The luxury credit card market is heating up, and they’ve moved over from plastic to carbon graphite and titanium (maybe so the cards won’t melt from over use); Visa wants their share of the premium space American Express holds, especially with it’s Centurion Card aka the Black Card.
Visa after having launched it’s “signature” series of cards in 1999, launched a higher tier of “signature preferred” cards in May of 2007 targeted at customers who spend $50,000 a year or more on their cards (Visa Signature average spend is approximately $27,600 a year). Merchants actually pay 14% more per transaction vs a regular Visa or Signature card.
“The whole purpose of this card is to take share from American Express,” said James McCarthy, Visa senior vice president for consumer-credit products. They may be a ways away, according to a 2007 survey in Europe, Centurion cardholders spend 11.5 times more than the typical American Express card member, and on average have income in excess of 1M a year.
Seemingly it’s not enough to be a plastic card and different or luxurious, it needs to be made from some other material. American Express figured it out first: Starting in 2004 in parts of Europe, and in the US in early 2006 changed it’s exclusive Centurion Card aka Black Card from standard credit card fare plastic, to titanium.
Well, Scott Blum (Buy.com founder) wants part of it too, ThinkTank Holdings LLC, announced in 2007 they would be launching a high-end credit card business with patent pending credit card that would be made out of carbon fiber code named “Next Card” now launched this month (just a few days ago) as The Visa Black Card. This high-tech credit card is aimed at both individuals and corporates for an annual fee of $495. The card has been launched including 24-hour concierge service, points, rewards, and other benefits. Here’s a side by side view of the Visa Black Card and the American Express Centurion card, carbon graphite or titanium? I’ll take titanium. Apply Online for the Visa Black Card Here.
If you want to see for yourself, you can Apply Online for the Visa Black Card Here.
To see the rest of the luxury plastic, or I should now say cards, please see Alternate Cards.
“They got the Golden Arches, we got the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac. I got the Big Mic. They have a sesame seed bun. My buns have no seeds…”
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
Does Barclays’ really think that a black-colored card that is advertised constantly to the masses during televised sporting events is really going to attract the same high-spending, high-ticket type of consumers that Amex Centurion does with its invite-only, 250k miminum-spend card?!? It’s the same people that already have a regular Visa credit card that its going to attract, and that isn’t the high net-worth individuals that Centurion already has.
I think Barclay’s has done this at the perfect time. The Centurion will require 500K in spending in 09″ as well as the 2500 annual fee. The features are very similar and for me this is a far better deal than the Centurion.
In this economy what we do not need is another card, plastic or carbon. Get real rich folks when it all falls down you will feel it the greatest. I feel not…
The Visa Black Card does not actually “contain carbon” fiber as they note in the faq’s on http://www.blackcard.com
I received my Visa Black Card a few weeks ago. I called customer service today to ask about the material, because mine seems to be made of ordinary credit card plastic. The representative told me it is indeed made of plastic, not carbon graphite. She said the “numbers were falling off” the original carbon graphite card, so they switched to plastic. There are currently no plans to switch back to carbon graphite.
I am not only curious about what criteria are used to determine who will be the 1%, but even more so, how perspective members are found, for promotion by mail. I have a high credit rating and several credit and charge cards,in good standing,(with much better deals than this one), and I was not solicited for this Black Card. However, my late husband received a large, black envelope, with an application to apply. He’s been dead for 7 years and is listed as deceased with all matters of credit and banking. I thought it was a funny coincidence, for a deceased person to receive an ad for a BLACK card, in this funereal design, and when I saw that it’s only for 1%, I wondered if one of the criteria is being deceased? lol But seriously, it shows poor research technique, in marketing.
PFFFFFFT card melting from overuse? How the hell much can you use it for that? HA. Break? Sure I’d buy that. Run down the magstripe? Sure. MELT? LOLOL. Man I needed that laugh. It’s not like they couldn’t issue new cards anyway. >_> you will not have the same card forever. I mean c’mon. It expired.
LOL card melting. PFFFFT
I got an invite today for that elite 1%. I think this is HILARIOUS because my credit is damn scary from student loans. Plus, I am using CCCS to pay my other credit cards. Clearly, such careful screening.
funny as hell hahaha
Good deal. I like her music a lot. It really temped me when folks say something like since she’s 40 she shouldnt create music anymore. Thats unreasonable. Carry it J.Lo!
Nice to read such articles.