There was a time when Gold credit cards were considered to be elite. Soon after that, it was platinum cards. Now, both gold and platinum cards are widely accessible and there is not much prestige attached to them anymore. Currently, the most prestigious, elite and exclusive credit cards available in the market are black credit cards.

The Exclusive Benefits of Black Credit Cards
The black credit card is one of the best status symbols for those who wish to flaunt their wealth. Considering the availability of black credit cards is restricted to those with extremely high incomes and spending capacities, possessing a black credit card makes an invaluable statement about your worth. The cardholders expect to get star treatment, and they often do. You will get personal assistance from the concierge to help you with your business, personal, travel, gifting and entertainment needs. You will get access to some of the most exclusive perks in the world like access to VIP access lounge at airports across the world. You will be wooed by luxury brands as you shop. You will also get once-in-a lifetime opportunities to experience the unthinkable like a zero gravity flight.

Features
All black credit cards offer exclusive privileges to their users. They all require high income and high spending capacities. While some black credit cards are only available by invitation, some others are only available through nomination by an existing card holder. Some black credit cards are made available to existing customers with very high spending records. Most do not impose any credit limit on their usage, or it is an extremely high limit. Some black credit cards are required to be paid in full every billing cycle while some others are not.

Comparison
Let’s do a quick comparison of some of the most luxurious black cards in the industry:

American Express Centurion Credit Card
This credit card has been awarded the honor of being the most prestigious credit card by Luxury Institute, New York. You can get a Centurion card if you spend over $250,000 a year and it attracts a very high annual fee – a one time initiation fee of $5,000, plus $2,500 annually. It has no preset credit limit. You also need to pay your outstanding balance every month. This is by far the most popular and sought after black card out there.

Bank Of America Accolades Card
Accolades credit card offers services that are similar to the Centurion, but not quite in the exact same range. The card comes with a spending limit of $500,000 and has a relatively reasonable annual fee. However, critics have argued the benefits and perks offered by this card are not much better than the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card, which has an annual fee of half the price. This card has been out a while but has yet to gain popularity and prestige.

Citigroup Chairman American Express Card
One of the latest black credit cards, it offers premium services and privileges to its users. This card was scheduled to be discontinued, but upon checking the Citi website, it still appears they are offering the Chairman card. Although this one has been out for several years, it has failed to catch much popularity. Cardmembers on Credit Card Forum have stated it doesn’t appear Citi makes much of an effort with this card.

Natwest Black Card
This black credit card also offers a number of premium, time saving benefits that are perfectly suited to the kind of people who will be using this card. This card is only available in the United Kingdom. The credit limit with this card is dismal compered, their site stating they will give you a “minimum £15,000 credit limit,” which is just more than $20,000 USD. Considering the annual fee is £250, that is a lot to pay for such little spending power and only average benefits.

Visa Black Card
Another one of the latest entrant in the black credit cards niche, this card has already gained quite a bit of press, both good and bad. It’s issued by Barclays and has a $495 annual fee. It offers airport lounge access four times per year, complimentary gifts (such as a free Cross pen set), and other benefits. To learn more about it, visit our Visa Black Card review.

Is the economy on the brink of recovery? It’s tough to tell, but there are some positive signs we are seeing. Take for example the bailout money paid to the banks. The Federal Reserve recently gave permission to ten of the financial institutions that received bailout money to pay it back. American Express was one of these companies. It recently repurchased the $3.39 billion in preferred shares it previously sold to the treasury. This repurchase, however, did not include the outstanding warrants still owned by the Treasury Department.

Over $68 billion in TARP funds is being paid back from the nation’s largest banks. However, there is much scrutiny over the motives behind the repayments. The bailout money came with restrictions on executive compensation and it’s well known fact that is one of the reasons these banks are so anxious to pay it back. This is especially obvious considering that these funds are not from internal sources, but rather money the banks raised from private investors across the globe.

What do you think? Should the banks have been allowed to pay back the bailout money so they could forgo the restrictions on executive pay?

If you’ve watched TV at all the last few months, you’ve almost certainly have seen the commercial campaigns for Help With My Credit program, a project by Bank of America, Discover Capital One, and Citi “in cooperation with” MasterCard Worldwide. The Help With My Credit campaign ads usually feature an exuberantly happy individual that tells different versions of the same story about how basically they were in debt and and they called up their creditor to come up with alternative payment plans and negotiate fees. Personally, I feel the ads are a bit over the top obnoxious. By the bubbly way these character actors tell “their” stories, you almost question whether or not they are on any mind-altering substances. That being said, I do give props to the banks for doing this. Just exactly how much assistance or leeway they are giving cardholders… I don’t know. But, any help is better than no help. So, even if the commercials are a cheesy, at least the message behind them is something positive.

Has anyone here tried calling Help With My Credit? If so, please share your experiences with Credit Card Forum readers so we can know what to expect.

Do you own a U.S. Airways Dividend credit card? Then you may be asking “Why did my U.S. Airways switch from Visa to MasterCard?” Well, it is very unusual for a financial institution to change from MasterCard to Visa and vice-versa. Historically, you only see this occur during a mergers and acquisitions, when the two companies are affiliated with different payment networks, so they therefore switch one so it’s the same for their entire card portfolio.

This is exactly what we saw with the U.S. Airways Dividend card. Bank of America sold off around two-thirds of the venture to Barclaycard (the American subsidiary of Barclays). It’s highly unusual that B of A will continue to own a small number of the accounts… neither companies would comment as to why.

If you a cardholder of the U.S. Airways Dividend MasterCard, there is no cause for concern. As of now, there doesn’t appear to be any other major changes to the accounts. Reps from Barclays have stated that they will ensure the accounts continue to be reported accurately to the credit bureaus and the length of time your account has been opened will be preserved.

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As a follow-up to the first FreeCreditReport.com parody video we recently posted, here is another one the FTC put together (but we like their first one better).

Let’s face it… most of us aren’t happy with our pay. Either we’re not being paid fair wages, crappy benefits… or both! But, these aren’t excuses to do what Cheryl Denise Green allegedly did. She was an employee at University of Maryland, Baltimore. According to authorities, she decided to supplement her salary by stealing nearly half a million dollars from the school over a period of almost two years. Over $300,000 of that was reported to be charged to the school’s credit card; over two hundred transactions. That must have meant that on average she was spending more than a thousand on each purchase! And no, it wasn’t an American Express Centurion card she was raking up these big purchases on, but rather a Visa card… and no, not a Visa Black Card.

What’s amazing is that this credit card fraud started in December 2005, but it was not detected until 2008, when authorities say she attempted to deposit a check for $137k into her personal account. In turn, the bank contacted the school about this suspicious activity and an audit was eventually performed.

On February 27, 2009 Green pleaded guilty to felony theft. On Wednesday, she was sentenced to one year in prison, along with an order to pay back $332k and receive a psychiatric evaluation. Considering the credit card fraud laws that are on the books today, this is actually a very lenient sentence! The judge also ordered her to not seek employment with the state after her release from prison (I can’t imagine why!)