Amex (American Express) Discussion & Feedback

I’ve used mine for 3 years as my main card, and of the hundreds (possibly thousands) of places, there have only been a handful of times it hasn’t been accepted. Admittedly, quite a few of those were when I was out of London, but all the big chains accept it. On occasions, there have been places online that don’t accept it, but then you can often get around this by using the paypal option linked to your amex.

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I was issued a see-through card when I joined Amex…eighteen years ago! Long since upgraded.

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So

I work in London. I use my cards mainly for things like buying lunch or small incidentals. Lots of smaller places in London like independent cafes, bookshops etc don’t accept it

I do use Amex for Amazon.

There is no way on earth I will ever pay for a credit card, nor for a current account. So “upgrading” for me is never going to be worth it, I certainly don’t feel the urge to flash an Amex card and get lounge access/a hotel room upgrade - that’s never going to happen. I don’t fly with the right airlines enough or stay in the kind of hotels that would do that anyway.

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There are a few cards you can upgrade to for more and better benefits that don’t cost anything, but I personally haven’t purely because I have a thing for transparent cards, and the Amex one isn’t as nice as the N26 one.

The only card that offers anything of value to me beyond the transparent credit card is the green charge card, and that’s only for the extended warranty, which I find much more valuable than purchase protection or insurance. Since in my case, more often than not, the cause of my purchases breaking down are due to something that would have otherwise been covered by the warranty if it had happened within the warranty cover period.

These days though, when it comes to Credit, nothing beats Paypal for me.

By upgrading I don’t mean I pay for it. I agree with you about lounge access etc. But the original Amex transparent card (the UK Blue credit card) is no longer offered and I’ve upgraded to a free card with a better credit limit, interest rate and cashback (also no longer offered).

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Why’s that?

Wait, the transparent rewards card still shows as available for me. It’s the one I want to downgrade my Gold card to once my free year is up.

But now I can’t as I am waiting for a mortgage to complete in these uncertain times, but that’s a story for another time…

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The original Blue card was proper cashback, not points. It had the same (odd, for Amex) design.

For what it’s worth on the Amex paid cards - I’ve got the Platinum Cashback, which has a £20 annual fee. Any moderately sized expense goes on it (and all my work expenses) - I get maybe £200 of cashback a year through it.

Not sure that the other cards are that useful unless you travel a lot an can properly hammer the lounge access, but this ones worked out well for me!

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Aside from the protections you get just for using PayPal. I only use my credit card for section 75 protections, and PayPal provide 4 months 0% interest on every purchase over £99, which means I can leave my money in interest generating accounts for longer, or it gives me more time to budget for larger purchases without costing anything. From time to time, they run interest free instalment plans with select retailers, which I’ve used in the past too. PayPal also covers the cost of return postage.

PayPal Credit’s response to covid-19 is also better for consumers than any I’ve seen from other credit issuers. Comparing to Barclaycard for instance, Barclaycard have offered a payment break for one month, which you have to apply for and provide proof that your finances have been affected. You won’t have to pay your bill for a month, or be charged any fees, but you’ll still be charged interest. PayPal offer a 3 month payment break, with no interest charges or proof that your finances are impacted.

Yeah that’s the one I use

I have similar experience. I’ve also spent thousands of pounds on home maintenance, car maintenance, and computing hardware since I first got an Amex card about 18 months ago that I haven’t been able to put on the Amex card as the retailer / service provider didn’t accept it.

Not accepted at the bar in Park Resorts, I found out this year.

I don’t understand. What is a “bar” and what is a “resort”?

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Ah, they’re this thing that existed before lockdown. You’d have hated it.

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tbh in my experience even most small independent retails seem to accept it even smal pop ups that are using izettle/sumup/whatever random card reader + ipad combo they have going… Guess it depends where you are… I live in York and it’s fine and i’ve used it for work expenses all over the country including the scottish highlands and found acceptance to be nearly perfect.

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Good for you. That’s not my experience here in the capital. I’m obviously lying

Did I say you were lying? You offered anecdotal experience, as did I.

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Does anyone have any experience with their charge cards balances being used when calculating your credit utilisation? My charge card is the card that I put the majority of my spending on and the only other credit cards I have, have very low limits. It seems when logging onto Credit Karma and Credit Expert my credit utilisation appears to be 200+% (when my other c/c balances are at 0)? I called Amex they said that everything they report is accurate and it’s mistakenly being picked up as a credit card and that I should contact Experian. The credit bureaus say they are “investigating” in the meantime my score is pretty much trash (fair in the 700s on Experian and low to mid 500s on Credit Karma). Amex’s eligibility checker says I have no chance of being approved for their cashback credit card or any card, despite spending £40k+ a year on my charge card (I was hoping to switch as my travel card is pretty much useless now). (Everything else on my credit report is spotless)