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Jerry Seinfeld, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, 'A Hooker in the Rain'ĭoug Smith, the director of American Express in Europe, told the fact-checking website that there 'had been rumors going around that we had this ultra-exclusive black card for elite customers. It doesn't exist.' He said, 'But you know what? It's not a bad idea.' I go, 'Is there a black card?' He says, 'It's just a rumor. The Sultan of Brunei has one, the president of American Express has one, and I thought you would have the third one.' Next morning I call the president of American Express. I was waiting for to move some cameras, and the crew guy comes up to me, he says, 'You got the black card?' And I go 'No, what’s the black card?' He says, 'There’s only three in the world. In a 2018 episode of the Netflix show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld, who appeared in American Express commercials in the 1990s, claimed to have received the first Centurion card after contacting the company's president about the rumored existence of an exclusive black card.

Services included 'dispatching limousines or helicopters for clients, booking their vacations and finding medical care in exotic places.' Middleton said American Express abandoned the black card in 1987 because the newly introduced Platinum Card offered '95% of the black card's services.' In 1999, American Express introduced the Centurion Card, a black charge card aimed at the company's wealthiest cardholders.

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The article claimed that during a trial run that lasted almost four years, the card 'was held by an ultra-select group of consumers who numbered fewer than 1,000 around the world.' Lee Middleton, a spokesman for American Express, confirmed the card's existence to the Journal and said that it was given to clients who had a 'substantial banking relationship' with American Express Bank Ltd., the New York parent of American Express's bank subsidiaries in Switzerland. In 1988, an article in The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that an exclusive black American Express membership card that was never advertised had been discontinued a year earlier. It is considered a status symbol among the affluent. The card reports to credit bureaus and does not maintain a pre-set credit limit.

The Centurion Card is minted out of anodized titanium, laser-engraved, and accented with stainless steel. The firm does not disclose the exact requirements to receive an invitation to carry the card. It is reserved for the company's wealthiest clients who meet certain net worth, credit quality, and spending requirements on its gateway card, the Platinum Card. The American Express Centurion Card, colloquially known as the Black Card, is a charge card issued by American Express.

Invitation-only charge card issued by American Express Front side of an American Express Centurion Card