Thread: WSJ article in Jan. 22, 2011 paper

Article in last weekend's WSJ on credit cards says banks are recruiting customers again, both those with good credit and those with poor credit.

The gist is that for those with poor credit, you might be able to get a card if you haven't been able to in the past. For those with good credit, you might be able to negotiate for better terms, perks, etc., according to sources quoted in the article.

The article also said that Amex and Citi will be dropping the fee for foreign transactions on some of their cards. It did not say which ones. I will be interested to see more about this.

One source in the article made the point that banks have been antagonizing some of their best customers with petty fees that don't generate much revenue, not nearly enough to offset the cost of customer acquisition, which is climbing.

This is good news for all of us if it actually is an accurate representation of the market today.

I looked up the article, nice find!

I think this is good news for us, especially about the customer acquisition costs. It doesn't make common sense to nickle and dime a customer over a fee here and there, if it's going to cause the customer to go elsewhere. We live in a country with many options for everything in life and the banks should start realizing that. A customer will only take so much before they pack up and head out the door.

About the foreign transaction fees being waived I read in another article recently that as far as Amex is concerned, it was only for the Platinum and it goes into effect spring 2011 however don't quote me on that I could be wrong.