Fast payment scheme and American Express

Venusflytrap

Surprised about Amex and FPs: I made a bill payment from my FP enabled Nationwide acct to my Amex Nectar Card on 14 Nov., got an acknowledgement email of receipt from Amex on 15 Nov, but it only showed up on my Amex acct today, 16 Nov. - Is this also considered a FP?

agrinnall

This is very common with credit cards, many of which are not fully FP compliant. The FP hits the collection account of the CC company at the receiving bank the same day, but the reconciliation against your card number only takes place in the overnight batch processing and the credit is posted with the next business day's date. I believe some CC providers are now doing same day reconciliation, probably those issued by the big banks who tend to have the most complete FP implementations.

baby_frogmella

Ooooops my joy was short lived! After speaking to Amex, they said its only their holding account which receives the payment the same day, the payment only gets credited to the cardholder's account 1-3 days later. So yes agrinnall you were correct

Cell

When I make a payment by debit card on the American Express site the available credit figure updates immediately, although the balance takes two days to update.

rbetts100

This is nothing short of a joke. Amex, MBNA..... they all do it. Pay by the 19th but you really have to pay 3 WORKING days before.

No one understands why these organisation cannot get their act together. If its in their account they have the payment right?

I tip on Amex, as long as you are a customer with a good account history. If they refuse to refund the late fee or interest, just ask to cancel the account. Amex are one of the best to do all they can to retain customer.

Another tip, pay by Cheque! Amex post a payment by Cheque on the day the cheque is received, even though it can take 3 days to clear into their account. Yes this makes no sense but is completely true.

Murtle

Pay on the Amex website, then it goes into your account on that day even though it may show a few days later. They do say, make sure your payment arrives by x date.

rbetts100

Nope is doesn't work. I pay by Debit Card every month and it still takes 2 - 3 days to reach my account.

Amex excuse, it may not clear! So everyone that accepts debit card is guaranteed to be paid, apart from Amex!

Murtle

If you pay on their site with a direct debit card it is marked as payment received on your account on that very day. If you pay from your bank account to Amex it takes a few days to go through their clearing account.