American Express Platinum: 3 Things You Will Love & Hate

Amex Platinum

The American Express Platinum credit card provides various perks and features. Today, I will talk about some you will like and some you won’t.

3 Things You Will Love

Lounge Access – provides unlimited lounge access through various lounge programs such as Plaza Premium Lounge, Priority Pass, Delta Sky Club, and Amex Centurion Lounge, etc. Some of these will even provide free access for additional company. By far this is one of the most sought-after perks for Amex Platinum.

Upgrades Elite Status for Hotel Loyalty Programs – The second thing you will love is the upgraded elite status you will be receiving without staying a night at some of the best hotel chains. In general, you would normally have to stay 20 or more nights to achieve it. Some of these hotels are Club Carlson, Hilton Honors, SPG or Marriott. Having elite status comes with various perks from these hotels.

Full Insurance Coverage – Another thing you will love is the free insurance coverage that comes with this card. This includes out of country medical insurance, trip cancellation insurance, trip interruption insurance, and many more. The good thing about these insurances is that the provider is a reputable one with a good track record, unlike some other credit cards where the providers make it difficult to receive insurance when you file claims.

Now, let’s look at some of the features you will not love.

Hefty Annual Fee – Paying $699 per year is a hefty fee and many times higher that most other premium credit cards in Canada, where the annual fee ranges from $99 to $165.

Poor Rewards Earning – Many of you will not like receiving only flat 1.25 points per dollar after paying the $699 annual fee. Even the American Express Gold credit card that only charges a $150 annual fee has accelerated categories where you earn 2 points per dollar.

Limited Transfer Partners – Points provide the best value when you transfer them to airline partners and Amex provides very limited partners to which you can transfer. Some of these partners are Aeroplan, Avios, SPG, Hilton Honors, etc.

Watch the above on YouTube:

Amex Platinum | 3 Things You Will Love & Hate |

3 Things You Will Love and Hate About Amex Cobalt Card

American Express Cobalt Credit Card

American Express launched a new credit card recently. I will talk about 3 things you will love and hate about this credit card. Let’s start with 3 things you will love.

Rewards Structure: The first thing you will love is its rewards on some specific things such as grocery and restaurants, which will earn 5 rewards points. By far this is the highest return (5%) in Canada if you redeem these points for travel purposes.

Annual Fee Structure: Instead of paying $120 annually, you will be paying $10 per month. This is another first as well and it’s easier on your wallet to pay each month rather than a year at a time.

SPG Points: The capability to convert rewards points to Starwood Reward points (1:0.05). What this means is that for certain categories you will earn 2.5 SPG points, which is hard to find anywhere else.

Now let’s talk about 3 things you will hate.

Missing Travel Insurances: Although the Cobalt card provides some travel insurances, it does not provide very important travel insurances such as Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption, which are a must for any traveller.

No Airline Points Transfer: The Cobalt card does not offer any direct airline transfer partners such as Avios or Aeroplan. Yes, you can transfer to many airlines via SPG, but for many that’s not an option.

Not Accepted Everywhere: This is a common problem with all Amex cards, as they are not widely accepted everywhere like Visa and MasterCard.

Before selecting any credit cards, always do your research and make an educated decision based on your lifestyle and needs. If you would like to watch this article in a video, please visit here:

Amex Cobalt | 3 Things You Will Love & Hate |

TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Credit Card Review: Should You Keep It?

TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Credit Card Review

Disclosure: Information provided here may not be accurate and no longer valid. The mentioned card provider is not related to AhmedDawn.com and neither monitor this site nor responsible for any inaccurate information. Contact the card company directly for accurate and updated information. AhmedDawn.com or my YouTube Channel are not compensated by or affiliated with any credit card companies. All credit card articles are 100% unbiased and honest.

TD Cask Back Visa Infinite card is a cash back rewards credit card that lets you earn cash rewards for everyday purchases, which can be redeemed any time it reaches $25.

The Cost

Annual Fee = $120. Additional cards = $50

Minimum annual income required = $60,000 (or household income = $100,000)

Rewards Points Snapshot

– Earn 3 percent at eligible gas stations, grocery stores, and recurring bill payments Canada.

– Earn 1 percent on everything else.

First Time Bonus

TD is running a promotional 6% return on all purchases for 3 months up to first $3,500 spending. This offer ends on Dec 3, 2017. Also, the annual fee is waived for the first year.

Anniversary Bonus

None.

Features & Benefits

– Visa Infinite benefits, including Concierge Services.

– Emergency Medical Insurance (10 days <65, if 65 or older 4 days, Amount: $2 million).

–– Lost and Delayed Luggage ($1,000 maximum)

– Purchase Security (Not clear)

– Extended Warranty Insurance (Not clear)

What’s Missing

Because this is not a travel rewards credit card, I can’t mention anything here like I do for a travel credit cards review.

The 3 percent return on recurring bill payments makes this card unique when compared to any other cash back credit card in Canada and this is the highest return you will find in this category. The 3 percent return on grocery and gas is not bad, but you will find better cards that I will talk about shortly.

There is a flexibility to redeem cash back any time you want when it reaches a $25 minimum. This is a nice option as well.

As sweeteners, TD is throwing in some benefits such as limited travel insurances and auto club membership. However, the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Cash Back Card offers better travel insurances and the BMO World Elite Cash Back Credit Card offers a complimentary roadside assistance program that includes free battery boosts, flat-tire change, lockout service, and towing.

The $120 annual fee may be standard these days, but the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite is a better option with a $99 annual fee and offering more features and more return on specific categories such as gas and grocery. This Scotia card returns 2 percent on drug store and recurring bill payments.

TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Credit Card, Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite and some other cash back credit cards to consider are SimplyCash Preferred Amex, MBNA Rewards World Elite MasterCard, BMO World Elite Cash Back Credit Card, Scotiabank Gold American Express Card, etc. I do have reviews on some of these cards on YouTube and I provided links for them.

As cash back credit cards are becoming more popular due to their simplicity, credit card providers are stepping up their games and expect more cards to choose from in the future.

MoneySense Published 2017 Canada’s Best Credit Cards

Canada's Best Credit Cards

After questionably selecting the WestJet World Elite MasterCard as Canada’s best travel credit card for a few years in a row, this year personal finance magazine MoneySense came up with better rankings that are more aligned with reality. We will never know what kind of compensations took place behind the scenes, if any, or what else made MoneySense pick the WestJet World Elite MasterCard year after year as the best travel credit card that has a low return (1.5% on everyday purchases) and does not provide trip cancellation insurance and concierge service.

Another mega website, Rewards Canada, also uses a questionable practise of selecting the American Express Rewards Gold credit card as the best travel credit card in Canada. Worse yet, this site is even pumping up 1 to 2 articles per month talking about all the good things Amex Rewards Gold has to offer, without mentioning what it does not offer. And why should it? The more good things these affiliated sites can say to promote credit cards, the more money they will make; each time someone clicks on these affiliated links to get credit cards, they make money from the credit card provider. So you will definitely not hear anywhere that Amex Gold is not suitable to stand as the best travel credit card because although it charges a hefty $150 annual fee, it’s lacking very important travel insurance trip cancellation and does not provide any concierge service.

This year, MoneySense picked top credit cards for several categories such as rewards, no-fee, travel rewards, and students rewards. Here are the top 3 credit cards for cash back and travel rewards:

2017 Canada's Best Travel Credit Cards by MoneySense

1. BMO World Elite MasterCard

2. Scotiabank Gold American Express

3. American Express Gold Rewards

2017 Canada's Best Cash Back Credit Cards by MoneySense

1. Scotiabank Momentum Visa Infinite Card

2. MBNA Rewards World Elite

3. SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express

Massive Equifax Data Breach & My 3 Hacked Credit Cards

Equifax Data Breach

In my last post, I talked about my CIBC AC Vonversion Visa Travel credit card that was hacked. Since then, there were 2 other credit cards that were compromised.

One of these two cards had one fraudulent charge and then their fraud detection system shut off the account. The other credit card had about 20 attempted fraudulent charges that were coming from all across the globe, but none of them was successful.

I was puzzled, as there was no connection between these three cards. I never had them together in my wallet or purchased online, one card had only one transaction 4 months ago and the other card had only 2-3 charges at an electronic store and groceries.

The connection became clear to me when Equifax declared that there was a huge data breach that affected 143 million customers. I have plausible reasons to believe that all my affected cards were scammed because of the Equifax breach; the time frame matches and it makes so much sense because that’s the only connection I can see linking these 3 cards together.

Credit card reporting companies like Equifax will never tell you the real story. They won’t tell you up to what level or exactly what sort of information from your files was leaked, or how many credit cards or clients were leaked. They are vague providing any information and I do not trust them with the information they are providing. Also, how can you trust someone who broke your trust in the first place by failing to protect your valuable information?

I have posted a video and in this video, I will discuss all this and will tell you what you should do because of this data breach. The link is here: Massive Equifax Data Breach & What To Do