Wealthy New Yorkers say Amex Black Cards have lost their cache

Have credit cards lost their cache?

A few years ago, whipping out an Amex Black Card was the ultimate status symbol — so much so that the hip hop collective A$AP Mob even wrote an entire song about it. But that was 2017. 

Now? It’s all about practicality, not ego. A wealthy subset tell me they are increasingly choosing cards that either offer a suite of banking features — like the Chase Sapphire Reserve — or act as your dream assistant that can get you into Le Veau d’Or and plan your entire trip to San Sebastian — like Atlas.

While companies like American Express and Capital One don’t break out the numbers for the cards targeted at high-net worth clients, it is clearly still an alluring space for companies.

Popular trading app Robinhood unveiled a limited edition 10-karat gold card last year. Amex Platinum, Citi Strata Elite, and Capital One Venture X, have also invested in heavier metal cards that have more weight and gravitas than the plastic “starter credit card” you get in college.

But the cool factor just isn’t there any more. People tell me high-end credit cards aren’t a signal of wealth the way they used to be. (That’s what Instagram is for)

Part of it has to do with the fact that people aren’t pulling cards out of their wallets as much due to the rise of alternative payment methods like Apple Pay. A growing number of restaurants are even sending customers a link where they can pay the tab online and of course everyone is online shopping.

The other reality many people are realizing is it’s no good to whip out a black (or gold) card if you’re eating at a second-rate restaurant. And that is where other companies are trying to swoop in to win over consumers.

Atlas has developed a devoted following of yuppy types since its launch in 2019. CEO Patrick Mrozowski told me that he believes that people are choosing his card because he provides a valuable service.

“We are a concierge company first and a credit card company second,” he said. “We’ve been focused on building an amazing concierge service, hiring the best travel agents, and building personal relationships with restaurants.”

Those relationships have resulted in members getting some of the most competitive reservations in the city, like The Corner Store. 

Other cards, like the Centurion, do provide perks — complimentary hotel and airline upgrades, free access to airport lounges, a club in New York City, the promise of aspiration reservations, and annual credits at Saks Fifth Avenue — but not typically at the level of Atlas.

Meanwhile, the Bilt Rewards card has distinguished itself by emphasizing community engagement over traditional credit card offerings and has partnerships with local restaurants like Delmonico’s and fitness studios like SoulCycle.

Another trend that is complicating things for high-end credit card companies is the fact that big spenders are spreading out purchases between multiple cards.

Zach Perrett, the CEO Of Plaid, which provides technology to help connect bank accounts to fintech apps for over half of banked Americans, told me he is seeing people using half a dozen cards. 

“People are connecting four or five, six or seven credit cards into a budgeting application,” Perret told me. “Some of this is because you want to spend money on the card that is relevant to the thing that you’re purchasing — let’s say you have a Delta card, you want to put your travel on your Delta card.”

One person who recently canceled his black card and is now splitting purchases between a Delta card, a Chase sapphire card and a handful of other cards said it was like paying for a club you never use.

“The only benefit was the airport lounges, but now those have fallen off a cliff … I never used any of the other benefits they touted like personal shopping,” he explained. “I paid more for this than most of my private club memberships in the city — I couldn’t justify it anymore.”