Shopping Discussion

Costco And Amex - what happened?

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Deal Addict
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Jan 16, 2003
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Costco And Amex - what happened?

Did they have a fight and break up? What's the story?
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Deal Fanatic
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Jun 29, 2009
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Do you have a story? I haven't seen anything
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Aug 29, 2012
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It's unknown why the Costco Amex TrueEarnings was discontinued. It's to be noted that it was not discontinued in the US. The partnership between Amex and Costco for payment processing continues as always. The exact reasons why the TrueEarnings was withdrawn from Canada are speculation:

-American Express wants to see if it can make more money by converting the user base to one of its cards with annual fees (possibly waved the first year), using Canada as a test market
-Costco and Amex are in negotiation for a TrueEarnings with different benefits (this was suggested by someone from here who called customer service)
Deal Addict
Nov 18, 2012
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Toronto
OP is right, the Costco ture earn is no longer in Canada AMEX. So surprise of this, the blue sky is still alive.
Simple is the best.
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Jun 11, 2005
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Mississauga
second2none wrote: Costco no longer accepts Amex.
I`m confused. I used my Costco amex last night while shopping at Costco in Mississauga.
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Jan 16, 2003
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antigua1999 wrote: I`m confused. I used my Costco amex last night while shopping at Costco in Mississauga.
Sorry, I was misinformed. They still accept Amex (for the time being).

They no longer offer the card to anyone, and there are no more Amex signs anywhere in the store.

An employee said that Amex and Costco had a disagreement. Apparently they are looking at signing a new agreement with a different CC provided.
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Feb 10, 2013
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Richmond
second2none wrote: Sorry, I was misinformed. They still accept Amex (for the time being).

They no longer offer the card to anyone, and there are no more Amex signs anywhere in the store.

An employee said that Amex and Costco had a disagreement. Apparently they are looking at signing a new agreement with a different CC provided.
sounds like they had a lovers quarrel
Deal Addict
Mar 3, 2009
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Ottawa, ON
second2none wrote: Apparently they are looking at signing a new agreement with a different CC provided.
I too have heard this, but I cannot find anything official. It would be a big change if it's true.
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Nov 18, 2012
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I could like to hear Coatco accept Visa or Master, just worry about they will only accept debet or cash.
Simple is the best.
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Aug 6, 2009
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Aurora, ON
Well this is upsetting. I could care less about the point/cash rebate, it's under $10 for me...BUT I will miss the convienence of my member card being my CC.
If Amex and Costco cut ties then the Amex card will go in the garbage ...I wouldn't bother with an annual fee card.
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May 9, 2006
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jackie999 wrote: Well this is upsetting. I could care less about the point/cash rebate, it's under $10 for me...BUT I will miss the convienence of my member card being my CC.
If Amex and Costco cut ties then the Amex card will go in the garbage ...I wouldn't bother with an annual fee card.
Who knows... the next CC might offer this.
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May 12, 2004
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Ottawa
jackie999 wrote: Well this is upsetting. I could care less about the point/cash rebate, it's under $10 for me...BUT I will miss the convienence of my member card being my CC.
If Amex and Costco cut ties then the Amex card will go in the garbage ...I wouldn't bother with an annual fee card.
Agfreed and I'm pretty sure this is the case for 95% of Costco Amex holders.

Perhaps they're implementing Costco Financial Services with their own credit card, 2% cashback, free banking for members, ability to pay your utilities on CC,...hey what can I say I'm a dreamer!
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Aug 6, 2009
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I originally had a costco credit card (forget which institution it was with) but had a problem with it when I started getting charges that weren't mine. I called to complain and discovered the charges were for a coworkers..they claimed that was impossible and I fought back saying it had happened so it wasn't impossible. I cancelled the card and went with the amex and haven't looked back.
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May 12, 2004
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jackie999 wrote: I originally had a costco credit card (forget which institution it was with) but had a problem with it when I started getting charges that weren't mine. I called to complain and discovered the charges were for a coworkers..they claimed that was impossible and I fought back saying it had happened so it wasn't impossible. I cancelled the card and went with the amex and haven't looked back.
I worked at Costco between 1991 and 2000 (dating back to the Price Club era and before they accepted interac as a form of payment (I helped install the terminals), and I have been a member ever since, I had friends who transferred and had worked opening day in the 1st Canadian warehouse (Burnaby BC) and I can tell you with 200% accuracy they have never had a credit card other than the co-branded Amex card in Canada.

The only way that could have happened is in Mexico where they have their own credit cards division and will also accept visa/amex/mc by tacking on 4% to your bill.

Back in the day when I first started some very exclusive high volume members (i.e. embassies that shipped overseas for example) were offered a "Bill me later" option. I'm talking less than 20 members total. It's the only form of 'credit' they had ever offered prior to amex.
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Oct 19, 2003
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Toronto (Bloor West …
Interesting I just finally got a membership with costco a few months ago and got their dumb amex card just because I hate interac and getting a little cash back is better than 0 and previously had zero need or use for an amex card of any type. I have not received any communication about the card I already have changing so I assume that it's business as usual with the existing cards at least until the card reaches it's expiry date?
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Aug 29, 2012
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second2none wrote: Sorry, I was misinformed. They still accept Amex (for the time being).

They no longer offer the card to anyone, and there are no more Amex signs anywhere in the store.

An employee said that Amex and Costco had a disagreement. Apparently they are looking at signing a new agreement with a different CC provided.
Beware because minor employees are often misinformed.

Anyway I stopped using Amex at Costco, I order cash cards from Costco.ca with my MBNA RTP which gives me 2 % cashback.

If it were to eventually become true I wonder what American Express will convert the huge existing Costco userbase to.

I suppose they could do like Nofrills, accept only MasterCard and heavily push their own MasterCard in order to reduce the merchant fees they have to pay.

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