American Express To Launch Delta Charge Cards? [Update: No/Unlikely]

Small update: The American Express branding is the old design. In addition it looks like these were added/updated on June 9, 2017. Obviously still possible that American Express plan to add Delta charge cards at some stage, but seems unlikely to be anytime soon. None of my regular sources have heard anything about a Delta charge card either.

It looks like American Express is set to launch Delta charge cards, one for personal and one for business. Reddit user found the following card art:

The images are legitimate as they come from American Express’ own website:

These would be the first co-branded charge cards American Express has offered, apart from the different variations of the American Express platinum card. It’s possible that these are old images for a card that was never launched, but I suspect that isn’t the case. I’ve reached out to both official and unofficial contacts at American Express to see if we can confirm that these images are legitimate and new cards will be launched. It looks like the design for the Amazon small business card has also been leaked.
    William Charles
  • On August 16, 2018, 18:40

View Comments (31)

  • charge cards are dead but the amex wagon is so tightly hitched to that legacy product, they refuse to give up. Imagine being a bank who pushes charge cards and then several times a year, the Fed raises interest rates and your business benefits nothing as a result. That's the amex dilemma.

    • what are you smoking? looking at amex's latest quarterly earnings. Their net interest income was up ~40% I believe

      • less than 20% of amex revenue is from interest. Bragging about a 40% increase off a small base is intentionally misleading on your part. Yes, to boost that, they have spent 20 years trying to launch revolvers and go as far down the fico curve as necessary to get cardholders. but the platinum and other revolvers, look very unattractive to amex in the current enviro where the fed keeps raising rates.

        The fed can jack rates to 25% and the platinum product line will be no more profitable to amex than it is today. they hate that fact, but as much as they want to break free from the charge card past, it remains.

        • Considering that AMEX lowered the bar and devalued the Plat exclusivity years ago and the revolvers carry minimal risk with payment in full every month, and after three statements you can be targeted or apply to pay over time. I'm sure they make decent bank on lower FICO Pt card holders that want the prestige cards (not talking about churners that maximize card rewards).

          Costco make most of its profit on $60/$120 membership fees, I imagine that the actuary rates on Amex AF vs rewards cost is above break-even. I also imagine that they make a decent profit on swipe fees and the Biz card products

          But I think that revolvers and lack of interest drives Amex to be more aggressive on MS the MSR and RT, etc compared with Chase and other issuers..

  • Given Amex’ draconian language lately, I wouldn’t be shocked if they have terms denying bonus if you’ve previously had a comparable Delta business credit card. I wouldn’t take it as a given that this is another opportunity for more SkyMiles for those who already have had the cobranded cards.

  • Some nice bonus categories would be great. Really hard to justify putting any spend on the cobranded credit cards.

    • That's a great point. It does have the outdated amex branding. I'd be surprised if this was final card art for a new product.
      If it is new, more than likely, this product has been in the works for a while, and the card art was originally made in the old branding (happens a ton), but will be updated before launch.

  • What's the point? They are trying to turn their charge cards into credit cards by adding pay over time feature, so why new charge cards?

    The trick to do well as an MBA is to show you are doing something even if it makes no sense . If it works you made it through hard work and determination if it didn't then you "learnt valuable lessons" while someone else cleans up your mess and bears the cost. Sounds like a political party we all know.

    • B/c the pay over time feature is a huge hit with the millennial demographic? No one wants "high interest cc debt" - but paying one or two large purchases over time with clearly specified amounts with a few taps? Completely different story.

      • I had read that amex was missing out on interest charges with their charge cards and wanted to move more towards credit card type portfolio. That probably means they want to take more risk and lower the average quality of their card holders. Probably the reason why they are so lax in improving cards.

    • Look at it this way: Hopefully they wlll offer free Delta Skymiles to enroll in Pay Over Time the way they offered MR points on my PRG. Not that I will ever use the feature. But I’m more than happy to be compensated for not using it 😂

    • Of course someone named Credit is hating on the charge cards.

      I can't believe someone with 668 comments on this site can fail to see how great this news is...

      • Wow. 668?
        Damn. Doc has helped me a lot. I would put a dollar value to how much I made with his advice if I wasn't too lazy to do it.

        • Wow, 668 comments and you still haven’t learned how to not eject politics into threads about credit cards. Pity.

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