Recap: AmEx Being Investigated, Apple Card News & More

View Comments (21)

• DoJ should also look into pyramid scheme Amex has been doing to evade tax.

• Amex and Apple simultaneously seem like both the most and least logical partnership.

  On one hand, both have this aura (deserved or not depending on who you ask) that they are the premier operation in their respective fields, with an obsession over small details.

  On the other hand, it's pretty clear they also both have huge corporate egos and approach business deals as though they are the main character in the room, and that it's only natural that the other party desires to work with them. So they also would probably piss each other off in a week, each thinking the other is insubordinate to their greatness.

  • 🤣 Well said.

• Accirding to the article on Apple Card: looking for a "Large enough bank that would otherwise remain invisible to the consumer" - and then the article says UNlikely to Amex or Chase - sounds like Comenity, FNBO or Synchrony? Who else is large enough? US Bank is surely too risk averse to take on some of the higher risks of the Apple clients, and I'm sure Apple won't let a new bank cancel the bottom tranches.

• That's why they lowered Schwab cash out.

• Goldman Sachs could be profitable if they really tried, but they are used to higher margins and spend like they have those margins. They are the ESPN of banks, and now that margins are going away and people are waking up and I don't feel sorry for them. If they are paying for the rewards with MC Interchange, it's a low margin business. I don't think they are capable of operating in a low margin environment which other banks have managed to. Also, AMEX kind of sucks and doesn't have universal acceptance, so that ways always a non-starter.

  Here's my controversial take, I think Capital One would be the dark horse and take over the portfolio, I think they are one of the more high tech banks...or it could be Chase, as they are so large and profitable now.

• removepaywall.com solves the issue

  • Or use a JavaScript switcher.

• Maybe they should investigate BitchofA and WF/WTF first. Such a jealous grape

• Can someone summarize the Amex article about sales practices? I don't want to buy insider or whatever they need for me to access the article

  • Saddens me how many people can't figure out how to get around a paywall in 2023.

    One or more of these options usually works for me:
    -Brave browser (sometimes need to enable speedreader)
    -Firefox (sometimes need to toggle reader view) ----------> tried this first and it works
    -Using noscript or ublock origin extensions on Firefox

    • I'm glad you understand all that, but I rarely find paywall article links anywhere else but DoC. And at DoC, usually by the time I read a post where I'm interested in the article, someone has already posted an alternate link that doesn't have a firewall.

      So if you really want to have people know how to do it, please post a link to a safe page that documents STEP BY STEP all the techniques. Thanks.

      Just using Firefox didn't work for me on the above Amex article, but I've never heard of those special features in Firefox that you mention. I've been using Firefox since it was Netscape, but again I've never known about all the features, since I rarely click on paywall articles that I couldn't just find an alternate source for.

  • Amex has a product called PremiumWire. Amex sales people encouraged small and medium businesses to run payroll thru PremiumWire. Here's an example: $1 million charge thru PremiumWire incurs approx $17,700 credit card fees and with 35% tax deduction, that $17.7K reduces to $11.5K(or 11,500 MR points). These MR points can be converted to Schwab reward at 1.25 cents per MR point. So, the 11.5K MR points translate to approx $14K. So, a net profit of $2K-3K for the end consumer.

    All Amex had to do is spoon feed Amex sales people onto this model. And they lapped onto it like flies to dog poop. Churn and burn, corporate style. All of us churners should be proud.

  • Mostly has to do with a group of overly aggressive salespeople trying to retain customers when the Costco business card switched from amex to citi. Calling from personal cell phones to bypass caller ID, using personal info to open new cards after being told customers didn't want them, etc...

    • The article doesn't mention anything about Costco, calling from personal phones, or using personal info to open new cards. Did you read a different article???

  • See the post below yours, posted at the same minute, with a link to another article about it.

• https://www.investopedia.com/american-express-being-investigated-by-federal-regulators-5112966 The business insider post about AMEX is behind a pay wall

  • Published February 2021?

• I never understood how GS was actually planning to make money on the Apple card... there were no fees, no interest to the consumers... there is no way swipe fees could cover such large venture.

  • Not to mention Apple wanted GS to approve as many people as possible, including high risk customers, which have resulted in high charge off rate. GS retail banking entry has been a total failure. This whole business needs to be off loaded ASAP.

    • I got an Apple Card early. I hardly use it now. Just got an email this week saying I need to contact them or they were going to lower my credit limit. Email looked phishy, so I looked up contact info online, asking for fraud area and it was legit. They said they will keep my line where it is. Clean ups of credit lines and inactive accounts sound like things an acquirer might want done to accurately value an acquisition, besides prudent portfolio management.