"John Levine" wrote in message
...
Going from plain to Gold to Platinum rarely brings any extra benefits,
other than it being loosely linked to the credit limit, but even that's
not guaranteed.

Depends on the card. I have a green UK Amex card, and there are certainly
benefits I'd get if I paid for a fancier card, although I don't think any
of
them are worth what they'd cost:

http://www.americanexpress.com/lacid...ss_cards.shtml

I have a mastercard from HSBC UK, which also provides travel cover. I
agree that the
differences among their cards are much less interesting.


Some time back I had a UK Amex card. I initially got it because a colleague
already had one and Amex were offering a case of wine (which my colleague
and I shared) to anybody recommending their card to a friend. After a long
period in which I very rarely used the card, I eventually closed the account
because I was fed up with repeated marketing calls trying to sell me an
addional service which I didn't want to buy from them. The additional
service was billed as identity theft protection and the marketing people who
were promoting it consistently got my name wrong when they contacted me

Martin