issued the low level card instead.
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A friend of mine (who has a Centurion card from Amex) believes that it is just marketing. He often jokes that he is waiting for an issuer to come out with the ultimate card...petrified wood. :D
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A friend of mine (who has a Centurion card from Amex) believes that it is just marketing. He often jokes that he is waiting for an issuer to come out with the ultimate card...petrified wood. :D
I agree with your friend. I have a "platinum" card with a $750 limit on it. I'm not really sure what thats all about.
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A friend of mine (who has a Centurion card from Amex) believes that it is just marketing. He often jokes that he is waiting for an issuer to come out with the ultimate card...petrified wood. :DWell, I received a Titanium card a while ago and a Diamond card.
I'm still waiting for the rare element cards to come out: The Francium AMEX Rewards (tm) card.
Pure marketing...
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It's still possible to get a plain classic or whatever card too, but you typically have to have really bad credit and/or really low income to end up with one of these.
Maybe it is a special case, but my credit union (http://www.nmtwcu.org/) issues a plain Visa Classic card with no frills, but the very nice property of having no surcharge on foreign currency transactions. This is a better deal than most "platinum" cards.
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Then you've got things like the Bank of America Visa Platinum for Students - Everyone knows now that a Platinum card doesn't mean anything
It makes you wonder why Visa don't remove the Platinum level from newly issued card's (IE when people's card's come up for renewal drop them down to Gold, or Classic if they have a really small limit), so eventually they'll be able to reuse the "Platinum" designation. While doing this they could change their slogan to reflect being the premium card issuer - marketing...
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I've noticed recently looking through that virtually all the Mastercard and Visa card's on offer in North America are branded as "Platinum" cards.
In most of the Asia Pacific region the Platinum card is the top-card, equivalent to or exceeding the Visa Signature in the North American market. Both Gold and Platinum cards are required by (Visa/Mastercard) to be issued with a reasonably high credit limit - US$4,500 for the Gold/US$9,000 for the Platinum in New Zealand for example.
It seems very strange to me that in North America - Classic, Gold and Platinum level card's have the same features - right down to qualification requirements.
Is there a reason for this or has it just happened ?
Why? It's because everyone in America thinks they're important. That's why everything is 'premium' or 'fancy' over here.
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Why? It's because everyone in America thinks they're important. That's why everything is 'premium' or 'fancy' over here.
You mean I'm not? :)
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Why? It's because everyone in America thinks they're important. That's why everything is 'premium' or 'fancy' over here.Unlike condescending Europeans right? Please stop generalizing. Other countries have status symbols, and the people who buy them think they're just as "important" to use your word.
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Platinum cards have become so common, I am eschewing all precious metal and gem cards, and expect my future cards to be radioactive elements, at least :p
In fact, I am applying for my new plutonium card as soon as I get done here.
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Unlike condescending Europeans right? Please stop generalizing. Other countries have status symbols, and the people who buy them think they're just as "important" to use your word.
I never said that non-Americans were angels. Please stop assuming.
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Sorry if I misunderstood, but you said Americans think they're special. It's naturally to infer you meant non-Americans do not think this way.
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Sorry if I misunderstood, but you said Americans think they're special. It's naturally to infer you meant non-Americans do not think this way.
It's faulty logics.
Let's say... All lions are carnivore so does that mean non-lion animal cannot be carnivore? You know there are tigers or deers so by having the first statement gives no indication of other statement.
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You are right that strictly speaking you did not literally write "only Americans." But if you really meant that, you would have written something like "people like to think they're important." The implication of your statement is a singling out of Americans.
And your logic analogy is wrong anyway. Something comparable to your original statement would be, "lions are killing off the zebra herd because they're carnivores." That doesn't mean there aren't other carnivores, but it does mark lions as the guilty party, and ignores that hyenas might be just as responsible for killing them off.
I already apologized for misunderstanding you, so your pedantics aren't coming off so friendly.
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I'm not even sure that in many cases that there are still "classic" and "gold" levels. e.g. Citibank's basic products, even for students, are "Platinum Select" and "Dividend Platinum Select" (apparently, anticipating the ubiquity of Platinum, they added Select)... but most of their others don't have any metallic classification anyway. For the AAdvantage cards, they do have Bronze (eh? didn't silver use to come below gold?), Gold and Platinum.
I suspect it's just the "race to the bottom" phenomenon suggested above, where as soon as Gold hit critical mass, no one wanted anything that wasn't marketed that way, so all the products added that to their name, and then eventually the same for Platinum.
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I suspect it's just the "race to the bottom" phenomenon suggested above, where as soon as Gold hit critical mass, no one wanted anything that wasn't marketed that way, so all the products added that to their name, and then eventually the same for Platinum.Where will it end ? :rolleyes:
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I want a Yttrium card!
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As for condescending Europeans, most people are specifically referring to the French. Most people in France are annoyed with those who speak English when coming to France and expecting everyone to understand what they're saying.
It may be condescending to you, but think about the way you would act to a tourist who walked up to you and started to speak spanish (which is the second most spoken language in the US, mind you) and began getting annoyed that you couldn't understand him.
My 'special Americans' comment was merely a half-attempt at a joke.
A more appropriate response would be that:
- use of credit is more popular in the US
- people with 'high prestige' cards will spend more, regardless of their income
The word platinum on credit cards nowadays is akin to teachers telling their students that "you are all unique."
just like everyone else.
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As for condescending Europeans, most people are specifically referring to the French. Most people in France are annoyed with those who speak English when coming to France and expecting everyone to understand what they're saying.
It may be condescending to you, but think about the way you would act to a tourist who walked up to you and started to speak spanish (which is the second most spoken language in the US, mind you) and began getting annoyed that you couldn't understand him.
Actually, this is the reason why I won't be visiting France anytime soon. I really want to, but I also don't want to be "one of those tourists." Sadly, until I learn another language well enough to converse, my country visiting options are cut back.
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Actually, there is well-documented history of Americans thinking that they are special. Its called "American exceptionalism"
And more OT, I hate that I'm not even in my 20s yet and have no less than 5 platinum cards in my wallet. Nothing to strive for.
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"American exceptionalism" is a term that refers to a perception of America's political place in the world-- offering hope for humanity through freedom.
It has nothing to do with Americans thinking they're prima donnas who deserve platinum cards, mansions, and bling.