Comment by ddaygold | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ddaygold | Hacker News Reader

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There was an interesting story going around the desk December 2016. The head trader was laughing and shaking his head about [1], JP's $200MM write down on the card. He then turned to the younger (millenial-aged) traders to ask if they had it. They all did.

Perhaps JP is taking a calculated risk? Perhaps they created a $200 buck giveaway? I don't know much about consumer lending, but it seems like somebody convinced a management comittee that it's a money maker.

What's the play? Gradually reduce benefits and hope that switching friction leaves enough people on the card to make it up in fees? Is it just a straight forward transfer from merchant fees to card holders? Is it driven by wealth disparity: the higher income people likely to be enticed by the card are such a large proportion of the money flow (and therefore fees) that they are a critical target? Is it millennial hysteria?

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-06/dimon-say...

I think it's a lot of these things. The other thing not mentioned is "Status". When you hand over that metal card you feel special, sometimes the person receiving the card comments on its weight or its thickness. If not consciously, at least subconsciously this is a card that rewards your pleasure centers when you use it. There's no doubt I use it more than any of my other cards. My guess is they're crushing it on fees and giving ~40% of those earned fees back to the cardholder as benefits.

"When you hand over that metal card you feel special"

The CSP is a metal card as well though, and the annual fee is definitely lower.

How often do you get people commenting on the weight of the card and where do you live? I have the Amex platinum and the CSR and honestly I was concerned that they’d draw too much attention.

They haven’t, and I’m happy about that. I suspect it’s because I’m in the bay area and both of those cards are common out here.

I live in one of the wealthiest parts of LA and I get comments on it a few times a month. But this area is old money so a lot of the rich people here don't have the latest thing (unless it's a car) -- in the bay area I'm not surprised it's common. I also have the Amex Platinum and it gets about the same number of comments. When I travel, especially outside the US, I get comments on it about 30% of time I use it! lol. Metal cards are extremely rare, if non-existant, outside the US.

I haven't personally heard about the CSR card being commented on, but I've seen people comment on the Uber card. I almost feel like Uber/Barclays stole (or will soon have stolen) Chase's CSR customers.

Cross marketing with the data they collect, perhaps.

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