Thread: What happens to Costco card/membership if you move?

Happy Thanksgiving!

So here's the thing:

The True Earnings card is, for as long as I have known it to be, linked to the Costco membership to the point that you can't even apply for the card without giving them your Costco membership number.

Also, my True Earnings card gets automatically charged the yearly Costco membership fee regardless of how much I have or haven't shopped at Costco and for my parents who also own cards, it's the same way. For other True Earnings members, it's also the same way.

Owning the True Earnings card is, therefore, entirely related to having a Costco membership. You cancel your membership and American Express more than likely has the right to do something to your card - freeze it until membership is paid once more, start charging a different fee - because in the terms of the card, it says that there is no AF as long as Costco membership is paid.

In regards to the situation you described:

If a BUSINESS is the one who is in ownership of the Costco True Earnings account (they have a True Earnings for Business account with American Express) and let's say they gave you a card to use, then it is entirely likely that they will continue to pay for the membership to Costco provided the company has reason to keep using Costco.

If YOU are the one who is in ownership of the Costco and True Earnings account, asking your business to foot the bill for the Costco membership (and they aren't Costco members already and don't have the Business True Earnings account) because you want to use the card, then that's entirely up to the discretion of the company and I wouldn't be surprised if you get a, "No," for an answer.

"Why should I pay your membership fee for this card when the business itself has no use for Costco? If you want to use this card yourself, then you get to foot your own membership."

Basically, there is no reason for the business/company to be footing YOUR membership fee if they themselves aren't members and aren't giving their employees the cards in the first place.

They won't be getting any of the benefits and they won't be getting any of the cashback rewards and it's another however much it is per year they have to pay.

You COULD always ask the company in question of course or ask AMEX what their policies are, but what I said above is my gut feeling on what a company might say in response to such an inquiry and as always, to have applied and gotten approved for the True Earnings card in the first place, you had to have a linked Costco account.

Originally Posted by Money card

Happy Thanksgiving JNK. Yes I mean a personal card. I agree with a lot of your points. But however it's not the employee's fault that we're in a bad economy. company headquarters stays in Boston but opens offices in let's say Boise Idaho. 5,000 employees relocate there. let's say that's where the employees move to there are no costcos within 300 miles. As I said before they moved the employee canceled their red costco membership because all that does is let them in the store. However they like to use the aqua card that's a form of payment.

Let's say for example they use this card just for business, hotel check ins, entertaining lunches and dinners, and use other credit cards and cash for personal use. But for the longest period when living in the Boston area they were costco members, but with the bad economy headquarters stay open, let's say 1,000 higher up jobs stay, but of the lower level jobs like average sales man 5,000 relocate to Idaho.

in your reference of why should the company pay the 50.00 fee is because the company opened offices in Idaho and even though there are some small costcos in the area. some may be within 30 miles, 50, 100, 200 and even 300. There still with the same company , same title, much much different location. is it fair to the card member that he had to relocate? I know life is not fair but still.

like I said I agree with a lot of your points. But imagine a sales person in a company using the true earnings card only for business hotels and restaurants entertaining customers?

Do you think the true earnings card would be gone or do you think the company would help out?

It all boils down to this:

The usage of the True Earnings card in this situation is entirely by choice and in this scenario, by choice of the personal cardholder. As much as the cardholder had a choice to apply for the card way back when, they had the choice to keep the card and keeping paying the membership regardless of access to Costco or change of access to Costco for whatever reason or... get a different card.

If the situation were that the company issued you the True Earnings card and is demanding that you use the True Earnings card but is absolutely refusing to pay the membership fee, then definitely, the company should be the one footing the bill because they're the ones demanding you use the card and you don't have a choice in not using it.

It sucks that the company relocated its employees - I agree! - but in your scenario, it isn't their fault that someone decided to get the True Earnings card and now, owing to relocation, no longer have easy access to the Costco warehouse that the TE card is associated with.

Like I said before, the company's likely going to think, "You could pick some other card to use that doesn't have any fees attached. Why not use one of them?"

Let's say for example they use this card just for business, hotel check ins, entertaining lunches and dinners, and use other credit cards and cash for personal use.

...

like I said I agree with a lot of your points. But imagine a sales person in a company using the true earnings card only for business hotels and restaurants entertaining customers?

Technically speaking, if the company is eventually footing your business expenses like the ones you described above, it shouldn't matter whether you're earning rewards for them or not because the company is going to eventually pay your bills.

Why is the company going to care about the cashback option when they won't see any of it? They'll be paying your bill in full BUT they won't be the ones to be receiving the cashback / benefits.

Again, where I understand where you're coming from, you have to realize that the company's going to wonder what the benefit would be for them to pay your membership fee for a card that they're not personally vested in.

I personally know of plenty of people who travel on business and many of them have their own personal cards that they use for business only and they're the ones who pay any and all AFs or membership fees that are attached to them.

For example, I know someone who has the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred and he definitely foots his own fee despite the fact that he uses that card strictly for business expenses.

But all of this said... I'm not the company in question and maybe they might be willing to consider the situation.