I was an American Express client for a few years

I applied for an Amex in 2011, upgraded to Gold the same year, and then I decided to give up the card in 2016.

Now, I was actually thinking about applying again, but I don't think I will.

The first thing we need to stress about the Amex is that, contrary to what people think, it is not at all hard to get.

The threshold for the base card is as low as it gets, and even for the Amex Gold, it is still not high (it varies on your location, though).

The thing is, as I was looking to apply, I signed up to the unofficial Amex Facebook page and the messages I keep reading daily are insane. And they put me off.

Based on the messages I've been reading, these people are wasting money on a sub-optimal service because, in my view, they're just too in love with the idea of having an Amex so they just don't see it.

I read their messages and the complaints are just hilarious.

First of all, so many are complaining that Amex is not, DUH, globally accepted.

No s**t, Sherlock. This has always been one of Amex's greatest limits.

Other common complaints are fees and the fact that perks are becoming less satisfying

I apologise but I also find this rather ridiculous.

First of all, in this day and age, if your bank or your card provider is still charging you a fee for each transaction, you're in the wrong place and should leave immediately.

There's no excuse. None of my daily purchases have fees attached to them. Even though they all happen in a foreign currency because most of my cards are in euros, but I don't live in a € country.

And the perks? Amex used to have nice perks, and this used to be exclusive. But these days you don't have need to have an Amex to get those perks.

I use Revolut, you can get access to airport lounges with that. I use Curve, you can get travel insurance with that. And I get cashback on every single purchase with Wirex. I could go on.

This may sound like a rant, and perhaps it is.

But the tenor of these messages surprised me.

Why would anyone deliberately stick with a service that's clearly not as good as it used to be, just because they like the idea?

Go figure.