Some years back I received a pre-approved credit card offer that was impossible to accept and equally impossible to trash. It is an offer for a Visa Black Card, the sole benefit of which is the $495 annual fee. Virtually every “perk” included in that top line (24-hour concierge service, membership points, etc.) comes with various exclusive “metallated” (gold, platinum, etc.) credit cards that have no annual fees or have fees that are substantially lower than the $495 required by the Black Card.
Strangely enough, the Black Card vendor feels compelled to emphasize that the card is made of carbon. Of course, all the plastic composites of which credit cards are made are primarily composed of carbon, but choosing to emphasize a material, carbon, that is infinitely cheaper than the expensive metals after which others are named (gold, titanium, platinum) is a questionable choice for someone who wants to charge $495 annually for the privilege of owning a black card.
The only useful information in the offer is the fact that the availability of the card is limited to 1% of American residents. The obscenely wealthy, it seems, are not as shielded against stupidity as they would like to think.
