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Comment by AdmiralAsshat | Hacker News Reader

I was really bummed when I found out that the Costco Amex card was getting cancelled, as I was thinking about getting one.

But having read the article: good. I'm glad Costco did not hesitate to tell them to take a hike when they found a better deal.

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The Costco Amex vanishing seems like no big deal. However, Costco refusing to take Amex for payment at all introduces far more inconvenience.

Not really. Before AMEX, Costco had an exclusive deal with Discover. That's the definition of inconvenience. This new deal will result in a Costco branded Visa but Costco will be accepting ANY Visa card. For the vast majority of consumers this is much more convenient.

FWIW, AMEX has been doing the hard sell trying to get me to switch to a new card. So far, I haven't seen any offers worth my time. It's a shame really. I've been a cardholder for 15 years and even worked for them for a few years. Personally, I see no reason to continue the "relationship".

For some card holders, it may be worth it to transition to another no annual fee card rather than closing the account itself. Age of credit is one important component of your credit score, and my AMEX is my second oldest account.

Yeah, when we moved back to the states, I signed up with Costco. Only I couldn't pay for it with any of the cards that I had. So I also had to sign up for their Amex card. Quite a bit of paperwork and hassle...

There's always cash.

Now here's the real question: Why won't Costco just buckle down and accept any major card?

Costco was giving away 0.6% swipe fees to AMEX. If they accepted AMEX as "just another payment method" without the partnership, that rate would quadruple.

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