The Credit Card Truth AMEX Users NEED to Know

[00:00:00]The biggest thing guys, a credit card is not a flex. Technically, they're not offering you new credit, they're just shuffling your existing credit around to approve you for the card. Things get devalued, so you got to be careful with those pitfalls. They're going to make money on you, no matter what. So, to say I'm going to apply for this card cuz it's a flex is >> Hey, what's going on guys? Calvin Russell here. Super excited to bring you all yet another guest speaker, all right? Now listen, you guys have seen him on this channel before and many of you all not only said bring him back, but many of you all have not only been learning the information that he's been talking about, but you've been implementing it. And because of that, you guys have become experts yourselves, you know, over time with this information, okay? So, listen, get your notepads out. He doesn't have a lot of time, but listen, we're going to be talking about a lot of things that have to do with banks, credit cards, and things that you should know right now.

[00:00:56]So, without any further ado, I want to go ahead and bring to the front Mr. Joe Beretta. Joe, can you hear us okay?

[00:01:02]>> Yes, I can.

[00:01:04]>> All right, awesome, awesome. Well, thanks again Joe for being here, man, as always and staying on top of these credit cards and just changes and things that happen along the way.

[00:01:13]>> I appreciate you for having me as always. Thank you.

[00:01:15]>> Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Well, listen, Mr. American Express himself, he is here in the building. And so, listen, you talked the other day about how people are not taking advantage of the ecosystem that American Express has to offer. And you've been with American Express, I think before I was born. So, >> You had to say that, right?

[00:01:38]>> [laughter] >> You know what? I had to throw that in there.

[00:01:40]>> Where do I log off? How do I do this?

[00:01:42]>> Right.

[00:01:43]>> [laughter] >> Well, listen, but like you said, I think the same thing. I don't think enough people are taking advantage of that ecosystem. Can you break down what that American Express ecosystem is and what benefits do people get if they are part of it.

[00:01:58]>> So, since 1989, Calvin's parents still weren't dating.

[00:02:03]>> Oh, wait. What was it, '89?

[00:02:04]>> '89.

[00:02:05]>> Okay, I was 1. Go ahead. My bad.

[00:02:06]>> You know what? That doesn't make you better.

[00:02:08]>> [laughter] >> That doesn't help.

[00:02:11]>> Just wanted to clear that up.

[00:02:13]>> '89, I got my first American Express card, which was the gold card back then.

[00:02:18]And back then, it was 75 bucks. I'm going to show you real quick.

[00:02:23]>> Now, you say 75, you're talking about the annual fee?

[00:02:24]>> The annual fee. So, I have the three here.

[00:02:27]>> Wow.

[00:02:27]>> The green, the gold, and the platinum, right?

[00:02:29]>> Got it.

[00:02:30]>> So, the reason I tell people that Amex's ecosystem is probably the best out there is because if you just have those three charge cards, and I remember charge cards for those that aren't aware, are technically cards that you're supposed to pay off at the end of the month.

[00:02:45]They're not credit revolving cards.

[00:02:47]You're not given a set amount of money that you can use. It's technically no limit to it, but there's always on the back end a limit that they're going to put on you. But, those three cards will definitely cover your daily expenses, your business expenses, your travel expenses, and then your luxury travel or premium expenses. So, the green would be the card that you use for transit, for your buses, your tolls, your parking, trains, ferries, and stuff. Dining out spend, you'll get three times for that. And also travel.

[00:03:25]Planes, trains, automobiles, you name it, three times for that. Plus, it includes Clear Plus at the airports. So, that's just the one card at $150.

[00:03:35]Then, you go to the gold, and the gold still, even though it just had a refresh for its 60th >> If you're looking to increase your credit score, qualify for home ownership, or lower your monthly car payment, we can help you. We can take a look at your credit report and create a custom game plan for you to help you accomplish your credit goals. Scan this QR code or click the link in the description below. Now, back to the video.

[00:03:56]>> anniversary, the gold is still technically the foodie card. The reason they call the foodie card is because it gives you four times dining out, four times on on supermarket spends in the US.

[00:04:08]So, you can make a lot of points. If you got a big family and you going to spend it at Stop & Shop or ShopRite or whatever, four times on that is huge, especially given the prices nowadays. that you're going to spend.

[00:04:21]>> Got it.

[00:04:21]>> So, and that also comes with those other perks. It's right now giving you Uber One. It's giving you three times on travel. So, they did step up the game in that respect. That card is 325.

[00:04:33]Then the big daddy, the king of them is the American Express Platinum card, which blows on multipliers. It's terrible, except for flights that you purchase directly from airlines or if you go through their portal, it's five times, but that card gives you so many benefits for lounge access to their own American Express Centurion lounges, Priority Pass lounges. Every three months you get a a Lululemon credit of 75, $100 credit for Resy credit. So, right there between just the Resy, which is dining out, and Lululemon, you're looking at over $700, which makes up, you know, almost 90% of the 895 that that that card commands as an annual fee.

[00:05:19]>> Mhm.

[00:05:19]>> Plus, it also gives you status at hotels. At the Marriott, gold status. At the Hilton, gold status. It gives you top level at status with Avis, National, and Hertz car rentals. So, it comes with a lot of benefits. Yeah, it's expensive, but those three cards really do cover everything you need to cover if you want to just stick with one ecosystem.

[00:05:41]>> Absolutely. Absolutely. And I like how you broke that down because again, there aren't many, you know, ecosystems that are out there especially that have been historically good and you know, they've gotten just you know, I won't say necessarily just better over time but more so people have an idea of what to expect especially like when they're talking about hotels and travel and things of that sort and you know, I had an American Express for years and we just kind of use it for like you know, gift cards here and there and I said man, there's a better value, you know, in the airline space and especially when I was interviewing you all and saying this makes way more sense especially on the business side because you know, then listen up business owners if you're not already when you guys are having these business expenses, you should be using your business accounts anyway, but that's where business credit card comes in and you guys as you all know, you know, Joe is not the type of person that talks about getting into debt. We're only talking about using what you already have access to so it's just making sure that you are you know, taking advantage of that type of ecosystem. So now none of this stuff matters if a person doesn't have the qualifications needed. So obviously you've been with an American Express.

[00:06:50]You've had multiple American Express cards. Why do you think you keep getting approved for those?

[00:06:55]>> Some of it is credit history. So you know, I'm going to be 60 in October.

[00:07:00]So I've had a credit history since I started working in 1988. Back then I think even earlier than that in college, you know, when you get those back in the day they used to have people sitting outside of where you would register for classes on a table. Real quick, be sure to download our free ebook today. All you got to do is scan this QR code right here click the link in the description below. Now back to the video and give you like a mug or a pen if you signed up for some credit card from somewhere in Ohio. I remember doing that but I think the reason I keep getting approved and offered different things not just from Amex but from other ecosystems is my long credit history showing them the payment showing them my credit score. If I could even pull this up cuz I think your viewers would like to see that. I have 36 active credit cards right now. Wow, okay? And this is my credit score right now is an 830 on FICO. Half a million dollars worth of credit available to me. So, that's one of the reasons why.

[00:07:58]>> Wow.

[00:07:58]>> I'm very careful as to what do I apply for. I just don't apply for any card that's out there just because I've turned down cards because if it doesn't fit naturally what I'm trying to do, why bother? It's just another card I'm going to stick in a drawer or something.

[00:08:14]So, I want to use the cards as intended.

[00:08:16]So, I want to make sure that if I'm staying at a Hilton, I'm going to get an American Express Hilton Aspire card because that's the card that's going to give me the most value. If I'm going to stay at a Hyatt, I'm going to get a Chase World of Hyatt credit card, things of that nature.

[00:08:29]Especially nowadays because things are so expensive, you want to get the most bang for your buck. So, if you know that you're using a particular airline, hotel, and so on.

[00:08:40]Even now, the best example to give is for airlines. If you fly United, they just upped the amount for your baggage.

[00:08:50]And three bags can cost you $200.

[00:08:53]>> Wow.

[00:08:53]>> But if you get a $95 a year credit card from United, that covers your bags.

[00:08:59]>> Mhm.

[00:08:59]>> You're ahead of the game. So, things, you know, that's why I think I get offered a lot because I'm careful as how I use them and I use them only as intended. I don't I don't use them to scam and buy gift cards. You know, some people do that. I I I'm just not into that. So.

[00:09:18]>> Yeah, 100% 100% cuz there are some people out here that doing scammer type activity. And sometimes people know, but there's obviously times where people don't know.

[00:09:27]And And speaking of which, let's go a little bit deeper. So, now if you could narrow your like credit card approvals, if you could narrow that down to three things, what would those three things be if for someone that says, "Okay, I get how it's working for you, Joe, but for me, what are those three things that you would recommend?"

[00:09:44]>> So, the first thing is going to be if you want a particular card, I would I would hope that you didn't open up anything 3 months prior, right? You always want to have at least a 90-day window between applications. Also, you want to make sure, depending on the type of card you're looking for and the issuer, some are a lot more strict than others.

[00:10:03]So, you want to at least have a 680 to 700 credit score to apply for most cards. Some are going to require that you have at least a 720, 730, depending on the issuer. Also, depending on the type of limit you're looking for. So, certain cards will only be offered if you're also able to get that limit. So, a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which is their premium card, similar to the Amex Platinum, you have to have a certain amount tied to that card. It has to be more than a $10,000 limit.

[00:10:35]So, things like that, you want to make sure you have them in play before you apply. You also want to make sure, if you look at an application and it says household income, it is not just your income. It is everyone who else who else lives at that same address. Your spouse, your kids, whoever's working, because they all figure, "Okay, they're all chipping into this expense at the household." So, if you're making 50, your spouse is making 75, so you would put 125,000.

[00:11:07]The other reason is is because if you stick it to just a low amount of money, you're going to get a low credit line.

[00:11:15]So, you want to give yourself the best chances of approval with the best limits available to you.

[00:11:21]>> That's great information, guys. And again, this is why we have Joe here, okay? Cuz there's a lot of people that are on the platform, that are on YouTube, on on internet, and they don't even have the relationships built, you know, with these banks. I was talking to Sledge about this the other day and people just randomly just giving out information. But what people don't know is that not only do these people not have the relationships built, but they're just reading stuff. And so we only bring people on this channel that are actually living and doing what they're giving advice on here as well.

[00:11:52]>> And now you mentioned you mentioned relationship and I I should have added this.

[00:11:56]>> Yeah.

[00:11:56]>> Let's say you're applying for a Citibank card.

[00:11:59]If you have a Citibank relationship, savings account, checking account, it goes a long way. Banks value relationships you have with them in other areas, not just for credit cards. So if you have a mortgage with a like I have a mortgage a mortgage with Bank of America, that's also to your favor. Things of that nature, they want to see that you've had some other relationships with them. This way they can approve you and if they approve you at a higher limit as well.

[00:12:28]>> Absolutely. Good. And you know what? I'm glad you brought that up. So now let's talk about this. And cuz I'm sure this has happened to people before, but obviously they're not next to each other, so they can't ask this question.

[00:12:40]But you know, why do in your opinion, why do two people with the same credit score get completely different credit limits?

[00:12:48]>> Great question. Here's the thing. You can have a credit score, let's say my son coming out of college because he was an authorized user on my cards, when he graduated University of Pittsburgh, he had a 750 without having credit on his own, right? Based on my scores. But if you have two people that have, let's say a 750 credit score, however, one has been working longer, one is making more money, one has a longer credit history, you know, one has a relationship with the bank, that all plays into how much whether you're going to get approved and if you are approved, how much of a credit limit you're going to get because again, you know, it's and they're really tightening this. Chase is right now the one that is enforcing this the most.

[00:13:36]>> Mhm.

[00:13:36]>> Even a person like me that has all these cards and relationships and whatever, when I applied for a card from Chase last summer I got the card but they're moving around credit limits from one card to another so that technically they're not offering you new credit they're just shuffling your existing credit around to approve you for the card.

[00:13:58]>> Mhm.

[00:13:58]>> So they're really clamping down the amount of credit they are putting out there because they know that a lot of people are digging themselves in a hole and can't dig themselves out of it.

[00:14:08]>> 100% and they got to know the risk that they're taking on, you know, as well, too. You know, people again, it's all about that profile. It's all about that income. If they see something they don't like, you know, they're not going to take, you know, a certain type of risk, you know, that's for sure. So, okay, great. And then now his nothing to Joe is what is one credit card strategy that you wish more people knew about. It doesn't necessarily have to be pertaining to American Express but just credit cards in general.

[00:14:36]>> So I think a good strategy is it depends on where you're at, right? So if you have people that are just cash back oriented >> [snorts] >> you can have multiple ecosystems. If you could have Chase, Wells, Citibank, their cash back cards because you're just getting that back, cash back. Some might give you 3% might give you 5% back. Some give you 6% on one category. Discover gives you 10% back the first year on their rotating categories which is huge. But if you're into points and miles and travel and things of that nature, you also want to have be a little bit diverse >> Yeah.

[00:15:16]>> and have more than one ecosystem. And the reason I say that is the following.

[00:15:20]Things get devalued. So hotels that let's say 2 years ago you could have booked a hotel room using 10,000 points, right now that same room is going to cost you 20,000.

[00:15:30]>> Yeah.

[00:15:30]>> Right? So, if you're stuck in that one system, you have no leverage, you have no play.

[00:15:37]But, if you have let's say Chase and you have Amex or you have City and so on, you're able to then maneuver and find out the best transfer partners and you and you have more flexibility available to you by having multiple systems.

[00:15:52]I'm not saying get two and three cards in every system, but if you like a certain transfer partner, let's say the Capital in Capital One and you do a lot of entertaining and you do a lot of supermarket spend or out dining out, the Savor card is a beast of a card.

[00:16:11]>> Mhm.

[00:16:12]>> So, that's the one you get. So, you try to make sure you stick to what you want.

[00:16:18]You kind of narrow it down and then apply for the cards in that particular area or category. And and so, it's okay to have you know, a card from Amex and a card from Wells and whatever, but it's hard to maintain three or four in every system because now you're talking how am I going to juggle it, how am I going to figure out which one to spend on, how much is it going to cost me in annual fees, I'm going to lose track of when things have to get paid. Those old things that come into play if you're not used to it especially. So, you got to be careful with those pitfalls.

[00:16:53]>> Yeah, 100% 100%. Also, you mentioned um the Savor card. For those who are newer to credit cards, what uh who makes that Savor card?

[00:17:02]>> Capital One. Now, Capital One is a is an issuer or a bank that they love people that are new to credit. They love people that might be considered subprime in some cases because their interest rates what they do is they have the same version of the saver card for good credit and for excellent credit and for fair credit. So, if you just think about that, excellent credit will give you the better interest rate, no um interest for 15 months on purchases and so on. The one for good credit takes away all those benefits, clubs you over the head at 27% interest. Then the one for fair credit is really cutting you off at the knees at 30% interest and you get nothing up front. And really I wouldn't I wouldn't apply for it. Unless you're really desperate to get a card and you want to build a history, I get some people might be lulled into applying for something like that. But I would rather them apply for a secured card that you put the money in and borrow against your own money and you're not getting clubbed over the head with the interest on it and you could build your credit report that way as opposed to really getting hit over the head with interest rates.

[00:18:16]>> Yeah. No, 100% 100%. So now, obviously there's a lot of ecosystems that people can be a part of, Joe. And you know, if you could like narrow it down to like maybe two ecosystems, what which ones would you recommend for people like just kind of starting their credit card journey?

[00:18:36]>> Starting a credit card journey and it's going to break down again if you want cash back >> Yeah.

[00:18:42]>> or points and miles.

[00:18:44]>> Yeah.

[00:18:45]>> So you So if I'm going to give you two examples of two systems that can do both really well.

[00:18:52]Wells Fargo with an active cash card of everything 2% automatically on what you spend, no matter what, 2%.

[00:19:01]If you add that along with their Wells Autograph card no annual fee, it gives you three times or 3% on a lot of categories, dining out, entertainment, transit, travel, and so on. That's a great Wells has one of the most underrated cash back setups out there with no fees. So, you can make a killing. And if you hold the Autograph card, you could transfer that into points and use that for transfer partners. The weakness that Wells has is that it doesn't have as many transfer partners as other ecosystems.

[00:19:35]So, I would tell you the second ecosystem would play would be dependent upon what you use the most. If you fly American Airlines a lot and you're in a hub where American Airlines is the airline out of that airport, for instance, Philadelphia or JFK, I would tell you go with City and open up a City bank card, uh the City Strata, City Strata Elite because they're the only ones that transfer to American Airlines. So, >> Got you.

[00:20:06]>> and you can also use it for cash back.

[00:20:09]But, that ecosystem gives you the opportunity for travel because if you get the Strata Elite, it gives you priority pass, it gives you passes for lounge access to American American Airlines lounges, things of that nature. So, that's the kind of thing that, you know, you want one for cash back and one for premium or luxury travel or just travel in general.

[00:20:31]So, I would tell you get one that's really well suited for you cash back wise like Wells.

[00:20:38]There are other ecosystems that have cash back cards, but Wells tends to have the better multipliers on them for no annual fee. So, you could have two or three cards from Wells where and pay nothing, whereas for another ecosystem it might cost you two or three hundred dollars, four hundred dollars for it.

[00:20:55]So, you have to have both of them. So, I would rather you have a no annual fee setup for cash back and then another ecosystem that has, let's say, annual fees up up 250 bucks total. You can get solid cards out there. Like the City Strata Elite is only 95 bucks, but it still gives you access to put transfer points over to American Airlines where no other ecosystem allows you to do that.

[00:21:18]>> Wow.

[00:21:19]>> Yeah, that's major.

[00:21:20]>> These are the things that you won't see everywhere that people are talking about. This is why we have to have this type of information, you know, for sure.

[00:21:28]Absolutely. So now, obviously, okay, we always talk about, you know, what cards to get, how to get approved, and things of that sort. But I I want to spend like some time talking about like maintaining those cards. And what I mean by that is essentially keeping the accounts open.

[00:21:43]I've been noticing that some companies, some banks, some financial institutions, they have been changing some of the card agreements to a almost necessarily say changing them, but essentially where people are not even realizing what is in the card agreements and they're getting their accounts shut down. So my question to you is, what mistakes do you know about in which a you know, like people do in which it can cause them to get their credit card account shut down? Cuz I know people do these things.

[00:22:13]>> So some of them is if you're buying things overseas, if you're doing purchases online, if you're if you're paying those bills from several different accounts. So one month you're paying from your Citibank checking and then all of a sudden the next month you're paying it from a PayPal account.

[00:22:30]Paying from multiple sources can trigger a flag cuz they're like, wait a minute.

[00:22:35]Why isn't this person just using their normal account? Transferring balances over from one to another to another to another constantly can cause it to shut down cuz they're going to say, wait a minute. This person can't pay this bill, and they're just juggling and maneuvering. And what people forget is when you transfer it, a balance transfer, you're also paying up to 5% of that balance in in interest fees over to the new, right? So even though you might be paying zero interest for 12 months, you're still paying something and doing it.

[00:23:07]So, you got to think of those red flags.

[00:23:09]And nowadays, more than anything else, it seems that people who make purchases, and we're going to go back to gift cards, >> Yeah.

[00:23:15]>> there are people that will go to Staples and buy a thousand dollars worth of gift cards.

[00:23:21]>> I heard.

[00:23:22]>> [laughter] >> I'm sorry. Unless it's Christmas and you have a big family that you want to get them, you know, PlayStation PSN cards or whatever, and and there's a massive sale where they're not charging you the fee for it, there's no reason for you to do that.

[00:23:40]So, again, where you spend and how you spend, they look. I don't care what anybody tells you. It's not in a vacuum.

[00:23:47]They are hyper [snorts] aware. That's how come, if you think about it, have you ever gone somewhere, you purchase something and then you get a notification on your phone and the transaction didn't go through?

[00:24:00]>> Mhm.

[00:24:00]>> Because it triggered something.

[00:24:02]>> Yeah.

[00:24:02]>> It triggered either an amount, it's or let's say every month they notice that on your card you only spend 150 bucks a month. All of a sudden, it's now July 2026 and you spent $2,000. They're going to be like and and especially if it's like in gift cards or something.

[00:24:21]>> 100%.

[00:24:22]>> It's a trigger. They're not stupid.

[00:24:24]They're going to be like something is not right here. So, they have the right to shut them down.

[00:24:30]If you're late with payments, guys, that sometimes that that they can be nice and if you call them and say, "Look, I was away, I was ill, I was this, I was that." They'll wave it the one time. Do it two more times or or another time and and you're done. And they'll raise the interest on you. And they'll add on late fees. They're going to make money on you, no matter what.

[00:24:51]>> I see, things like this, this is exactly why you all need to and I I don't think people pay attention to their card agreements, but you at least have to research this information because some of these things you could be doing inadvertently like you said buying gift cards a certain amount of them at one time. You may have a lot of family. You may want to do it for you know customers and clients. That's where a business credit card comes in because that type of purchase makes more sense especially on the business side.

[00:25:20]>> This is literally the card agreement >> [laughter] >> the card agreement for the platinum card. I'm not even exaggerating, right?

[00:25:27]It comes in a fat ass envelope. Like who wants to go through this? No no one. I didn't even open it because I've seen a hundred of them, right? But if I I'm going to open it now this and I've had this on my desk here forever. But guys when it tells you facts and then look at all the pages, trust me. There's a reason because they're going to cover themselves. They're going to make sure that they're they're going to say if you look on page 15, paragraph six, line 16 in zero font, we said blah blah blah. And then you can't say anything about it.

[00:26:05]>> Honestly.

[00:26:06]>> Right.

[00:26:06]>> So that's right.

[00:26:07]>> You got to be on top of it especially if you're new to this. You don't want to be in a position that's going to catch you off guard and it's going to cost you in the long run because rebuilding it is a pain in the neck.

[00:26:20]>> Yeah, 100% 100% and thanks again Joe for giving us so much credit card wisdom per usual.

[00:26:29]Uh of course we always watch you know your YouTube channel and for those who don't know of course Joe does have a YouTube channel. Make sure you guys go and check that out the credit card connection where he talks about these things all the time and if there's any advice that you want to or I would say final words you want to give to people >> The biggest thing guys, a credit card is not a flex.

[00:26:48]And I'm saying this because about a month and a half ago I was at a meetup in in Puerto Rico nationwide with people that are in this space on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube, and a bunch of us went out to dinner.

[00:27:03]And we played this game where we each take a credit card and you throw it in a in a hat, and whoever's comes out, they're going to pay the bill. We're going to send them the money, but they're paying the bill.

[00:27:13]>> Yeah.

[00:27:14]>> For the first time in my life, and I'm not exaggerating, this this young man to my right had an American Express black card, which is the holy grail, right? He said nothing. He put it in the can in the hat. I looked at him. He smiled. He knew exactly that I knew what he put in there. He didn't make a big deal about it. However, I've been to places where I see people like, "Yo, check out my gold card. Yo, this is fire. Blah, blah, blah."

[00:27:39]>> Yeah.

[00:27:40]>> No one cares. So, to say I'm going to apply for this card cuz it's a flex is stupid.

[00:27:48]>> Very.

[00:27:49]>> a thousand dollars if you're never going to travel, if that's not in your routine, don't get the card to say you have it because you're leaving credits on and benefits on the table. If you don't like to go out to restaurants, don't get a credit card that gives you restaurant benefits. Don't get one that gives you lounge access if you've never been into a lounge. If you're the guy that runs to the flight two seconds before they close the door, don't get that card. Don't. Get the cheaper version, the $95 version that doesn't give you the lounge access. So, spend within your means. Apply within your means. Make sure the card works for you and not the other You don't want to work for the card, which is a big mistake people do.

[00:28:34]>> Yeah.

[00:28:35]>> I shouldn't have to go through 10 hoops to take advantage of that one benefit.

[00:28:39]>> 100% 100% Listen, as heard from the man himself, Joe Barreto, the credit card connection in the building. Thanks again, Joe. We greatly appreciate you stopping by today.

[00:28:50]>> I appreciate you, Calvin.

[00:28:51]>> Thanks for watching and we'll see you guys on the next video.