The Most Exclusive Credit Cards in the World
I think we can all agree credit cards are pretty awesome. They help us get free travel, cash back, and just in general help us manage cash flow. Now clearly, not all credit cards are created equally. Some are fantastic products and some are terrible. There are beginner cards, mid tier cards, premium cards, and then far out in a league of their own there are Ultra Premium cards for the worlds wealthiest individuals. These cards are invite only and have astronomically high annual fees and are unfortunately out of most of our leagues.
I personally have a few premium cards like the Amex Platinum and the Capital One Venture X, but I am nowhere near capable of geting any of these cards that I will be discussing in this blog post. So, let’s take a deep look into a few of the most exclusive credit cards in the world. Let’s see if they’re actually worth the hype, or if you’re better off just working your way up to getting premium cards like the Platinum, Sapphire Reserve, or the Venture X.
So let’s start off with a card that over the past few years has become to be more and more well known. The Amex Centurion aka "Black Card" is easily one of the most prestigious cards in the world. The Black card is invitation only and has an insane one time imitation fee of $10,000 and then an annual fee of $5000 and the only way you can get invited is by spending roughly $300,000 a year on your other American Express cards.
So for a card that costs $15,000 in the first year, and then $5,000 every year after, it better come with some amazing benefits, and the Centurion card does just that. By having the Centurion, you’ll automatically get IHG Platinum Elite Status, Hilton Honors Diamond Status, Delta SkyMiles Platinum status, and also Marriott Bonvoy Gold status (which honestly is a joke) because the Bonvoy Brilliant card now offers auto Platinum elite status. Surely Amex will update that, or maybe they already have, to give it’s Centurion cardholders Marriott Platinum status. However, if you travel quite often and want to enjoy hotel and Delta status then this card can act as a one size fits all when it comes to statuses.
Also worth mentioning the Centurion card offers Hertz Platinum status (which everyone in the comment section of a recent TikTok video I made felt their need to mention) as I incorrectly stated that Hertz President Circle status was the highest level of status. But, in fact it’s not and Platinum status, which is strictly for Centurion cardholders, is indeed Hertz’ highest status tier.
I would say the most coveted benefit of having the Centurion card is the customer service Centurion cardholders get, along with the access to the Centurion concierge. American Express is well known for having excellent customer service in general, but there is a dedicated team that strictly works just for the Centurion cardmembers. The Amex Centurion Concierge service can basically handle anything a multimillionaire would need. One would assume someone who earns a very high income and spends a boatload of money has a very hectic and time consuming job, and they may not have time to spend looking for flights, tickets for concerts etc. That’s where the Centurion Concierge service comes in. They can handle all of that for the Centurion cardmember which I’ve gotta admit does sound pretty nice.
There are tons of other credits and perks offered from the Centurion, but I’m not going to cover all of those in this post. If you would be interested in a deeper dive in the Centurion card, then be sure to let me know that down in the comment section!
This card is wildly exclusive and meant only for the top 1% of wealthy individuals. You will not get an invitation to apply unless you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on your other Amex cards a year which likely means you’re earning in the million + range annually to afford spending like that. For those reasons, that is why the Centurion Card is one of the most exclusive credit cards in the world.
Now the next ultra high end credit card I want to talk about is another one you may be familiar with thanks to a YouTube video made by Graham Stephen. In his video titled the "$10M credit card", Graham talks about the benefits of the JP Morgan Reserve card which used to be known as the Palladium card.
The JP Morgan Reserve is not the same as the Chase Sapphire Reserve. They are 2 separate cards with a few differences and the biggest difference is the fact that anyone can apply for the Sapphire Reserve where as you have to be invited to get the JP Morgan Reserve.
That’s kind of the theme for these ultra exclusive cards, invite only.
Allegedly, the only way you can get invited to get this card is by having $10M in assets under management with JP Morgan and be a member of private banking. However, there are reports of individuals who don’t have that much invested with JP Morgan and still get invited to apply for the JP Morgan Reserve.
Also, what is kind of funny about this card, is the fact it really isn’t all that different from the Sapphire Reserve aside from the obvious physical differences, but in terms of perks and benefits there is a lot of crossover. The JP Morgan Reserve annual fee is $595 which is just slightly higher than the Sapphire Reserve at $550.
One of the key benefits that the JP Morgan Reserve has that the Sapphire Reserve doesn’t is a United Club Membership but seriously all of the earning categories and credits are the same as the Sapphire Reserve.
Which might make you wonder what even is the point of this card? And to me, just like with all ultra luxury items, the point is just to flex. In reality the JP Morgan Reserve is a good card, but so is the CSR. The fact you have to be very wealthy to get the JP Morgan Reserve is the flex.
Anyone can get the Chase Sapphire Reserve as long as they can afford the $550 annual fee and have a credit limit of $10,000 which is the minimum for a Visa Infinite level card, but very few will ever be invited to get the JP Morgan Reserve making it one of the most exclusive credit cards in the world.
Now for the final ultra exclusive card, I want to talk about a card that the benefits and details are the least known about. The Dubai First Royale Mastercard is easily the most exclusive card in the world and again, it is so exclusive very little is known about the perks and benefits.
The Amex Centurion and JP Morgan Reserve both have multiple YouTube videos and blogposts written about them and everything regarding the fees, bonus categories, and other details are basically public knowledge at this point. However, that is definitely not the case for the Dubai Royale Card.
We do know a few things about this card. First off, again it is obviously invitation only and also there is no preset spending limit, which makes sense. Also we know about the design of the card. It is mostly black but has gold trim along the top and left side and it has a real .235 carat diamond imbedded in the face of the card.
Yes you heard me it is a real diamond.. in a credit card.. insane!
As far as the benefits go, all that is really known about this card is that by having this card you’ll have access to “royal lifestyle management” which basically means cardmembers have a personal assistant on demand 24/7/365.
Allegedly, this card is only available to members of the Dubai Royal Family and ultra high net worth individuals across the world. My guess is their ideal customer is in the billionaire range, so as cool as I think it would be to have a card like this one day, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll make it into their ideal customer category. Although, since I can now invest in ultra high end artwork thanks to Masterworks... maybe I’m closer to getting to billionaire status than I think? 😅
So there you have it. Those are the 3 most exclusive credit cards in the world! What do you think about these cards? Be sure to check out the Youtube video I made on this topic!