American Express Discussion Area

Daniel_B

Guys - I have gone over my limit by £45, but have already sent the money to clear it.

Total time over the limit should be no more than 3 days.

Does anyone know if I will automatically be fined the £25 it states in the T's & C's?

Cheers

Dan

terriermama

I applied for and got an Amex Platinum card at 0% for BTs for 6 months. On receiving my first statement, I noticed I was charged interest. After querying with Customer Services, they don't have any record of the 0%, and asked me to fax over the T&Cs and correspondence. I am quite taken aback by this. Good thing I keep files.

Just a warning to others who like me (in the recent past) who assume that these banks don't make mistakes.

eagle

All,

I received an invitation to apply for one of these with my AmEx statement the other day. If I charge it up with either €1,000 or $1,000 I get a free flight to Europe or the US respectively.

The card costs £20 annually (and that's apparently an insurance fee). Apparently the offer is "only available to selected AmEx cardholders". You can charge it up when you want and use it to draw cash (from ATMs) or pay for goods whilst abroad, just like a credit card. It sounds like a good idea but just wanted to see what people thought of it and the offer of course. I may be going to one of the European destinations listed or New York soon, so it might save me a bob or two. Although you do have to pay for taxes and other things on top of it.

I suppose the million dollar question is "Is it better than the Nationwide credit / debit card abroad?".

Links of the offer:
http://www.travellerschequecard.com/usflight
http://www.travellerschequecard.com/europeanflight

Also useful:
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/tcc/index.shtml

pin

eagle wrote:

All,

I received an invitation to apply for one of these with my AmEx statement the other day. If I charge it up with either €1,000 or $1,000 I get a free flight to Europe or the US respectively.

The card costs £20 annually (and that's apparently an insurance fee). Apparently the offer is "only available to selected AmEx cardholders". You can charge it up when you want and use it to draw cash (from ATMs) or pay for goods whilst abroad, just like a credit card. It sounds like a good idea but just wanted to see what people thought of it and the offer of course. I may be going to one of the European destinations listed or New York soon, so it might save me a bob or two. Although you do have to pay for taxes and other things on top of it.

I suppose the million dollar question is "Is it better than the Nationwide credit / debit card abroad?".

Links of the offer:
http://www.travellerschequecard.com/usflight
http://www.travellerschequecard.com/europeanflight

Also useful:
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/tcc/index.shtml

The TCC is offered to anyone who wants it.

Re the exchange rate, it will be Amex rate plus 2.73% (from the T&Cs):

If you make a transaction with your Card in a currency other than your Card currency (for example, if you use a US Dollar Card to make a purchase in Euro), the transaction will be converted into your Card currency on the date it is processed by us or our agents as follows:
(1) Unless a particular rate is required by applicable law, you understand and agree that our treasury system will use conversion rates based on Interbank rates that it selects from customary industry sources on the business day prior to the processing date, increased by a single conversion commission of 2.73%.(2) For Cards loaded in Sterling or Euro, if the transaction is not in US Dollars, the conversion will be made through US Dollars, by converting the transaction amount into US Dollars and then by converting the US Dollar amount into Sterling or Euro as appropriate. If the transaction is in US Dollars, it will be converted directly into Sterling or Euro as appropriate. (3) In all cases the conversion rate may differ from rates in effect on the date of your Card transaction and if charges are converted by third parties prior to being submitted to us, any conversion made by those third parties will be at rates selected by them.
No currency conversion occurs where transactions are incurred in the currency loaded on your Card.

eagle

Actually I also read from the T&Cs that when you load it, you are subject to a commission charge of 4% above the AmEx rate. Yikes! This is beginning to look like a rip-off.

Bokken_2

Hi everyone,
I have thought of a alternative use for the Amex Travel Card and would like your thoughts on it.
a/ apply for a amex travel card and load it with £200+£20 fee from your Amex Platinium Card.This is classed as a purchase and will count towards your cashback total over the year.
b/Wait for the card to arrive activate it and load it to the max(£3000) .
c/Wait a day or so and phone up Customer Services and "cancel the agreement"(has to be within 14days)and they will then refund your money.
(this is the Rub)
At this point your money should not go back to your Amex Platinium card or your cashback earnt will be cancelled as this would be classed as a refund.
If on the other hand your money is sent to your bank account which you request it to when you speak with customer services.
You will not only have earnt £60 cashback you will also have a SBT to your account to the value of £3000.
d/All that remains is to pay off Amex with the £3000 from your bank account and start all over again.
Having read the T&C's I think you'd be hard pushed to do this within the calander month as Amex hold onto your refund for 14days before returning it.
In theory then you could load your Amex Platinum with £36000 worth of purchases and earn £720 in cash back!
I think it is possible to double this if you did the above twice a month,possible with two card/three cards but you would need the available funds on your Amex card.
You could also do this for the first three months on your Amex blue to max out the cashback.
Well thats it.
I hope there are not too many holes in it as my Amex T/card has arrived.
all your thoughts will be read.
Thanks

Bokken_2

Ref above,for ease of transactions ,and to avoid exchange rates etc load the Amex Travel card with £ Stirling.

Bokken_2

Have phoned customer services and loaded the Amex travel card to the max,nice lady there said the money would be returned to my bank account if I cancelled the card.
mmm plan and coming together springs to mind.

raptorz

About the amex travellers cheque card. If you get it in a travel agent, at the moment its fee free, ie you dont pay the £20 issue fee. That would save you the £20 ontop of anything else you get like the above posts say

djw_2

Hi
Sorry if this has been asked before, I can't find it on the thread.
If I use my Amex Plat credit card at the supermarket and pay an extra £20 to get "cash back" from the till, is this counted as eligible spend for Amex cashback, or will it be counted as a cash advance, incurring immediate interest at the cash advance rate?