The American Express Centurion Card is the black credit card for American Express. The card has a certain mystique, but it is an invitation only card with a very high annual fee and many of its services are available to applicants for platinum cards.
Black cards are cards that are prestige cards that are marketed as being beyond platinum cards. They are like the original gold cards in that they are usually invitation only, and the invitation is usually extended only to those card holders with a very high income. The term centurion is a reference to the fact that they only invite 1%, or one in a hundred, of their card holders.
The black card started out as an urban legend in the 1980s, before American Express decided to issue it. There were rumours of a card that was beyond platinum that gave the card holder access to a very high amount of spending power. American Express decided to take advantage of these rumours by launching the Centurion card which they also saw as a way of addressing the perceived devaluation of gold and platinum cards, which were starting to be offered very widely and were open to outside applications.
The Centurion card is strictly an invitation only card and it has both a high annual fee of $4,300 as well as a one-time only initiation fee, although this is not currently enforced in Australia. Where the joining fee in enforced it is twice the annual fee.
The card has a dedicated concierge service as well as its own travel agency. The concierge service has a reputation for being able to fulfil a large number of odd requests. There is the ability to get free companion tickets on certain airlines if a full price ticket is bought. This offer is open for business tickets as well as tickets bought for personal use. There is a similar programme with hotel stays as well as automatic enrolment in a number of preferential airline and car hire programmes.
There are also magazines that are sent to card holders, Departures Magazine which is also sent to platinum card holders and Black Ink which is only available to Centurion card holders.
American Express is a well-established charge card operator that was one of the first companies to offer charge cards. It has a client base that is mostly made up of business travellers and tends to be at the higher end of the income spectrum.
American Express offers a platinum card which is considerably cheaper than the Centurion card and offers a similar range of services. The platinum card is the usual stepping stone to the Centurion card and is open to applicants.
