Making a larger purchase than my limit - Amex

beer_tins

Hi all,

I'm planning to make a single purchase of about £4800 on my Amex Platinum card when it comes through the post (any day now). It's to pay for a wedding at a hotel in case anyone's curious and I thought I might as well get cashback on the full £4k. Now my limit is £3.9k. Can I put £900 onto it so it is in credit and then make a payment of £4800?

It might seem like an obvious question to some, but I've never made a purchase over my limit before (and I've normally had a higher limit). Thanks in advance...

NickX

Be careful doing this. Most credit cards (with the exception of Egg Money) are not designed to take substantial positive balances.

There have been reports of Card Companies sending funds back to their source on the basis of money laundering suspicions.

I would advise speaking to AMEX beforehand and explaining what you want to do and ensuring that they are ok with it. If so, then no problem, go for it.

One other issue to remember is that positive balances are not insured against fraud because it is your money and not the money of the Card Company.

Hope this helps and have a great wedding :beer:

exel1966

Not a good idea to put your card into such a high positive balance, the odd pound or two isn't a problem, but a sum of £900 could well be. Your account may get frozen !

Maybe a daft Q, but I assume you have checked with the hotel that they won't add a transaction surcharge of 3% to cover their costs for accepting the card ?

You also may not have protection under the CCA as you'll be partly be using your own money ! That you'll need to check.

simongregson

Have you tried asking for a limit increase? You can do this on the American express website under account services, or you could phone and explain the circumstances.

Cranston_2

phone Amex, I have always found them to be very helpful!

agsnu

exel1966 wrote: »

You also may not have protection under the CCA as you'll be partly be using your own money ! That you'll need to check.

Not a problem - the CCA covers you nevertheless.

exel1966

agsnu wrote: »

Not a problem - the CCA covers you nevertheless.

I know the CCA covers you by partially using a card for a purchase and then part by cash/debit card etc, but I have read here on the forums that by putting a card in a positive balance renders the CCA invalid.

Where that originates I don't know, but I've found nothing in hard form to prove or disprove that. You seem pretty confident of it's validity so can you point me in the direction of any legal standing for that ?

YorkshireBoy

You wouldn't gain anything anyway...

No rebate is payable on...expenditure in any one month exceeding the amount of your Credit Limit.

http://www.americanexpress.com/campaigns/affiliates/uk/platinumcredit/platinumcredit.cgi?PID=827&BUID=CCG&PSKU=D7X&CRTV=plgeneraltextli&AFFID=1160905&sourcecode=X49000IE23&tduid=ff687ac1f4774a9d1b3e635b894bf4fd

Could you split the payment over two statement periods?

beer_tins

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've literally just had the card through, wouldn't they be unlikely to give me a limit increase so soon?

The hotel have asked for payment by cc, so I assume there is no charge, but I will ask them!

I could also split this over my Amex card and Egg money card, again I'll have to ask.
Or I could make a payment for £3900, make a payment onto my card and then make another payment of £900, as the payment date isn't for another 2 weeks. I assume it's OK to do that, as the card won't actually be in credit? Sorry for all the questions, I'm used to paying the cards off in one go, but it's obviously a big purchase!

Thanks for the good wishes as well!

NickX

beinerts wrote: »

Or I could make a payment for £3900, make a payment onto my card and then make another payment of £900, as the payment date isn't for another 2 weeks.

This should be fine and may be the best option, but do allow for the time to process the first payment and make sure it has cleared before making the second payment, otherwise you will end up with an overlimit situation.

beer_tins

NickX wrote: »

This should be fine and may be the best option, but do allow for the time to process the first payment and make sure it has cleared before making the second payment, otherwise you will end up with an overlimit situation.

Yes, don't worry, I always make sure the money/limit is there before I use my cards! I'll ask them if it's OK to split payments. If not, i can do it using my egg money card. Would like the juicy 5% if I can get it though!

Thanks again for the advice.