Thread: The History of American Express Cards

Best known for their credit cards and charge cards, American Express is a diversified financial services company founded in 1850. With headquarters in New York City, American Express is a 50 billion dollar company which trades under the ticker symbol AXP on the NYSE. Fortune ranks it as the 74th largest company in the world and it is one of the elite thirty stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Although American Express first considered the idea of a charge card for traveling in 1946, it did not become a serious concept for the company until their Diners Club released their own charge card in spring of 1950. Fast forward a few years later, American Express decided to get in the game and launch their own charge card on October 1st, 1958. With an annual fee of six dollars, which was one dollar higher than Diners Club, the goal was to position the American Express as the premium charge card.

American Express released the Gold Card in 1966. 18 years later the Platinum Card would follow. It carried an annual fee of $250 and was by invitation only. It was not until 1987 when the company started issuing credit cards too. The Optima was their first card which allowed a balance to be carried over and interest charged.

1999 proved to be a major historically exciting year for the company. They released Blue from American Express, a no-annual fee credit card geared towards younger cardholders. 1999 also marked release of another new card, although no press releases or advertisements ever existed for it. It was the Centurion Card, or what is commonly nicknamed the black card. With an annual fee of $1000 at the time, it was a charge card aimed at the uber wealthy of the world. A third major event happened that year when American Express replaced Discover Card as the exclusive credit card which could be used at Costco.

Today American Express goes head-to-head with Visa and Mastercard as a key player in the credit card and charge card market. The list of American Express cards includes:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card
• American Express Gold Card
• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card
• American Express Platinum Card
• Fidelity American Express Platinum Card
• Blue from American Express
• Blue Cash Card
• Blue Sky from American Express
• Blue for Students

American Express partner cards include:

American Express Airline rewards cards:

• JetBlue Credit Card
• Blue Sky Credit Card
• Delta SkyMiles Options Credit Card
• SkyPoints Credit Card from Delta
• Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
• Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
• Delta SkyMiles Platinum Credit Card

American Express Costco credit cards

• Costco TrueEarnings Credit Card
• Costco Cash Rebate Credit Card

American Express Hotel Cards

• Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card
• Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card

City specific reward cards

• In:NYC Credit Card
• In:LA Credit Card
• In:Chicago Credit Card
  (Update Oct. 08 - American Express has discontinued the IN: series of cards)

Lifestyle credit cards

• The Knot Credit Card
• The Nest Credit Card
• American Express Gold Card
• American Express Red Card (UK only)

Optima credit cards

• Optima Credit Card
• Optima Platinum Card

Savings and cash back credit cards

• American Express One Credit Card
• American Express Clear Credit Card
• American Express Cash Rebate Credit Card
• American Express Platinum Cash Rebate Credit Card

American Express business credit cards and charge cards include:

Business

• Business Green Rewards Charge Card
• Business Gold Rewards Charge Card
• Executive Business Charge Card
• Business Platinum Charge Card
• Platinum Business Credit Card
• Platinum Business FreedomPass Credit Card
• Business Membership Rewards Card
• The Plum Card
• Blue for Business Credit Card
• Blue Cash for Business Credit Card
• Simply Cash Business Credit Card
• Costco True Earnings Business Card
• JetBlue Business Credit Card
• Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card
• Platinum Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card
• Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card

1958 was the year the first charge card was issued by American Express. Within a short period of time, only five years later, there were over a million people carrying Amex charge cards. There cards could be used at over 85,000 merchants across the globe.

Below is a picture of the first American Express credit card. Under today’s definition of a credit card, many would consider this a picture of the first credit card ever.


Shortly after this, American Express began issuing credit cards outside of the USA. They also began offering payment options which allowed cardholders to pay for their large travel purchases in installments.

Originally Posted by jaynser

If you are looking for an Amex card, apply here

Mmmmm..... I love the smell of SPAM in the afternoon.

Does anyone know what year Amex introduced the Centurion card?

According to Wikipedia, 1999

I am considering getting my first American Express card but not sure which card to start with given my credit situation. My Experian credit score is about 660, with TU and EQ being much higher. (I'm aware that scores are not the only factor, but I know enough about credit to know it's the FIRST factor.) I also have a tax lien due to the mortgage mess in 2007. The lien was reported in March 09. The lien is the only delinquency, nothing else. Which card will I likely qualify for? What's the final word on card limits (I hear conflicting info on limits all the time)? Finally, which credit bureau does American Express pull from? Thanks.

1999? i dont see how its possible.

I work in the restaurant industry and ive had a customer that has the American Express Centurion Card that has been a member since 1978...? Could the Centurion card used to be referred as a different card in the past?

That date refers to how long they have been an American Express cardmember, not how long they have had that card.

Is there an updated portfolio of AMEX card floating around?
I have searched their website and have only come across several different list of cards offered. I can not seam to find a complete portfolio.