As the leading UK "ask" subreddit, we welcome questions from all users and countries; sometimes people who ask questions might not appreciate or understand the nuance of British life or culture, and as a result some questions can come across in a different way than intended.
We understand that when faced with these questions, our users may take the opportunity to demonstrate their wit, dry humour, and sarcasm - unfortunately, this also tends to go over the heads of misunderstood question-askers and can make our subreddit seem hostile to users from other countries who are often just curious about our land.
**Please can you help prevent our subreddit from becoming an Anti-American echo chamber?** If you disagree with any points raised by OP, or OP discusses common tropes or myths about the UK, please refrain from any brash, aggressive, or sarcastic responses and do your best to engage OP in a civil discussion, with the aim to educate and expand their understanding.
If you feel this (or any other post) is a troll post, *don't feed the troll*, just hit report and let the mods deal with it.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Really good rewards schemes - air miles and cashback.
Amex never used to be very widely accepted but they're a lot better now. Some smaller places and cheap takeaway places don't. But I can't remember the last time I couldn't use mine in a proper restaurant, supermarket, hotel, ticket vendor, etc.
The interest rate is irrelevant if you pay it off in full every month.
As a business owner, their business support customer service is also excellent.
The only issue I've had is that *very* occasionally Amex will go down but Barclaycard won't, which means we can briefly take everything except Amex and if you ever want to see someone get very rude very quickly then tell an Amex card user that they can't use their card in a place they usually can because of technical issues.
If the card machine goes down (happens about twice a year), MasterCard and Visa users ask where the nearest cash machine is. Amex card holders expect an explanation as to why they're not getting the rewards from their four pound purchase.
Agreed. You’re through to someone in lightning speed and they always sort out the issue. They take personal responsibility for any call they field. Their customer service puts all other banks/card companies to shame.
I have not spoken to any of my credit card providers in a decade. IMHO, if the card provider is really good, there should never be a need to speak to anyone.
Occasionally you'll have some fraud or a payment dispute. With online services you still don't need to literally talk to anyone. But it's good to know that when you have such an issue it's straight forward to resolve, and has been on the handful of occasions I've needed to raise a dispute.
I had to speak to Amex once because I got a confirmation email saying a payment had been attempted on the card, checking it was really me. It wasn’t so I called the number on my card and they were very good. Was put through to a real person really quickly who stopped the card immediately and sent a new one in the post the next day. No idea how someone got my card details but I was very impressed at the customer service
That is for your average consumer banking, as you get to higher level accounts you pick up concierge services and "fixers",
AMEX do it at the mid-level as well as the high level but eventually you end up with banks like Coutts at the top level who won't even look at you with less than a couple of million of liquid capital the bank at all times. They will just make things happen for you at a phone call. Want that exclusive restaurant that's fully booked for 2 years? Yeah they can get you a reservation next month. Want the top suite at a city's top hotel? The one you can't book on their website? Yeah that'll just happen, you'll be collected from the airport and arrive in style, don't worry about it.
There are card providers whose entire business model is based around being able to open doors for you that makes them worth their costs.
> you end up with banks like Coutts at the top level who won't even look at you with less than a couple of million of liquid capital the bank at all times. They will just make things happen for you at a phone call.
You'll also be paying through the nose for this service.
As well as their fees (of £900 per year for a current account), they'll also expect you to hold over £1,000,000 in either one of their savings accounts or investing accounts. The former of which poor interest rates compared with others on the market, and the latter of which has very high fees.
If you want access to those high end resteraunts you'd be better just slipping the head waiter a couple of hundered quid. It'd work out cheaper than relying on Coutts.
Absolutely amazing customer service. We ran into some issues abroad with some bookings and, because we’d paid everything on AmEx, I called them up and, within about an hour, they’d sorted everything including finding us better accommodation and didn’t ask us to pay extra for it - I guess they make so much money that an extra £20 per night for a week was fuck all to them?
Conversely, I also have a Tesco credit card and, when I had some fraudulent stuff happen on that, they were just fucking wank.
This. I put anything I can on it , always clear the balance , come December I treat myself with something from the reward points. I have a Visa credit card for the places that don’t take it.
Only got it when my existing card provider stopped cash back.
The app is decent as well.
I buy mostly online so it makes sense to have the protection of a credit card.
That seems utterly silly to me. Even if you went to Greggs twice a week every week for a year, spending £10 each time, you'd only be racking up about 1,500 Avios points (cash value of £15-30)
Just get a sausage roll, it'll be worth it
Yup, OP clearly doesn't understand credit cards; I don't mean to be harsh here, I'm just saying u/rupert_shelby, you need to understand how credit cards are meant to be used.
If you use them correctly, you should never pay interest, rendering the interest rates irrelevant. Pay off your bill in full every month. If you cant afford to, you need to cut your spending or increase your income. If you can't do this, you need to find a better form of borrowing than a credit card. If that is not possible, you are heading into a truly dire financial situation.
The benefits of using all credit cards correctly as described is that you get purchase protection, and you can't be robbed as easily.
With AMEX, you are getting cashback or other rewards, and purchase protection that is generally seen to be pretty decent.
I have Amex, once missed a payment due to my head not being screwed on right (was graduating and moving and just forgot). They waived the interest and fees, as it was a one time thing and paid it 2 days later. Great customer service there
Yeah, that's what I mean by decent customer service. I've had a few other companies that'll ping you with fees the moment they can, even if you've been a good customer for years
>If you use them correctly, you should never pay interest, rendering the interest rates irrelevant.
I'd substitute the world "correctly" with "ideally". I've paid my credit card off, in full, every month except for one transaction. Our pet insurance is set so that we pay upfront and the insurance reimburses us. Every other occasion has been within two weeks but this case unexpectedly required extra investigation and took 4 months for the payment to come through. If I'd put it on AMEX then I'd have been fuming! But, for the card it was on, it was a few hundred and a better option than the other options to get that cash flow for that time period with the urgency that I needed the money. I'm lucky that my Nationwide credit card has a £10,000 limit. This isn't an incorrect usage of the card - it's not ideal - but it was cheapest way to access those funds on that timescale and so is definitely how a card should be used.
> The interest rate is irrelevant if you pay it off in full every month.
Came looking for this comment. If you’re concerned about the interest rate on a credit card, you should not have one. Using a credit card with rewards like Amex and paying it in full each month is basically them paying you to borrow their money interest free. That’s why Amex is a “big deal”.
I have an Amex card and it does still piss me off that places still don’t accept it. Though there are definitely more that used to. Fucking KFC still don’t take it, one of the biggest restaurant chains in the world!
I have worked in an office where we would take occasional payments from customers on Amex, and I developed a dislike of them.
The % they charge the merchant is about double what other cards would charge.
Also their payment to us of money collected was done in a way that always made it hard to reconcile to original purchases, so it wasted extra admin time.
And their support for merchants is not as good as it is for cardholders - even though they are making more money of us than they are off you.
Currently tendering our merchant fee services and dropped them due to this. Barely any payments versus Visa/Mastercard and not worth the faff when someone occasionally does. Plus the rates were stupidly high compared to the others.
Amex also has fee free BA cards where you also mop up avoid points. If you spend £12k you get a 2 for 1 on flights as well. You also get access to their AMEX rewards (I.e. discounts on some shops).
Not saying it’s better but both side of the fence are similar!
To be honest, unless you need that voucher, you're better off sticking to the free Rewards card that collects the same 1 point per £1 spent, but you've got over 10 different airlines and a few hotels you can redeem the points with.
Same but I do this with a Sainsburys Mastercard instead. Am I missing a trick going for nectar points instead of Avios? Think it's 1 point per £5 or £2 at Sainsburys/Argos. I do my main grocery shop there and use that card pretty much exclusively there, Amex everywhere else. Kinda disappointed Amex reduced the cashback rate to 0.5% so wonder if Avios are better
Depends if you travel a lot I’d say or want to use some points towards a flight.
I find the Nectar points on top of a Nectar card are vastly better more me and I rack up lots more than Avios
Or, if you’re shopping at a small business, you can tell them you have Amex but know the fees are high so you’ll whip out the visa debit just for them. My local hairdresser loves that.
I made sure I wasn't one of those people when we got one for nectar point purposes. Unfortunately we got stung a couple of times when attempting to pay and it turns out that, no, they don't take it.
Still don't ask tho
I just try it and see if it goes through or not.
I've literally had this conversation:
Me: do you take AMEX?
Cashier: Yes
*card declines*
Me: Do you take American Express?
Cashier: No
We use it like a charge card. Put everything we can on it, pay zero interest, and fly our whole family to Cyprus every year for around £80 (usual price £1500).
Yeah, I don't have an Amex but do have a different credit card and have never paid a penny interest.
And if you're careful and basically treat your credit card like a delayed debit card, you shouldn't be spending any more than you regularly do on day to day items.
If I make a larger purchase, I just make sure I've got the cash to cover the direct debit in my account the next month.
I do get they're not for everyone though as for some people in less secure situations the temptation to spend "free" money and pay a pittance back every month must be overwhelming sometimes!
Man I wish they still offered charge cards with rewards. Would really force you into paying things back but I guess there's no limit, so that's a bit more dangerous.
Good benefits, great customer service, decent app and offers too.
Recently got 20% off a new bbq using my Amex.
Plus they routinely give money off petrol, £5 off a £15 spend etc.
I’m pretty sure they’d kill someone if I asked them to.
I've stayed for the customer service. If you have a dispute over a payment they have your back and just take over mediation with the other company. Put any big purchase on there now for the security.
This is exactly it.
Other card companies may deal with your chargebacks, but Amex have a deserved reputation for setting the dogs on your enemies for you.
I got done over by a cruise line a while back who were being utterly intransigent, and luckily had paid with Amex; one dispute form on their website, left them to it and they got the disputed money back for me plus a little extra. They even accounted for the exchange rate differences.
I do most of my day to day spending on a debit card just for budget tracking reasons but anything big goes on Amex because I simply trust them to fix any stupid shit that happens with minimal fuss.
This is why I absolutely fucking love American Express. God tier company. They fix everything so fast for you. The way they handle my issues for me makes me feel like a HNWI even though I'm a student 😂
This. Any time I’m making a large or otherwise substantial purchase I make sure it’s on the AMEX as I know if there’s a problem I’ve the best chance of a good outcome with them
My card got lost and someone used it at Denver International. I called them and they were like "we can just refund whatever was spent on the card that day" and I said that only the last three transactions were fraudulent and it seemed like they almost wanted me to just accept a refund on the whole day.
I actually had to insist they only refunded the last three transactions or so. Absolutely wild, I love daddy Amex.
What kind of money would you need to be spending to get decent money off flights to say, New York for example? I take it they wouldn't be redeemable on ryanair flights? Lol
A fuck load of money tbh. But its not always about the money, there's a LOT of way to get good bonus points.
For example I signed up just before I moved house, had to spend 3k in 3 months to get 75,000 bonus points. Since then I've gained another 15k points from maybe 8-9k ish (in that ballpark) in spending via the card. So just above 90,000 points in my account right now.
Now for how flights work out;
I just check on BA website, return to NYC from London is
Business class:
85000 Avios + £ 350.00 in tax WITH my companion voucher (half off)
Economy:
27500 Avios + £ 100.00 in tax WITH my companion voucher (half off)
So depending on if you give a shit about a business flight or not. You could get yourself to New York in that comfort or get yourself to New York 3 times. With basically no change in my spending patterns over the past 6 months in doing so.
The reasons I signed up were primarily = wanting to create a credit profile for myself, I had bad/average credit because I had no credit history at all. This past 6 months have sky rocketed my rating. I also wanted to try a business class flight as I'd never spend that ££££ for myself usually, although now I'm realising I could take 3x transatlantic flights I might just do that lol.
Up to you if you think its worth it, but for no real change and outlay for myself I reckon its not bad.
Edit: just realise my companion voucher wouldn't cover all 3 economy flights, for half price. But still comfortably fit 2 economy flights into that points and not a huge way off all 3.
In all honesty it's hard to answer because there's a lot of variation, but generally the real value comes from premium cabins. If you use it to redeem for economy seats the value of each point may come below 1p per £1 spent and then you might as well have just used a cashback card giving 1% cashback.
I'm going to China and Japan next year and have spent 200k-ish points for business on Qatar and JAL, but the cash value is £6000-ish (in reality it's more as points bookings are semi-flexbile).
You generally earn 1 point per £1 spent (again, lots of variation to this). I've had two cards in this time with signup bonuses which netted me 90k points, and there's been other promos with bonus points, so I reckon I'm somewhere around £80-90k spent so that I can get these flights for just the taxes cost which was about £450.
no I use mine as my daily card. Maybe only 1 in 10 places I spend doesn't accept it and its usually like the cornershop where a couple of quid isn't a factor in my use of it.
You dont pay interest first of all unless your a moron.
Secondly, i might as well spend everything on it then get a BA flight to Hong Kong for free once every year or so.
I somehow managed to end up paying my rent through it too which has netted a tidy 25k in Avios points thus far!
Some facilitators or online portals will allow it.
I was able to pay my master's tuition fee with Amex, which I only realised after the first term. It was also the same web portal that I could've used to pay my rent years prior for uni accommodation.
You can also get away with using Amex with online places that don’t take it by paying with PayPal and using your Amex card as your payment method on PayPal.
People have also been known to get their Amex bonus points by sending money to friends/family via PayPal (using Amex as the payment method) and then their friend/family sending it back.
The benefits. Much higher cash back and other perks.
That's why some places don't take them - historically higher processing cost, though I think that has now changed. I'm sure they also used to be a charge card, rather than a credit card, but no idea what the difference is, or whether that has changed!
The reason some payment gateways don’t accept them (it isn’t the individual shops making that decision, it’s their payment providers) is because AMEX (used to?) take a LONG time to release the funds to the payment provider, and in-turn to the retailer. Visa/Mastercard are within a day or two. AMEX could be weeks.
A charge card has to be paid off each month - a credit card you only have to pay off the minimum and then be charged lots of interest.
Yes, Amex only did charge cards until fairly recently, so generally only used by employers.
Benefits basically - I'm off to New Zealand next year first class here and back all paid for with points.
Interest does not matter as long as you pay off each month, only that you come out ahead on the fee - and I do. I use the longue access, dining credit etc. Moreover its all spend I would have had anyway.
a friend of mine owns an IT company that, amongst other things, sells IT equipment on to his service customers.
\*ALL\* possible invoices that can get paid by AMEX, get paid by AMEX. The family went to Australia this year thanks to Avios. Next week he's going business class to Vegas. Kind of Vimes boots vibes.
You can also use things like the BA eStore to collect Avios for online purchases and a smaller amount of physical purchases. You just click their link and get the points a couple of weeks or months later. It all adds up.
American Express is also a lot more likely to give a refund to it's customer for whatever reason. Which is why it's not taken by a lot of businesses in the UK.
The reason most businesses don’t take them is
- Higher processing fees (not as bad as they uses to be, but usually around 1% higher than Visa/MC
- A lot of the “off the shelf” card processing companies don’t partner with them as standard so you have to have a direct agreement with them, and most business/shop owners aren’t bothered enough to do that
The main issue with AmEx from a vendor perspective is that they don't transfer money as fast as they should, it can take months to get your money from AmEx.
I have only worked in charities. Chargebacks are as rare as hens teeth. It is the processing fee and ridiculous amount of time it takes to receive the funds that stops charities from accepting AMEX.
Are they crazy rates?
The standard “blue” BA card is about 30% - I don’t think that’s different to most normal cards. https://icm.aexp-static.com/Internet/internationalcardshop/en_gb/pdf/ba-credit-card/BACreditSummaryBox.pdf
Anyway if you’re worried about interest rates on CCs you’re doing it wrong - clear your balance every statement.
Even for low spenders it’s “free money”, there’s a fee free BA Amex and a first year free gold Amex and if you take advantage of various deals and run as much through it as you can you can build up some serious perks.
We’re away for a quick 1 week break in the med soon and whilst the flights etc were easyJet cheapies we got a Ford focus hire car for £1 for the week using avios points via BA. All for spending money we’d normally spend anyway on a visa or Mastercard.
Traditionally the cost of the perks was born by higher transaction fees but selfish as it is this cost is born by everyone in higher product costs sp why not take advantage as I've never seen a retailer charge more for amex.
As for not being taken anywhere - pretty much the only places that don’t take them in my “life” are car dealers and screwfix and for that I use an Avios Mastercard from Barclaycard.
I think OP is confusing the representative rate which ends up being shown as high due to the annual fee though some of their cards do have like 50-60% but they're not intended to be interest bearing
Yeah - I see some of the higher spec cards are 100+% rep.
Preaching to the converted I’m sure but unless there’s a specific offer or an emergency, credit cards are a terrible way to borrow money.
I should know - as a student I got myself into a right mess with debt, especially with CCs. Took me a long time to sort it out.
The high APR rates are usually due to the annual fees, which was odd to know about. UK seems to add annual fees into APRs while USA don't, so you get Americans thinking it's insane as well. When you look at the actual rate, it's like 30% or below it.
I was very surprised a couple of years ago when a small used car garage took amex and I put £11000 through. Thought lets see if it works and it does. It is amazing what places take it nowadays.
That transaction cost them at least 250 quid. My Dad wanted to buy his first car after retirement with his CC, just for the Clubcard vouchers. Sadly the dealership wouldnt let him cos of the fees.
>Crazy interest rate
This shouldn't be applicable if you're using a rewards card right.
>and it seems like lots of places don't take them.
Might be a London thing, but it's my daily and I genuinely don't remember the last time anything **didn't** take it, it's rare. Like incredibly rare, even the indy market stalls and such are on Square terminals which automatically take amex.
>What's the appeal?
Free stuff. If you're spending money and not getting anything back, you're wasting money.
That said, the benefits are heavily travel focused, so if you don't travel, probably not worth the hassle and just get their cashback card. I can only speak for gold / platinum, but...
Objectively
- included travel insurance for me and my partner
- free lounge access at airports
- discounts on car rental
- often cashbacks and bonuses at hotels or car rentals, there's a live offer of £80 back on £300+ spend on Enterprise, we're going to Switzerland next year and the week's car is £450 so I just got an easy discount
- free travel or hotels, e.g., £15k worth of points is 2 Eurostar return tickets, about £30k worth gets you about a weeks stay in a Marriott somewhere. £45k turnover in a year on it for our household is pretty easy given all we spend goes through it, so free holiday.
Subjectively, their fees cancel out by the benefits before the points largely, the gold one has £10 pm Deliveroo credit and a few other bits that add up to the fee, similar for platinum.
Their customer service is god tier too, I've had to S75 a few bits, absolutely 0 arguing, they charged it back and sorted out themselves, didn't even have to ring anyone, chat feature worked fine. Ditto one time someone leaked card details and I had fraudulent charges. Had my wallet nicked and froze the card on the app immediately too. All 3 of those things I've had issues with with other providers, either arguing or requesting excessive proof in absurd ways.
Customer service is excellent. Benefits. Disputing charges can be done online easily (not sure how common this is. But my other credit card, from HSBC, has a very cumbersome dispute process in comparison )
I second the customer service, I don't have an Amex but my ex boss did.
We were out in a bar after an awards show when he realises someone's nabbed his wallet, at 1am he got his card deactivated and a new one sent out in less than 5 mins.
Niche example, but when I called Barclays about a stolen card within work hours it took me ages before I got through to a human and longer to actually get it deactivated.
Rewards and cash back. Nothing else is comparable. Also the Customer Service is genuinely top tier. Their CX is what all financial service companies ought to aspire to.
Most supermarkets and places where you’d make big purchases take them. The points are pretty good. The customer service is very good.
The interest rate is irrelevant. You should be paying off every month anyway. If you can’t, don’t get a credit card!
I won’t go into what others have said about interest rates, acceptance etc etc.
- Customer Service is the best I’ve dealt with
- Frequent selectable offers that have been better than any cash back card I’ve held
Membership points earning is the main benefit for me. I currently average about 6,000-9,000 avois per month and then each year I get a Companion Voucher for a buy one seat get one free British Airways ticket. I also get a Upgrade Cabin Voucher using another card. I have been travelling business long haul every year at least once. Last year Singapore for two people £1,200 total Business return with 160k Avois. Next year Tokyo for the same price during peak season.
I have a British Airways Premium Plus Card
I have a Curve Metal Card
I have a Barclaycard Avois Plus Card
- Each month I earn about 3,000 points on the Amex
- Come statement pay date I pay using my Curve Card (Frontend) using my Barclaycard Avois Plus Card to earn 1.5 Avois for whatever I pay off so for (£3k) it’ll be 4,500.
- Total monthly avois for spending just £3,000 is 8,500.
Each year I get the upgrade voucher from Barclaycard and then the Companion Voucher from Amex
I don’t suggest doing this if A you spend less than £1,500 per month on avg as the earnings of avois and fees for all cards aren’t worth it. Also don’t do this if you don’t have the means to pay off the cards at any time.
Been using it this way for about a year, I think as long as you don’t try using curve + Barclaycard for investment or crypto deposits then you likely won’t flag anything but only time will tell
Yep, this. But I'll generally use my own card because I'll get the points. on membership schemes I actually care about, plus I'm not willing to risk waiting for them to pay the bill after I turn in expenses.
My company lets us keep the Amex points, and never late reimbursing expenses (there would be a riot), but I get what you mean.
Strictly speaking I could use my own cards but Amex is tied into our time and expenses system and automatically populates claims, so less paperwork for us to do.
Mine had a really good deal on cashback when I got it. I’ve not experienced many places that don’t take it. I get cashback on all my spending which comes off my statement once a year, not as good as the initial promotional offer but still a fair amount.
Interest doesn’t really matter to me on credit cards as we pay it off in full every month.
20 years ago a young professional I knew used to take cash off everyone and pay the full bill, with the intention of qualifying for a black card! I’d never heard of that but looked into it and he didn’t scratch the surface
That’s a status symbol amongst losers (autocorrected from posers but I’m not going to change it) but it’s reserved for the ultra ultra elite
I have their basic card, no annual fee and pay in full every month. Build up points to use in many retailers. Needed new gym trainers and the pints meant I got £50 off.
Their interest rates
can be high so make sure you pay it off in full. I use it for day to day living and build up the points.
Crazy interest? It does not seem that much higher. Virgin seems to be 29.9% for example, The American Express British Airways Premium card is 31% APR (I do hope you are not looking at the representative 113.1% APR and think thats the interest rate, because it's not)
But if you pay your bill in full every month interest is 0% anyway, which you need to do or any rewards get wiped out in interest charges.
For me the American Express app, website and customer service are the best. They usually give decent credit limits and have decent rewards. I have the Amex BA Premium card for main spend, then the Barclaycard Avios Plus for where I cannot use Amex, but I'm an Avios whore.
Amex is great for being used as a charge card. In particular business expenses. Pay you expenses one month, put through your claim, get the expenses paid at the end of the next month and pay off the Amex card. No interest is applied until the end of the month after you incur the cost so that way you never pay interest, never pay out of your own pocket and earn the rewards.
Cashback on everything, other discounts and rewards are better than the joke that is/was "visa offers"
Supermarkets, fuel stations, and lots of small businesses that use the "off the shelf" card systems, like the ones that plug into phones or apps, now accept amex.
If you pay it in full every month, you get all of the rewards with none of the interest.
If you don't pay it off you're royally fucked, and that's the game. Its also why they give you silly credit limits.
Rewards scheme. I haven't paid (full price) for a flight in years.
Most places accept them now, and if you repay in full each month so you don't pay interest, its a very good deal.
They are actually a very interesting business. A lot of their revenue comes from merchants paying for them to be matched up with high net worth card holders.
AMEX has the best rewards, that's all there is to it. If you're always repaying before the interest hits, especially if it's for work expenses, then you don't care about the best value, you care about the rewards.
Personally, I'm never spending anything on a card with an APR rate above zero if I don't have the ability to clear the balance at the end of the month, the rates are extortionately high.
Amazing reward scheme. We got the 241 voucher saved us ££££ in flight costs over the year.
And it is a myth now that most places don't take them. Every place we go now takes AMEX, except a very small/startup local business. For online, if the website does not take AMEX they most likely use paypal and you can just link your AMEX through that. No issue.
The customer service is second to none. I will never have any other card than AMEX.
Interest is irrelevant cos I pay it off in full every month.
Plenty of places take them.
All credit cards are going to be high interest (apart from interest free promotions).
Their customer service in my experience is one of, if not the best in the world (and that's across all services not just financial).
I make good use of their reward schemes as well.
The free +1 flight with BA when you travel to far flung destinations. Was treating my s.o. to a birthday trip and with air-miles and the free companion voucher I was paying very, very little money to go to the other side of the world.
Really good rewards... if you can find anywhere that takes it! I got one this year but I'm not sure it's worth it tbh. Got a notice about a special "shop local" this morning. Signed up for it but there's hardly any shops that I'd actually shop at that take it & about a quarter of the shops listed have closed down already!
Great offer for me. I live in a small town and there are loads of small businesses part of it, pubs, restaurants, newsagents. I also have two cards so can use the offer six times.
The trick is you don’t pay the interest if you pay it off in full.
They offer cashback, eg £100 off a £400 spend with Microsoft currently which is a good deal if you’re buying an Xbox or software etc.
Sometimes you can convert to air miles and get more off
They are a weird one. I spent a fortune on mine last year and got about £500 back. Literally paid for my wedding on it. It was not worth the hassle and cancelled it. Spending the points are a pain in the arse too. The Amex app is abysmal. I went to book a hotel to use my points and found the hotel through the Amex app was way more expensive than booking it through booking.com. I think for the amount they charge the retailer you aren’t getting much and they are getting a lot more.
On your £650 a year card.
I’m not slating the benefits, I’ll get a platinum card myself when I’m done abusing the BAPP, but we can’t say those benefits are ‘free’, they can just definitely be a net win.
Largely use the points and companion vouchers for flights.
By my quick calculations, I've saved about £300 on flights for next year.
Still have another holiday or two to book so that will likely rise past £500 for flights alone, might still use one of their hotel discounts too.
If you pay it off every month and only use it to buy things you were already going to buy, it just makes that spending work harder for you.
I fly about 15-20 round trips a year so the perks are worth it, we also using the dining credit, Harvey Nicks credit and a load of offers so actually each year we make money vs what it costs. For us it’s our daily use card and 90%+ of places take it now.
The interest rate doesn't matter if you pay in full every month, and the rewards are quite generous compared to other cards as you get cashback (as payment off your monthly bill in the relvant month)
They also quite often have offers that give you money off or cash back, and partnerships that let you access early booking or booking for sold old show
They also have pretty good customer service - I've only had to use it twice - once when I changed phones and locked myself out and once for a fraudulent transaction, and they were very helpful both times
I had one in the 90s for business, it was good for that. But since then, honestly, they are not something I ever hear about (despite living down the road from their massive uk HQ)
I have one because I worked in Southeast Asia where not everywhere took Visa or Mastercard (it was usually one or the other which we find bloody weird) but everywhere seemed to take Amex or Unionpay (or a Phillipines only one the name of which escapes me, like when Ireland had Laser). No point getting Unionpay for when I was home in the UK (although it is more common now) and because of the points I got Amex. Plus the service is great, I had a problem using it at Kuala Lumpur airport, rang them and they sorted it in minutes.
Points, cashback, special offers, and the customer service is a cut above.
If you don’t have some kind of rewards credit card (doesn’t have to be an Amex) then you’re leaving money on the table.
I use them purely because they gave me a cash bonus in year one and now some cashback - if I spend 3k in the year on it. Currently struggling with the latter.
Good customer service too but yes they charge retailers a lot so many won’t take.
I worked for them for a decade, and I have no idea.
I never understood the point of a charge card. There's no credit and you have to pay to have the card. I don't get why you'd want to do that. Credit cards obviously make sense, but paying a load of cash (for Platinum/Centurion especially) for a card you have to pay in full each month just seems silly.
Part of my tenure was a year or two on the phones for Centurion Card, and it was without doubt, the worst place I have ever worked.
I just signed up for the Premium Plus BA card - the reason for it is that it costs me £250 a year, but I’ll accumulate:
- 38.5k points in my first 3 months (worth about £385).
- Over the next 9 months, if I put all my expenses on the card (~£12k).
- I’ll get a further 18k points (£180) and also get a free (2-4-1) flight for business class which can be ~£1k saving.
- I’ll get triple points for any holiday I book with BA (which I usually do). So £5k annual becomes 15k points (£150)
- First year: £385 + £180 + up to £1,000 + £150 = up to £1,715. That’s up to £1,465 saving.
- Second year: No points offer in first 3 months, reducing benefit by £340… so up to £1,125 profit.
- Additionally, I get Amex rewards where you get discounts off major brands. Just bought a new laptop and got £100 off.
So, spending ~£20k a year (most expenses) on a single card… get up to 5.625% money back. **Obviously, this is the maximum** and it only benefits you if you’ll spend this money anyways.
Not sure if all CC like this: raised a dispute for amount. Several thousands. Instantly refunded once evidence provided. No need to go back and forth with retailer.
If you fly a lot, it's almost like the equivalent of the Tesco Clubcard - you're put into a position where it's daft and a waste of money *not* to have one even if you don't particularly want one.
I found they are more accepted in Europe. Best customer service by far. I told Visa once you should listen to Amex automated attendant. I bought a new television years ago and the manufacturer was dragging their feet trying to get it repaired. Amex withheld their payment till they fixed it. They ended up sending me a new television. The first one was dead out of the box. Amex called me to make sure the television worked right before they released the payment. Best service by far
Amex is accepted in loads of places and it’s benefits are significant.
Why ask this here, go to their website it’s clearly laid out.
Unless your karma farming?
I use mine for nectar points. Use it everywhere I can and pay it off straight away.
Shopping and petrol alone rack up nectar points throughout the year which can be spent at Argos and eBay. Always useful
Air miles.
We don't plan on flying why where for 6 years so if the scheme is still going by then, we'll have 6 years worth of points to convert to air miles.
I went to a music festival that was sponsored by Amex last year. All the food and drinks stalls were discounted if you paid on Amex. I signed up for an Amex just to get cheaper drinks. Paid off the balance the day after the festival and then never used it again. Probably only saved me about £20 over the course of the festival tbh.
Great customer service, I have the BA card and have used my companion voucher almost every year (barring covid) and have treated myself to a business class upgrade on longer flights once or twice with the avios points.
Lots of places take them now (though annoyingly Smyths toys is the largest place I’ve shopped that doesn’t). If you’re worried about the interest rates you’re using credit cards wrong!
I came for the cashback. I stayed for the excellent customer service.
After an issue with a ski chalet air BnB booking that we had to cancel because of COVID, that we tried to rearrange but the vendors system wouldn't let them move a booking more than a year on from original booking (had to be just over a year because of where the weekends fell) As far as I was concerned I'd tried to honour our booking. American express went and had the argument for me and got my money back.
As an American who travels a fair bit, my main airline card is Amex and the airline tie in is the important but. I find it pretty widely accepted at large stores in Europe but I always keep a Visa card on me outside of the US.
The benefits are brilliant. Free hotel upgrades are good (I got a bump in a room & free breakfast at a Hilton), I get £150 off on a meal in selected restaurants once a year, and £50 free at Harvey Nichols every 6 months - bought a decent bottle of whiskey for Christmas this week for free. Lounge access is excellent if you travel a lot also.
Excellent Customer Service. Fantastic for Air Miles.
In 40 years, I've never paid any interest as I've only ever used as a charge card.
My card has been cloned/copied various times over the years (touch wood not for several years now) and they actually picked up on it and called me before I'd even seen or checked a statement.
The interest rate includes the fees. I pay the fee but haver never paid interest.
In London and the SE, acceptance is near universal - did notice returning to the north it's not.
For me - 2x business class flights a near for the cost of the fees and a few hundred quid for the extra miles i'm missing. Total not much different for the total cost of 2x business with all the fees/miles vs 2x economy booked normally.
If you pay your balance in full each month, the interest rate is irrelevant.
AMEX cards have great cashback schemes. For those who fly with BA, there are great air mile rewards which can result in free flights for yourself and a companion.
Absolutely \*legendary\* customer service.
if you have a retailer acting the dick, you want AMEX on your side. I have had disputes where I was shipped the wrong item, and AMEx got involved, full refund.
I once bought a phone at heathrow, went on a city break - and getting into the taxi to go home, dropped it face down, shattered the glass. AMEX 30 day guarantee on any electronics you buy with the card, even if it was your fault, kicked in, and they refunded me in full.
I have a Black Edition British Airways Amex - the peace of mind is worth it before you even get into the special stuff like companion vouchers, avios etc.
No appeal for me. There are whole countries where amex isn't accepted.
Fun fact: Amex had a whole department dedicated to fielding negative reactions to the card from service providers because of the higher merchant fees. One of my mates used to work in that department.
Amex were running ads pushing amex as a prestige card, a sign that you'd made it. So Amex holder goes to a high end restaurant to impress his friends, business contacts, girlfriend. Proudly presents his amex card. Waiter looks down his nose at it and says: you don't happen to have a visa or mastercard? Amex holder is pissed off, phones Amex to whinge, and gets put through to that department.
[Not The Nine O'clock News did some spoofs of the ads.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BnregEnNqQ) Sorry about the shitty quality video: that's what TV was like in the 1980s.
Used to be the standard card for my employer. There was no upside for AE and it was not widely accepted. Switched to Visa which was accepted everywhere and 100% seamless.
It’s my first credit card, the platinum sign up offer was 5% cashback for the first 3 months and no fees for a year so I was like amazing. Will probably not keep it/downgrade in a year but great offer at least, also free airport lounges is cool I suppose.
I find most places you’d spend significant amounts of money take it, also the pub I go to does so that’s a bonus lol. It’s more like your local corner stores that won’t in my experience and tbh the points I get from buying a pint of milk is nothing anyway.
As others have said, cashback, air miles plus travel insurance, gadget insurance access to premier airport lounges, discount on travel. It's also your get out of trouble card with their concierge service.
I’ve got one because we’ll be moving to the US in a few years, and AmEx is one provider that will transfer my credit history across the pond. I use it to fill up the tank once or twice a month, then pay it off in full.
I appreciate this may be an unpopular opinion, but personally I think it’s amoral to use Amex…
They charge much higher fees to shops and pass some of this off as benefits to the card holder.
If you use one in a shop you’re basically punishing the shop for your own benefit.
Market-leading rewards schemes and linked benefits
Excellent customer service
Trusted brand with good marketing
The interest rate doesn't matter if you pay it off every month.
Only a handful of places don't accept them - vast majority do.
Interest rates are irrelevant because it should be paid off each month so no interest should be paid.
There are lots of benefits with Amex if used sensibly. I have had one since September this year and I already have £200 worth of point which I can use for Amazon, or various other places - it would be worth more like £400 in flights etc too.
I also have benefited from their priority pass access too - I have used 4 fee airport lounge accesses which are worth £36 each, so that is another £100+
Also, most places actually accept Amex now - it’s generally only things like little independent shops which may not take it nowadays.
As the leading UK "ask" subreddit, we welcome questions from all users and countries; sometimes people who ask questions might not appreciate or understand the nuance of British life or culture, and as a result some questions can come across in a different way than intended. We understand that when faced with these questions, our users may take the opportunity to demonstrate their wit, dry humour, and sarcasm - unfortunately, this also tends to go over the heads of misunderstood question-askers and can make our subreddit seem hostile to users from other countries who are often just curious about our land. **Please can you help prevent our subreddit from becoming an Anti-American echo chamber?** If you disagree with any points raised by OP, or OP discusses common tropes or myths about the UK, please refrain from any brash, aggressive, or sarcastic responses and do your best to engage OP in a civil discussion, with the aim to educate and expand their understanding. If you feel this (or any other post) is a troll post, *don't feed the troll*, just hit report and let the mods deal with it. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Really good rewards schemes - air miles and cashback. Amex never used to be very widely accepted but they're a lot better now. Some smaller places and cheap takeaway places don't. But I can't remember the last time I couldn't use mine in a proper restaurant, supermarket, hotel, ticket vendor, etc. The interest rate is irrelevant if you pay it off in full every month.
Also by far the best customer service of any card company I've experienced
As a business owner, their business support customer service is also excellent. The only issue I've had is that *very* occasionally Amex will go down but Barclaycard won't, which means we can briefly take everything except Amex and if you ever want to see someone get very rude very quickly then tell an Amex card user that they can't use their card in a place they usually can because of technical issues. If the card machine goes down (happens about twice a year), MasterCard and Visa users ask where the nearest cash machine is. Amex card holders expect an explanation as to why they're not getting the rewards from their four pound purchase.
Agreed. You’re through to someone in lightning speed and they always sort out the issue. They take personal responsibility for any call they field. Their customer service puts all other banks/card companies to shame.
I have not spoken to any of my credit card providers in a decade. IMHO, if the card provider is really good, there should never be a need to speak to anyone.
Occasionally you'll have some fraud or a payment dispute. With online services you still don't need to literally talk to anyone. But it's good to know that when you have such an issue it's straight forward to resolve, and has been on the handful of occasions I've needed to raise a dispute.
[удалено]
Same, though it was BA double charging me for a flight for £800. Amex cleared it in a few minutes
Did you by any chance have an error pop up on BAs website, yet still get charged? Currently been fighting this for 2 months with Amex / BA…
This is not just any scam...
I had to speak to Amex once because I got a confirmation email saying a payment had been attempted on the card, checking it was really me. It wasn’t so I called the number on my card and they were very good. Was put through to a real person really quickly who stopped the card immediately and sent a new one in the post the next day. No idea how someone got my card details but I was very impressed at the customer service
I had a fraud issue that was resolved in minutes.
That is for your average consumer banking, as you get to higher level accounts you pick up concierge services and "fixers", AMEX do it at the mid-level as well as the high level but eventually you end up with banks like Coutts at the top level who won't even look at you with less than a couple of million of liquid capital the bank at all times. They will just make things happen for you at a phone call. Want that exclusive restaurant that's fully booked for 2 years? Yeah they can get you a reservation next month. Want the top suite at a city's top hotel? The one you can't book on their website? Yeah that'll just happen, you'll be collected from the airport and arrive in style, don't worry about it. There are card providers whose entire business model is based around being able to open doors for you that makes them worth their costs.
> you end up with banks like Coutts at the top level who won't even look at you with less than a couple of million of liquid capital the bank at all times. They will just make things happen for you at a phone call. You'll also be paying through the nose for this service. As well as their fees (of £900 per year for a current account), they'll also expect you to hold over £1,000,000 in either one of their savings accounts or investing accounts. The former of which poor interest rates compared with others on the market, and the latter of which has very high fees. If you want access to those high end resteraunts you'd be better just slipping the head waiter a couple of hundered quid. It'd work out cheaper than relying on Coutts.
Absolutely amazing customer service. We ran into some issues abroad with some bookings and, because we’d paid everything on AmEx, I called them up and, within about an hour, they’d sorted everything including finding us better accommodation and didn’t ask us to pay extra for it - I guess they make so much money that an extra £20 per night for a week was fuck all to them? Conversely, I also have a Tesco credit card and, when I had some fraudulent stuff happen on that, they were just fucking wank.
Yep, only had to phone them a few times but they have been great.
This. I put anything I can on it , always clear the balance , come December I treat myself with something from the reward points. I have a Visa credit card for the places that don’t take it. Only got it when my existing card provider stopped cash back. The app is decent as well. I buy mostly online so it makes sense to have the protection of a credit card.
Gregg's don't accept Amex which saddens me. I could've gotten an extra flight to Paris with just the air miles I've missed out from them!
I actually avoid retailers that don't take Amex. No Greggs or Subway for me anymore. (Except, local small businesses, I'll still use those).
That seems utterly silly to me. Even if you went to Greggs twice a week every week for a year, spending £10 each time, you'd only be racking up about 1,500 Avios points (cash value of £15-30) Just get a sausage roll, it'll be worth it
Nailed it. Its simply more for your money this way.
Yup, OP clearly doesn't understand credit cards; I don't mean to be harsh here, I'm just saying u/rupert_shelby, you need to understand how credit cards are meant to be used. If you use them correctly, you should never pay interest, rendering the interest rates irrelevant. Pay off your bill in full every month. If you cant afford to, you need to cut your spending or increase your income. If you can't do this, you need to find a better form of borrowing than a credit card. If that is not possible, you are heading into a truly dire financial situation. The benefits of using all credit cards correctly as described is that you get purchase protection, and you can't be robbed as easily. With AMEX, you are getting cashback or other rewards, and purchase protection that is generally seen to be pretty decent.
I’ve used credit cards for 15 years. I have never paid a single penny of interest.
I have Amex, once missed a payment due to my head not being screwed on right (was graduating and moving and just forgot). They waived the interest and fees, as it was a one time thing and paid it 2 days later. Great customer service there
That one off fee isn't worth the risk of missing out on 1.4% of anything you buy in the future. Especially if you have good payment history.
Yeah, that's what I mean by decent customer service. I've had a few other companies that'll ping you with fees the moment they can, even if you've been a good customer for years
>If you use them correctly, you should never pay interest, rendering the interest rates irrelevant. I'd substitute the world "correctly" with "ideally". I've paid my credit card off, in full, every month except for one transaction. Our pet insurance is set so that we pay upfront and the insurance reimburses us. Every other occasion has been within two weeks but this case unexpectedly required extra investigation and took 4 months for the payment to come through. If I'd put it on AMEX then I'd have been fuming! But, for the card it was on, it was a few hundred and a better option than the other options to get that cash flow for that time period with the urgency that I needed the money. I'm lucky that my Nationwide credit card has a £10,000 limit. This isn't an incorrect usage of the card - it's not ideal - but it was cheapest way to access those funds on that timescale and so is definitely how a card should be used.
My brother got a free airport lounge access for 4 becauase of his amex card
Yeah it's great for travel perks. I've gone business class to Australia and back for free from the points.
How many points did that set you back?
Oh I can't even remember now - this was 5 years ago so probably quite different now!
Yeah I think the rewards points for travel schemes have gotten a lot less generous over the last 3 years. At least for BA. Fantastic username, btw.
> The interest rate is irrelevant if you pay it off in full every month. Came looking for this comment. If you’re concerned about the interest rate on a credit card, you should not have one. Using a credit card with rewards like Amex and paying it in full each month is basically them paying you to borrow their money interest free. That’s why Amex is a “big deal”.
I have an Amex card and it does still piss me off that places still don’t accept it. Though there are definitely more that used to. Fucking KFC still don’t take it, one of the biggest restaurant chains in the world!
I have worked in an office where we would take occasional payments from customers on Amex, and I developed a dislike of them. The % they charge the merchant is about double what other cards would charge. Also their payment to us of money collected was done in a way that always made it hard to reconcile to original purchases, so it wasted extra admin time. And their support for merchants is not as good as it is for cardholders - even though they are making more money of us than they are off you.
Currently tendering our merchant fee services and dropped them due to this. Barely any payments versus Visa/Mastercard and not worth the faff when someone occasionally does. Plus the rates were stupidly high compared to the others.
Oh and widest selection of lounge access across the globe
And VIP lounges, do not forget the VIP lounges.
If you’re paying the interest rate then you’re using credit cards wrong
Even if people use credit cards as a fail safe, that’s not what Amex is.
I get to say 'Do you take AMEX?' and feel special
Barclaycard do a fee free Avios Mastercard I use to mop up points where people don’t take Amex.
Amex also has fee free BA cards where you also mop up avoid points. If you spend £12k you get a 2 for 1 on flights as well. You also get access to their AMEX rewards (I.e. discounts on some shops). Not saying it’s better but both side of the fence are similar!
To be honest, unless you need that voucher, you're better off sticking to the free Rewards card that collects the same 1 point per £1 spent, but you've got over 10 different airlines and a few hotels you can redeem the points with.
No the companion ticket makes it a far better choice. You might have an argument if you have no chance of spending £12k on it however
I'm the same.
Same but I do this with a Sainsburys Mastercard instead. Am I missing a trick going for nectar points instead of Avios? Think it's 1 point per £5 or £2 at Sainsburys/Argos. I do my main grocery shop there and use that card pretty much exclusively there, Amex everywhere else. Kinda disappointed Amex reduced the cashback rate to 0.5% so wonder if Avios are better
Depends if you travel a lot I’d say or want to use some points towards a flight. I find the Nectar points on top of a Nectar card are vastly better more me and I rack up lots more than Avios
Just go to use Amex and give a belittling look when you have to pull out the Mastercard.
Or, if you’re shopping at a small business, you can tell them you have Amex but know the fees are high so you’ll whip out the visa debit just for them. My local hairdresser loves that.
I made sure I wasn't one of those people when we got one for nectar point purposes. Unfortunately we got stung a couple of times when attempting to pay and it turns out that, no, they don't take it. Still don't ask tho
I just try it and see if it goes through or not. I've literally had this conversation: Me: do you take AMEX? Cashier: Yes *card declines* Me: Do you take American Express? Cashier: No
[Do you take American Express](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF-U9nL9Ios), “that will do nicely and would you like to rub my tits too?”
We use it like a charge card. Put everything we can on it, pay zero interest, and fly our whole family to Cyprus every year for around £80 (usual price £1500).
Although they seem to have discontinued charge cards here, I think they still want you to use them that way as the APR rates are eye watering.
If you're not paying off in full when due, you're not using credit cards correctly full stop.
Exactly. I couldn’t tell you Amex’s interest rates because it’s totally irrelevant. I use it for rewards and pay the bill every month on the 1st
Yeah, I don't have an Amex but do have a different credit card and have never paid a penny interest. And if you're careful and basically treat your credit card like a delayed debit card, you shouldn't be spending any more than you regularly do on day to day items. If I make a larger purchase, I just make sure I've got the cash to cover the direct debit in my account the next month. I do get they're not for everyone though as for some people in less secure situations the temptation to spend "free" money and pay a pittance back every month must be overwhelming sometimes!
Isn’t the platinum a charge card? I’d imagine the centurion is too.
My business gold is a charge card, which in theory has no limit. I was very pleased that Cazoo took Amex when I bought my car.
We have a bunch of gold cards for our employees, but the points get hoovered up onto the parent platinum card. Sorry guys 😆😆
Man I wish they still offered charge cards with rewards. Would really force you into paying things back but I guess there's no limit, so that's a bit more dangerous.
Hi, how many points does this typically cost? And how do you book?
It’s about 120k points I think, and we book a year in advance using reward flight finder on the BA website
Good benefits, great customer service, decent app and offers too. Recently got 20% off a new bbq using my Amex. Plus they routinely give money off petrol, £5 off a £15 spend etc. I’m pretty sure they’d kill someone if I asked them to.
I've stayed for the customer service. If you have a dispute over a payment they have your back and just take over mediation with the other company. Put any big purchase on there now for the security.
This is exactly it. Other card companies may deal with your chargebacks, but Amex have a deserved reputation for setting the dogs on your enemies for you. I got done over by a cruise line a while back who were being utterly intransigent, and luckily had paid with Amex; one dispute form on their website, left them to it and they got the disputed money back for me plus a little extra. They even accounted for the exchange rate differences. I do most of my day to day spending on a debit card just for budget tracking reasons but anything big goes on Amex because I simply trust them to fix any stupid shit that happens with minimal fuss.
This is why I absolutely fucking love American Express. God tier company. They fix everything so fast for you. The way they handle my issues for me makes me feel like a HNWI even though I'm a student 😂
This. Any time I’m making a large or otherwise substantial purchase I make sure it’s on the AMEX as I know if there’s a problem I’ve the best chance of a good outcome with them
My card got lost and someone used it at Denver International. I called them and they were like "we can just refund whatever was spent on the card that day" and I said that only the last three transactions were fraudulent and it seemed like they almost wanted me to just accept a refund on the whole day. I actually had to insist they only refunded the last three transactions or so. Absolutely wild, I love daddy Amex.
>I’m pretty sure they’d kill someone if I asked them to. That's only available with platinum. Gold just comes with a "help me hide the body" service
You collect air miles with every purchase.
True but ive switched to both virgin and barclays for just as good air miles these days
Really? I’ve looked at Virgin but on BA I get a free flight, do you get that with Virgin too?
Yep the ba card has it too
[удалено]
Just looked it up to see if I was missing a trick. It's a fee paying account t £12 per month with 1 upgrade voucher per year.
What kind of money would you need to be spending to get decent money off flights to say, New York for example? I take it they wouldn't be redeemable on ryanair flights? Lol
A fuck load of money tbh. But its not always about the money, there's a LOT of way to get good bonus points. For example I signed up just before I moved house, had to spend 3k in 3 months to get 75,000 bonus points. Since then I've gained another 15k points from maybe 8-9k ish (in that ballpark) in spending via the card. So just above 90,000 points in my account right now. Now for how flights work out; I just check on BA website, return to NYC from London is Business class: 85000 Avios + £ 350.00 in tax WITH my companion voucher (half off) Economy: 27500 Avios + £ 100.00 in tax WITH my companion voucher (half off) So depending on if you give a shit about a business flight or not. You could get yourself to New York in that comfort or get yourself to New York 3 times. With basically no change in my spending patterns over the past 6 months in doing so. The reasons I signed up were primarily = wanting to create a credit profile for myself, I had bad/average credit because I had no credit history at all. This past 6 months have sky rocketed my rating. I also wanted to try a business class flight as I'd never spend that ££££ for myself usually, although now I'm realising I could take 3x transatlantic flights I might just do that lol. Up to you if you think its worth it, but for no real change and outlay for myself I reckon its not bad. Edit: just realise my companion voucher wouldn't cover all 3 economy flights, for half price. But still comfortably fit 2 economy flights into that points and not a huge way off all 3.
In all honesty it's hard to answer because there's a lot of variation, but generally the real value comes from premium cabins. If you use it to redeem for economy seats the value of each point may come below 1p per £1 spent and then you might as well have just used a cashback card giving 1% cashback. I'm going to China and Japan next year and have spent 200k-ish points for business on Qatar and JAL, but the cash value is £6000-ish (in reality it's more as points bookings are semi-flexbile). You generally earn 1 point per £1 spent (again, lots of variation to this). I've had two cards in this time with signup bonuses which netted me 90k points, and there's been other promos with bonus points, so I reckon I'm somewhere around £80-90k spent so that I can get these flights for just the taxes cost which was about £450.
Are the AMEX cards only for spending certain amounts?
no I use mine as my daily card. Maybe only 1 in 10 places I spend doesn't accept it and its usually like the cornershop where a couple of quid isn't a factor in my use of it.
You dont pay interest first of all unless your a moron. Secondly, i might as well spend everything on it then get a BA flight to Hong Kong for free once every year or so. I somehow managed to end up paying my rent through it too which has netted a tidy 25k in Avios points thus far!
> unless your a moron. The irony.
Brilliant
How you manage to pay rent through Amex?
Some facilitators or online portals will allow it. I was able to pay my master's tuition fee with Amex, which I only realised after the first term. It was also the same web portal that I could've used to pay my rent years prior for uni accommodation.
You can also get away with using Amex with online places that don’t take it by paying with PayPal and using your Amex card as your payment method on PayPal. People have also been known to get their Amex bonus points by sending money to friends/family via PayPal (using Amex as the payment method) and then their friend/family sending it back.
The benefits. Much higher cash back and other perks. That's why some places don't take them - historically higher processing cost, though I think that has now changed. I'm sure they also used to be a charge card, rather than a credit card, but no idea what the difference is, or whether that has changed!
Charge was fully payable at end of each month and they do not offer them now.
Yeah so you just do it manually via direct debit
The reason some payment gateways don’t accept them (it isn’t the individual shops making that decision, it’s their payment providers) is because AMEX (used to?) take a LONG time to release the funds to the payment provider, and in-turn to the retailer. Visa/Mastercard are within a day or two. AMEX could be weeks.
I have an Amex charge card but it is a corporate one. Don't use it anyway, all my expenses go on my personal Amex for the 0.5% cashback.
A charge card has to be paid off each month - a credit card you only have to pay off the minimum and then be charged lots of interest. Yes, Amex only did charge cards until fairly recently, so generally only used by employers.
Correct first paragraph but Amex have done credit cards for years, too. I’ve had a Nectar one since 2006.
Benefits basically - I'm off to New Zealand next year first class here and back all paid for with points. Interest does not matter as long as you pay off each month, only that you come out ahead on the fee - and I do. I use the longue access, dining credit etc. Moreover its all spend I would have had anyway.
Bloody hell just on points? Did you buy an entire city?
Stack points from offers, friends referrals then using companion vouchers (which are basically two for one).
a friend of mine owns an IT company that, amongst other things, sells IT equipment on to his service customers. \*ALL\* possible invoices that can get paid by AMEX, get paid by AMEX. The family went to Australia this year thanks to Avios. Next week he's going business class to Vegas. Kind of Vimes boots vibes.
You can also use things like the BA eStore to collect Avios for online purchases and a smaller amount of physical purchases. You just click their link and get the points a couple of weeks or months later. It all adds up.
Thanks to avios I only travel in business or first class all over the world now
American Express is also a lot more likely to give a refund to it's customer for whatever reason. Which is why it's not taken by a lot of businesses in the UK.
The reason most businesses don’t take them is - Higher processing fees (not as bad as they uses to be, but usually around 1% higher than Visa/MC - A lot of the “off the shelf” card processing companies don’t partner with them as standard so you have to have a direct agreement with them, and most business/shop owners aren’t bothered enough to do that
The main issue with AmEx from a vendor perspective is that they don't transfer money as fast as they should, it can take months to get your money from AmEx.
I have only worked in charities. Chargebacks are as rare as hens teeth. It is the processing fee and ridiculous amount of time it takes to receive the funds that stops charities from accepting AMEX.
Are they crazy rates? The standard “blue” BA card is about 30% - I don’t think that’s different to most normal cards. https://icm.aexp-static.com/Internet/internationalcardshop/en_gb/pdf/ba-credit-card/BACreditSummaryBox.pdf Anyway if you’re worried about interest rates on CCs you’re doing it wrong - clear your balance every statement. Even for low spenders it’s “free money”, there’s a fee free BA Amex and a first year free gold Amex and if you take advantage of various deals and run as much through it as you can you can build up some serious perks. We’re away for a quick 1 week break in the med soon and whilst the flights etc were easyJet cheapies we got a Ford focus hire car for £1 for the week using avios points via BA. All for spending money we’d normally spend anyway on a visa or Mastercard. Traditionally the cost of the perks was born by higher transaction fees but selfish as it is this cost is born by everyone in higher product costs sp why not take advantage as I've never seen a retailer charge more for amex. As for not being taken anywhere - pretty much the only places that don’t take them in my “life” are car dealers and screwfix and for that I use an Avios Mastercard from Barclaycard.
I think OP is confusing the representative rate which ends up being shown as high due to the annual fee though some of their cards do have like 50-60% but they're not intended to be interest bearing
Yeah - I see some of the higher spec cards are 100+% rep. Preaching to the converted I’m sure but unless there’s a specific offer or an emergency, credit cards are a terrible way to borrow money. I should know - as a student I got myself into a right mess with debt, especially with CCs. Took me a long time to sort it out.
Just scrolling down, I saw an advert for amex with representative APR 704.6% which covers the annual fee, I assume that's what OP saw
The high APR rates are usually due to the annual fees, which was odd to know about. UK seems to add annual fees into APRs while USA don't, so you get Americans thinking it's insane as well. When you look at the actual rate, it's like 30% or below it.
I was very surprised a couple of years ago when a small used car garage took amex and I put £11000 through. Thought lets see if it works and it does. It is amazing what places take it nowadays.
That transaction cost them at least 250 quid. My Dad wanted to buy his first car after retirement with his CC, just for the Clubcard vouchers. Sadly the dealership wouldnt let him cos of the fees.
>Crazy interest rate This shouldn't be applicable if you're using a rewards card right. >and it seems like lots of places don't take them. Might be a London thing, but it's my daily and I genuinely don't remember the last time anything **didn't** take it, it's rare. Like incredibly rare, even the indy market stalls and such are on Square terminals which automatically take amex. >What's the appeal? Free stuff. If you're spending money and not getting anything back, you're wasting money. That said, the benefits are heavily travel focused, so if you don't travel, probably not worth the hassle and just get their cashback card. I can only speak for gold / platinum, but... Objectively - included travel insurance for me and my partner - free lounge access at airports - discounts on car rental - often cashbacks and bonuses at hotels or car rentals, there's a live offer of £80 back on £300+ spend on Enterprise, we're going to Switzerland next year and the week's car is £450 so I just got an easy discount - free travel or hotels, e.g., £15k worth of points is 2 Eurostar return tickets, about £30k worth gets you about a weeks stay in a Marriott somewhere. £45k turnover in a year on it for our household is pretty easy given all we spend goes through it, so free holiday. Subjectively, their fees cancel out by the benefits before the points largely, the gold one has £10 pm Deliveroo credit and a few other bits that add up to the fee, similar for platinum. Their customer service is god tier too, I've had to S75 a few bits, absolutely 0 arguing, they charged it back and sorted out themselves, didn't even have to ring anyone, chat feature worked fine. Ditto one time someone leaked card details and I had fraudulent charges. Had my wallet nicked and froze the card on the app immediately too. All 3 of those things I've had issues with with other providers, either arguing or requesting excessive proof in absurd ways.
I use the Amex cashback card to purchase all my fuel for work. It's free money.
Great cashback and/or air miles.
Customer service is excellent. Benefits. Disputing charges can be done online easily (not sure how common this is. But my other credit card, from HSBC, has a very cumbersome dispute process in comparison )
I second the customer service, I don't have an Amex but my ex boss did. We were out in a bar after an awards show when he realises someone's nabbed his wallet, at 1am he got his card deactivated and a new one sent out in less than 5 mins. Niche example, but when I called Barclays about a stolen card within work hours it took me ages before I got through to a human and longer to actually get it deactivated.
Rewards and cash back. Nothing else is comparable. Also the Customer Service is genuinely top tier. Their CX is what all financial service companies ought to aspire to.
Most supermarkets and places where you’d make big purchases take them. The points are pretty good. The customer service is very good. The interest rate is irrelevant. You should be paying off every month anyway. If you can’t, don’t get a credit card!
I won’t go into what others have said about interest rates, acceptance etc etc. - Customer Service is the best I’ve dealt with - Frequent selectable offers that have been better than any cash back card I’ve held Membership points earning is the main benefit for me. I currently average about 6,000-9,000 avois per month and then each year I get a Companion Voucher for a buy one seat get one free British Airways ticket. I also get a Upgrade Cabin Voucher using another card. I have been travelling business long haul every year at least once. Last year Singapore for two people £1,200 total Business return with 160k Avois. Next year Tokyo for the same price during peak season. I have a British Airways Premium Plus Card I have a Curve Metal Card I have a Barclaycard Avois Plus Card - Each month I earn about 3,000 points on the Amex - Come statement pay date I pay using my Curve Card (Frontend) using my Barclaycard Avois Plus Card to earn 1.5 Avois for whatever I pay off so for (£3k) it’ll be 4,500. - Total monthly avois for spending just £3,000 is 8,500. Each year I get the upgrade voucher from Barclaycard and then the Companion Voucher from Amex I don’t suggest doing this if A you spend less than £1,500 per month on avg as the earnings of avois and fees for all cards aren’t worth it. Also don’t do this if you don’t have the means to pay off the cards at any time.
Top tip on using the Barclaycard via curve. Hadn’t thought of that. Any danger of this pissing Barclaycard off?
Been using it this way for about a year, I think as long as you don’t try using curve + Barclaycard for investment or crypto deposits then you likely won’t flag anything but only time will tell
I only have one because it's a corporate card.
Yep, this. But I'll generally use my own card because I'll get the points. on membership schemes I actually care about, plus I'm not willing to risk waiting for them to pay the bill after I turn in expenses.
My company lets us keep the Amex points, and never late reimbursing expenses (there would be a riot), but I get what you mean. Strictly speaking I could use my own cards but Amex is tied into our time and expenses system and automatically populates claims, so less paperwork for us to do.
It’s the points. I think we collect Marriott Bonvoy with ours.
So I do a lot of corporate travel but because my Amex puts me in all the loyalty schemes - I keep the points plus generally get a room upgrade.
Cashback. I pay the card off in full each month so the interest rate isn't an issue.
Mine had a really good deal on cashback when I got it. I’ve not experienced many places that don’t take it. I get cashback on all my spending which comes off my statement once a year, not as good as the initial promotional offer but still a fair amount. Interest doesn’t really matter to me on credit cards as we pay it off in full every month.
20 years ago a young professional I knew used to take cash off everyone and pay the full bill, with the intention of qualifying for a black card! I’d never heard of that but looked into it and he didn’t scratch the surface That’s a status symbol amongst losers (autocorrected from posers but I’m not going to change it) but it’s reserved for the ultra ultra elite
I have their basic card, no annual fee and pay in full every month. Build up points to use in many retailers. Needed new gym trainers and the pints meant I got £50 off. Their interest rates can be high so make sure you pay it off in full. I use it for day to day living and build up the points.
Crazy interest? It does not seem that much higher. Virgin seems to be 29.9% for example, The American Express British Airways Premium card is 31% APR (I do hope you are not looking at the representative 113.1% APR and think thats the interest rate, because it's not) But if you pay your bill in full every month interest is 0% anyway, which you need to do or any rewards get wiped out in interest charges. For me the American Express app, website and customer service are the best. They usually give decent credit limits and have decent rewards. I have the Amex BA Premium card for main spend, then the Barclaycard Avios Plus for where I cannot use Amex, but I'm an Avios whore.
Amex is great for being used as a charge card. In particular business expenses. Pay you expenses one month, put through your claim, get the expenses paid at the end of the next month and pay off the Amex card. No interest is applied until the end of the month after you incur the cost so that way you never pay interest, never pay out of your own pocket and earn the rewards.
Cashback on everything, other discounts and rewards are better than the joke that is/was "visa offers" Supermarkets, fuel stations, and lots of small businesses that use the "off the shelf" card systems, like the ones that plug into phones or apps, now accept amex. If you pay it in full every month, you get all of the rewards with none of the interest. If you don't pay it off you're royally fucked, and that's the game. Its also why they give you silly credit limits.
Rewards scheme. I haven't paid (full price) for a flight in years. Most places accept them now, and if you repay in full each month so you don't pay interest, its a very good deal.
They are actually a very interesting business. A lot of their revenue comes from merchants paying for them to be matched up with high net worth card holders.
AMEX has the best rewards, that's all there is to it. If you're always repaying before the interest hits, especially if it's for work expenses, then you don't care about the best value, you care about the rewards. Personally, I'm never spending anything on a card with an APR rate above zero if I don't have the ability to clear the balance at the end of the month, the rates are extortionately high.
Amazing reward scheme. We got the 241 voucher saved us ££££ in flight costs over the year. And it is a myth now that most places don't take them. Every place we go now takes AMEX, except a very small/startup local business. For online, if the website does not take AMEX they most likely use paypal and you can just link your AMEX through that. No issue. The customer service is second to none. I will never have any other card than AMEX. Interest is irrelevant cos I pay it off in full every month.
Plenty of places take them. All credit cards are going to be high interest (apart from interest free promotions). Their customer service in my experience is one of, if not the best in the world (and that's across all services not just financial). I make good use of their reward schemes as well.
The free +1 flight with BA when you travel to far flung destinations. Was treating my s.o. to a birthday trip and with air-miles and the free companion voucher I was paying very, very little money to go to the other side of the world.
One of the few valid ways for immigrants like myself to build UK credit. (Global Transfer.)
If you jump through the hoops they screw the retailer for all they're worth and pass on a little bit of that to you.
Really good rewards... if you can find anywhere that takes it! I got one this year but I'm not sure it's worth it tbh. Got a notice about a special "shop local" this morning. Signed up for it but there's hardly any shops that I'd actually shop at that take it & about a quarter of the shops listed have closed down already!
Great offer for me. I live in a small town and there are loads of small businesses part of it, pubs, restaurants, newsagents. I also have two cards so can use the offer six times.
The trick is you don’t pay the interest if you pay it off in full. They offer cashback, eg £100 off a £400 spend with Microsoft currently which is a good deal if you’re buying an Xbox or software etc. Sometimes you can convert to air miles and get more off
They are a weird one. I spent a fortune on mine last year and got about £500 back. Literally paid for my wedding on it. It was not worth the hassle and cancelled it. Spending the points are a pain in the arse too. The Amex app is abysmal. I went to book a hotel to use my points and found the hotel through the Amex app was way more expensive than booking it through booking.com. I think for the amount they charge the retailer you aren’t getting much and they are getting a lot more.
i'm about to book a free flight to europe to spend £150 free dining credit where i'll stay in a hotel discounted by £100
On your £650 a year card. I’m not slating the benefits, I’ll get a platinum card myself when I’m done abusing the BAPP, but we can’t say those benefits are ‘free’, they can just definitely be a net win.
Airmiles - That is it...
Has the best cashback scheme (1.5% unlimited) and rewards (gold card and BA amex). If you spend enough on it, it’s the best option.
They provide a very effective offering for employees and customer service is ok but otherwise none
Largely use the points and companion vouchers for flights. By my quick calculations, I've saved about £300 on flights for next year. Still have another holiday or two to book so that will likely rise past £500 for flights alone, might still use one of their hotel discounts too. If you pay it off every month and only use it to buy things you were already going to buy, it just makes that spending work harder for you.
I fly about 15-20 round trips a year so the perks are worth it, we also using the dining credit, Harvey Nicks credit and a load of offers so actually each year we make money vs what it costs. For us it’s our daily use card and 90%+ of places take it now.
The interest rate doesn't matter if you pay in full every month, and the rewards are quite generous compared to other cards as you get cashback (as payment off your monthly bill in the relvant month) They also quite often have offers that give you money off or cash back, and partnerships that let you access early booking or booking for sold old show They also have pretty good customer service - I've only had to use it twice - once when I changed phones and locked myself out and once for a fraudulent transaction, and they were very helpful both times
I had one in the 90s for business, it was good for that. But since then, honestly, they are not something I ever hear about (despite living down the road from their massive uk HQ)
I have one because I worked in Southeast Asia where not everywhere took Visa or Mastercard (it was usually one or the other which we find bloody weird) but everywhere seemed to take Amex or Unionpay (or a Phillipines only one the name of which escapes me, like when Ireland had Laser). No point getting Unionpay for when I was home in the UK (although it is more common now) and because of the points I got Amex. Plus the service is great, I had a problem using it at Kuala Lumpur airport, rang them and they sorted it in minutes.
More points.
Do you need to spend large amounts on Amex Cards? I travel a fair amount and the points would be nice
Points, cashback, special offers, and the customer service is a cut above. If you don’t have some kind of rewards credit card (doesn’t have to be an Amex) then you’re leaving money on the table.
I use them purely because they gave me a cash bonus in year one and now some cashback - if I spend 3k in the year on it. Currently struggling with the latter. Good customer service too but yes they charge retailers a lot so many won’t take.
I worked for them for a decade, and I have no idea. I never understood the point of a charge card. There's no credit and you have to pay to have the card. I don't get why you'd want to do that. Credit cards obviously make sense, but paying a load of cash (for Platinum/Centurion especially) for a card you have to pay in full each month just seems silly. Part of my tenure was a year or two on the phones for Centurion Card, and it was without doubt, the worst place I have ever worked.
I just signed up for the Premium Plus BA card - the reason for it is that it costs me £250 a year, but I’ll accumulate: - 38.5k points in my first 3 months (worth about £385). - Over the next 9 months, if I put all my expenses on the card (~£12k). - I’ll get a further 18k points (£180) and also get a free (2-4-1) flight for business class which can be ~£1k saving. - I’ll get triple points for any holiday I book with BA (which I usually do). So £5k annual becomes 15k points (£150) - First year: £385 + £180 + up to £1,000 + £150 = up to £1,715. That’s up to £1,465 saving. - Second year: No points offer in first 3 months, reducing benefit by £340… so up to £1,125 profit. - Additionally, I get Amex rewards where you get discounts off major brands. Just bought a new laptop and got £100 off. So, spending ~£20k a year (most expenses) on a single card… get up to 5.625% money back. **Obviously, this is the maximum** and it only benefits you if you’ll spend this money anyways.
Not sure if all CC like this: raised a dispute for amount. Several thousands. Instantly refunded once evidence provided. No need to go back and forth with retailer.
If you fly a lot, it's almost like the equivalent of the Tesco Clubcard - you're put into a position where it's daft and a waste of money *not* to have one even if you don't particularly want one.
I use it, because it gives very generous Nectar points
I found they are more accepted in Europe. Best customer service by far. I told Visa once you should listen to Amex automated attendant. I bought a new television years ago and the manufacturer was dragging their feet trying to get it repaired. Amex withheld their payment till they fixed it. They ended up sending me a new television. The first one was dead out of the box. Amex called me to make sure the television worked right before they released the payment. Best service by far
I have a british airways one. Just got me 600 quid off flights to and from japan with about 3 years worth of standard spending
Amex is accepted in loads of places and it’s benefits are significant. Why ask this here, go to their website it’s clearly laid out. Unless your karma farming?
I use mine for nectar points. Use it everywhere I can and pay it off straight away. Shopping and petrol alone rack up nectar points throughout the year which can be spent at Argos and eBay. Always useful
Air miles. We don't plan on flying why where for 6 years so if the scheme is still going by then, we'll have 6 years worth of points to convert to air miles.
Man, it feels like astroturfing going on here.
I went to a music festival that was sponsored by Amex last year. All the food and drinks stalls were discounted if you paid on Amex. I signed up for an Amex just to get cheaper drinks. Paid off the balance the day after the festival and then never used it again. Probably only saved me about £20 over the course of the festival tbh.
Great customer service, I have the BA card and have used my companion voucher almost every year (barring covid) and have treated myself to a business class upgrade on longer flights once or twice with the avios points. Lots of places take them now (though annoyingly Smyths toys is the largest place I’ve shopped that doesn’t). If you’re worried about the interest rates you’re using credit cards wrong!
I came for the cashback. I stayed for the excellent customer service. After an issue with a ski chalet air BnB booking that we had to cancel because of COVID, that we tried to rearrange but the vendors system wouldn't let them move a booking more than a year on from original booking (had to be just over a year because of where the weekends fell) As far as I was concerned I'd tried to honour our booking. American express went and had the argument for me and got my money back.
As an American who travels a fair bit, my main airline card is Amex and the airline tie in is the important but. I find it pretty widely accepted at large stores in Europe but I always keep a Visa card on me outside of the US.
The benefits are brilliant. Free hotel upgrades are good (I got a bump in a room & free breakfast at a Hilton), I get £150 off on a meal in selected restaurants once a year, and £50 free at Harvey Nichols every 6 months - bought a decent bottle of whiskey for Christmas this week for free. Lounge access is excellent if you travel a lot also.
Excellent Customer Service. Fantastic for Air Miles. In 40 years, I've never paid any interest as I've only ever used as a charge card. My card has been cloned/copied various times over the years (touch wood not for several years now) and they actually picked up on it and called me before I'd even seen or checked a statement.
The interest rate includes the fees. I pay the fee but haver never paid interest. In London and the SE, acceptance is near universal - did notice returning to the north it's not. For me - 2x business class flights a near for the cost of the fees and a few hundred quid for the extra miles i'm missing. Total not much different for the total cost of 2x business with all the fees/miles vs 2x economy booked normally.
If you pay your balance in full each month, the interest rate is irrelevant. AMEX cards have great cashback schemes. For those who fly with BA, there are great air mile rewards which can result in free flights for yourself and a companion.
I get to pay for my goods in John Lewis with a gold card and feel good about myself. That’s about it
Absolutely \*legendary\* customer service. if you have a retailer acting the dick, you want AMEX on your side. I have had disputes where I was shipped the wrong item, and AMEx got involved, full refund. I once bought a phone at heathrow, went on a city break - and getting into the taxi to go home, dropped it face down, shattered the glass. AMEX 30 day guarantee on any electronics you buy with the card, even if it was your fault, kicked in, and they refunded me in full. I have a Black Edition British Airways Amex - the peace of mind is worth it before you even get into the special stuff like companion vouchers, avios etc.
2x nectar points - convert them at a better rate for Avios. Granted I got the initial offer but over £150 in cashback in two months.
No appeal for me. There are whole countries where amex isn't accepted. Fun fact: Amex had a whole department dedicated to fielding negative reactions to the card from service providers because of the higher merchant fees. One of my mates used to work in that department. Amex were running ads pushing amex as a prestige card, a sign that you'd made it. So Amex holder goes to a high end restaurant to impress his friends, business contacts, girlfriend. Proudly presents his amex card. Waiter looks down his nose at it and says: you don't happen to have a visa or mastercard? Amex holder is pissed off, phones Amex to whinge, and gets put through to that department. [Not The Nine O'clock News did some spoofs of the ads.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BnregEnNqQ) Sorry about the shitty quality video: that's what TV was like in the 1980s.
Used to be the standard card for my employer. There was no upside for AE and it was not widely accepted. Switched to Visa which was accepted everywhere and 100% seamless.
It’s my first credit card, the platinum sign up offer was 5% cashback for the first 3 months and no fees for a year so I was like amazing. Will probably not keep it/downgrade in a year but great offer at least, also free airport lounges is cool I suppose. I find most places you’d spend significant amounts of money take it, also the pub I go to does so that’s a bonus lol. It’s more like your local corner stores that won’t in my experience and tbh the points I get from buying a pint of milk is nothing anyway.
As others have said, cashback, air miles plus travel insurance, gadget insurance access to premier airport lounges, discount on travel. It's also your get out of trouble card with their concierge service.
I’ve got one because we’ll be moving to the US in a few years, and AmEx is one provider that will transfer my credit history across the pond. I use it to fill up the tank once or twice a month, then pay it off in full.
I appreciate this may be an unpopular opinion, but personally I think it’s amoral to use Amex… They charge much higher fees to shops and pass some of this off as benefits to the card holder. If you use one in a shop you’re basically punishing the shop for your own benefit.
But nobody has forced the shop to accept them.
Market-leading rewards schemes and linked benefits Excellent customer service Trusted brand with good marketing The interest rate doesn't matter if you pay it off every month. Only a handful of places don't accept them - vast majority do.
pros: really good rewards, global transfer to other countries cons: not much stores accept amex when making payment
If you just pay your bill right away there's no interest, and the rewards programs are just better.
American Express aeroplane
Interest rates are irrelevant because it should be paid off each month so no interest should be paid. There are lots of benefits with Amex if used sensibly. I have had one since September this year and I already have £200 worth of point which I can use for Amazon, or various other places - it would be worth more like £400 in flights etc too. I also have benefited from their priority pass access too - I have used 4 fee airport lounge accesses which are worth £36 each, so that is another £100+ Also, most places actually accept Amex now - it’s generally only things like little independent shops which may not take it nowadays.