If you shop at Costco, you may have experienced a big change in how you do your shopping. As of last week, Costco no longer accepts American Express and the Costco AmEx credit card is no longer valid.
“In February 2015, American Express said it was ending its 16-year deal with Costco because it was ‘unable to reach terms that would have made economic sense for our Company and shareholders,'” reports Business Insider.
Costco has made a deal with Visa and Citi. Customers with a Costco AmEx card would now use a Costco Anywhere Visa card, which the company was shipping to all card holders. Customers were supposed to receive their new cards in May.
However, soon after the credit card switch, Costco’s social media accounts were flooded with negative comments, pertaining to the fact that customers had not received their new Visa cards and their AmEx cards were already deemed invalid.
From Business Insider:
“Difficulties related to the credit-card swap have a number of customers threatening to boycott or cancel their memberships.
‘To date, more than 11 million cards have been issued to existing Costco cardmembers,’ Citi spokesperson Jennifer Bombardier told Business Insider on Wednesday. ‘Due to the tremendous response, some customers experienced delays reaching customer service, however call volumes are starting to return to normal. We sincerely apologize to those who have been inconvenienced and are absolutely committed to serving our existing and new cardmembers.'”
However, it’s not all bad news. The new Costco Visa card will offer better rewards than its AmEx predecessor.
“The new Costco Visa card will offer 4% cash back on eligible gas purchases (on up to $7,000 per year, then 1% back), 3% back on restaurant and travel purchases, 2% back on Costco and Costco.com purchases, and 1% back everywhere else.
That’s a much better deal than the American Express card, which offered 3% cash back on gas (up to $4,000), 2% back on restaurants and travel, and 1% back everywhere else, Fortune reports . In fact, it’s some of the best cash-back rates on gas, restaurants, and travel of any card on the market,” adds Business Insider.
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