Amex and Costco

An update on the chip & pin drama.....

I first tried my Barclay Chip & pin card here in Paris at an unattended purchase of Metro tickets. It worked great!! Entered the PIN and the transaction worked fine. That's nice as I see other US people getting their chip & sig cards rejected.

I even enjoyed using my Schwab ATM card for euros and they pay each and every bank fee. The exchange rate is right at the interbank rate with no games or jacked up rates.

Drama is over for me so I can continue my challenge to taste every French wine!!

Try Spain

Kal said:

An update on the chip & pin drama.....

<snip>
Drama is over for me so I can continue my challenge to taste every French wine!!

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Try Spain. The wines are cheaper, and there are more of them (Spain produces more wine than France). Just as good, in my opinion. Where else can you buy a decent bottle for $3-3.50 (Rioja or Ribera del Duero, for example)? And paying more gets you even better wines. FWIW, we were advised by a wine merchant to beware buying reservas at grocery stores, as those bottles tend to sit on the shelf for extended periods, in uncontrolled environments.

Sam's Club is now going to accept AMEX:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sams-...120000351.html;_ylt=A0LEVu54JfNVm18A2zRjmolQ#

Wow, that's huge! We strongly prefer American Express, so our Sam's Club workaround has been to buy Walmart Gift Cards using AmEx and use them at Sam's. It'll be nice to be able to just use our AmEx.

Now I just need to find a workaround for Costco when they stop accepting AmEx next year.

I bought some cash cards with Amex at Costco before they discontinued Amex in Canada. I should have bought more. Now it's Master Card.

Elli said:

I bought some cash cards with Amex at Costco before they discontinued Amex in Canada. I should have bought more. Now it's Master Card.

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Next time you come down to Bellingham, you can buy some more. At least, until next Spring.

Dave

BMWguynw said:

Next time you come down to Bellingham, you can buy some more. At least, until next Spring.
Dave

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You mean I can buy the cash cards with Amex in the States and use them in Canada?

Elli said:

You mean I can buy the cash cards with Amex in the States and use them in Canada?

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I just asked my spouse, who is a career Refund Cashier at Costco. I'm told that yes, you should be able to do it. But be aware that as of March 31, 2016, Amex will no longer be accepted at Costco. So you'd have to buy them before then. The caveat is to ask at the Member Services counter to make sure, the next time you're in a U.S. warehouse.

Also, you'd buy at the U.S. exchange rate, but spend them at the Canadian exchange rate. With the exchange rate currently at ~25%, ($1CAN equals roughly $.75US), you'd have to really need to have that card, to absorb that kind of loss.

On another note: I'm also being told the new credit card coming April 1, 2016 is a "kick-ass Capital One Visa card that gives more cash back than anything Costco has used up to this point." I don't know how that translates across the border for Canadian members. But anyone in the U.S. who wants to use a Visa at Costco may want to compare perks before deciding whether to get one of the new cards.

Dave

MichaelColey said:

Wow, that's huge! We strongly prefer American Express, so our Sam's Club workaround has been to buy Walmart Gift Cards using AmEx and use them at Sam's. It'll be nice to be able to just use our AmEx.

Now I just need to find a workaround for Costco when they stop accepting AmEx next year.

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I wonder if Costco will continue to accept Amex online? Our work around for Costco with Visa was to buy a Costco Cash Card online with Visa and use it in the warehouse. This was more of a pain though than your situation as you need to either always keep a good stock of them or anticipate about a week out that you will need them. They took anywhere from 3 to 10 days to have the physical cards delivered. I could never find a way to reload the cards online,.

BMWguynw said:

I just asked my spouse, who is a career Refund Cashier at Costco. I'm told that yes, you should be able to do it. But be aware that as of March 31, 2016, Amex will no longer be accepted at Costco. So you'd have to buy them before then. The caveat is to ask at the Member Services counter to make sure, the next time you're in a U.S. warehouse.

Also, you'd buy at the U.S. exchange rate, but spend them at the Canadian exchange rate. With the exchange rate currently at ~25%, ($1CAN equals roughly $.75US), you'd have to really need to have that card, to absorb that kind of loss.

On another note: I'm also being told the new credit card coming April 1, 2016 is a "kick-ass Capital One Visa card that gives more cash back than anything Costco has used up to this point." I don't know how that translates across the border for Canadian members. But anyone in the U.S. who wants to use a Visa at Costco may want to compare perks before deciding whether to get one of the new cards.
Dave

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Thanks for checking with your wife, Dave, I'd forgotten about paying in US dollars - for the time being, definitely not worth it.

Elli said:

Thanks for checking with your wife, Dave, I'd forgotten about paying in US dollars - for the time being, definitely not worth it.

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That was kind of what we were thinking.

Dave

When Costco stopped taking Amex in Canada, we received a cash-back replacement card from Amex, without having to do anything. The bonus was that they offered a great promo fpor the first 6 months. I believe it was 5x the normal rate, or something similar - for grocery, gas and drug store purchases, I believe. I only ever used Amex at Costco and although I tried to use the new card a bit, I reverted to Visa. Was very pleasantly surprised to get a $200+ credit on yesterday's Amex bill (which had a 0 balance to start with!)

Costco AMEX use extended to June or mid-summer

I just read in local news about Costco extending use of AMEX until June or so, depending upon the transitioning negotiations and agreements between AMEX and Citigroup. No firm date just a time range

Also good news to me, the Costco CFO said after the transition to Citigroup, they would accept ALL Visa cards, not just Citi's in their US stores. No mention about Canadian stores.

Well I got a few more months at least to add more costco purchase points on my Starwood card

I just asked my Costco spouse about this extension, and I was told some things that bear repeating:

The date extension is accurate. The reason is because there are more than 12 million Costco Amex cards in use. American Express is anxious to convert those cards to another kind of Amex card, to keep their revenue stream flowing. Citigroup wants to bring in those 12 million cardholders to their Costco Visa card as seamlessly as possible. That means without a credit check (if possible), so no credit rating hit to the member, and so Citi can decide whether to accept that member into their rolls. This process is taking longer than originally scheduled, because there are so many people it affects.

The major reason Costco is ending their relationship with Amex is because Costco sold the membership on these cards as having no annual fee for the card. Amex wanted to charge people $70 annually to have the card. Neither side would budge, and Costco ended the association with Amex. So if you Sam's Club members are going to get an Amex through them, watch out for that annual fee - something tells me Amex would make Sam's go with that fee.

Yes, after the changeover, Costco will be accepting any Visa, not just Citi. So if you have a great card from elsewhere, you can use it at Costco.

The answer to the question about using Amex at Costco.com is "probably not." Costco is ending their association with Amex rather sternly, so it's unlikely they will accept Amex anywhere. But time will tell on that.

Dave

BMWguynw said:

The major reason Costco is ending their relationship with Amex is because Costco sold the membership on these cards as having no annual fee for the card. Amex wanted to charge people $70 annually to have the card. Neither side would budge, and Costco ended the association with Amex. So if you Sam's Club members are going to get an Amex through them, watch out for that annual fee - something tells me Amex would make Sam's go with that fee.

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The Sam's Club situation is apples to oranges though. Sam's accepts Visa, Mastercard and Discover in their B&M stores as well as (most recently) Amex. I suspect the swipe fees are slightly higher as a result, and there may be a lesser need for an annual fee on any Sam's Club branded card.

As opposed to the Costco situation where I hear the swipe fees are nearing zero for Citi.

Of course as you point out, time will tell. I doubt a $70 annual fee branded Sam's Club card will be very successful.

-ryan

dsmrp said:

I just read in local news about Costco extending use of AMEX until June or so, depending upon the transitioning negotiations and agreements between AMEX and Citigroup. No firm date just a time range

Also good news to me, the Costco CFO said after the transition to Citigroup, they would accept ALL Visa cards, not just Citi's in their US stores. No mention about Canadian stores.

Well I got a few more months at least to add more costco purchase points on my Starwood card

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Just a quick note that the Costco AMEX is being replaced with a Capital One MasterCard. Currently your options at Costco are any MasterCard, debit card - and your US one may or may not work - or cash.

The reason I make the comment about debit cards working is because my debit card will work in the Costco just across the border in Bellingham. However, it didn't work last time I tried using it in California. YMMV on that one.

Just had Costco AmEx card decline the yearly WSJ subscription. Didn't bother to find out why, just assumed it's because the card will be dead soon. It was something on my to do list anyway in addition to applying for another AmEx card for the insurance coverage.

Ingrid

Good to hear Costco will be accepting any Visa card.

BevL said:

Just a quick note that the Costco AMEX is being replaced with a Capital One MasterCard. Currently your options at Costco are any MasterCard, debit card - and your US one may or may not work - or cash.

The reason I make the comment about debit cards working is because my debit card will work in the Costco just across the border in Bellingham. However, it didn't work last time I tried using it in California. YMMV on that one.

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Am I reading this correctly Costco will accept both VISA and Capital One Master Card after July?

pedro47 said:

Am I reading this correctly Costco will accept both VISA and Capital One Master Card after July?

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No. The Capital One Master Card is or will be accepted in Canadian Costco stores and the Citi Visa will be accepted in US stores.

dioxide45 said:

No. The Capital One Master Card is or will be accepted in Canadian Costco stores and the Citi Visa will be accepted in US stores.

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Thanks for the clarification.

pedro47 said:

Am I reading this correctly Costco will accept both VISA and Capital One Master Card after July?

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Sorry, didn't mean to confuse, when I posted about the MasterCard, I had highlighted the portion of the previous post relating to Canadian stores.

To further clarify - in the US - A Costco Citibank Visa will be issued to replace the Costco Amex card. US Costcos will, after the transition date, accept ALL Visa cards and only Visa cards at their stores.

And to even further clarify, my Costco spouse (senior Refund Cashier at the Membership Desk) tells me that the American Costco Citi Visa will not be honored in Canadian warehouses, and the Capital One Costco MasterCard from Canada will not be honored in US warehouses, ONLY FOR PURCHASES.

These cards are also the membership card, so they will work to get you in the door of the warehouse in either place, but if you want to buy something, you'll need another form of payment.

However, you should be able to continue using either card at Costco.com. The website currently accepts both Visa and MasterCard.

Dave

They did a great job of sidestepping me- or maybe it was the other way around. My Citi card is a Master Card, and my CapOne is a Visa. Just the opposite of what's the preference at Costco after the switch.

DW and I ran the numbers last night and decided that the Executive membership is costlier than a standard Costco membership at our spending level. Back when her office supplies all went through it, the rebate paid for our membership, but now, not so much.

Jim