But that's not the majority of the clientele.

Now are there people who probably barely qualified and wave the card around every chance they get to try and impress strangers? Sure. Would you get the Centurion card and keep it in a sock drawer if there was no annual fee? That's what it's like for the people who hold this card. You see it as a status symbol because you're looking the value for the cost, but that's not how these people look at it. It's not about being able to get a premium service for cheaper - it's that it's a service that's there. Same reason I fly private is the same reason these people will drop $10k for a credit card - even using it once a year to save a few hours of your time is easily worth the cost. There's only one thing you care about when you get to a certain net worth - your time. I can promise you that the vast majority of the actual wealthy people could not give a less of a shit about 'status/ego'. those cards are for EU / UK residents I believe and the benefits are pretty wonky. also worth noting this is different from the ICC Centurion - International Currency Card, issued in the UK for clients who want a card in GBP and another in EUR. the concierge is a completely different department, they are based somewhere in south america i believe as most of the representatives servicing these cards speak english, spanish, and portuguese. i believe this also doesn’t work on Apple Pay but i could be wrong. the benefits are weaker than the US Centurion (no equinox, saks, etc) but annual fee is also cheaper. for IDC Centurion they usually waive the initiation fee, the annual fee is $3,000 USD and the first AU Centurion is $0/year, any additional ones are $1,500/yr while all additional Platinums are $0/yr. most, if not all of the credit cards issued in latin american countries have to pay some kind of FX fee, if it’s not by the card issuer it’s a government tax so this is a good way to circumvent it.

it’s directed at foreign nationals from brazil, argentina, colombia etc who hold significant assets in the US and spend significant amounts of money in USD. you cannot be a US citizen or permanent resident and you must reside outside of the US although you most likely need a US address. the financial institution refers the client to Amex, and that’s how they get the card. IDC stands for International Dollar Card, it’s a US-issued Amex for foreign nationals of usually latin american countries that have assets at a US financial institution. As previously mentioned this is for the IDC Centurion.

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