How good/bad are American Express at decling abroad

reclusive46

I am going over to the US and previously I've found Barclaycard awful and constantly declining card transactions even when I've recalled them and got it unblocked.

I will obviously have several cards with me and cash but was wondering if anyone had any experience with using their Amex in the US (I've already told them I'm going abroad). How likely is it to get declined?

baby_frogmella

In my experience of using many cards abroad incl USA, every card except the Green Card has been declined at some point, this happened despite informing the card issuer of my plans. So you should be ok, but do inform your other card issuers about going abroad just to be on the safe side. Strangely my Amex card is the only one which works with Netflix USA (using a dummy billing address in USA), every other UK card gets rejected

inmypocketnottheirs

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Strangely my Amex card is the only one which works with Netflix USA (using a dummy billing address in USA), every other UK card gets rejected

Off topic I know, but why do you need a US Netflix account? Doesn't the selection depend on the DNS setting rather than the billing address?

laurel7172

I know someone who was left high and dry when Amex decided to decline his transactions in the US-and wouldn't change their mind when he phoned. It was as much to do with it being an unusual amount of credit as the country, though ( he was a debit card person who had an Amex for emergencies and holidays).

That said, when my ex got drunk and left his wallet in a bar in Melbourne, Amex couldn't have been better. Certainly, sir, are you able to collect your new card from our city centre office tomorrow or would you like it sent by courier to your home?

His other cards (NatWest)...useless. Maybe one week, probably two. No, there's no way to speed that up. And yes, we know you're working in Australia, but we'll only send them to a UK address...

Meadows

reclusive46 wrote: »

I am going over to the US and previously I've found Barclaycard awful and constantly declining card transactions even when I've recalled them and got it unblocked.
I will obviously have several cards with me and cash but was wondering if anyone had any experience with using their Amex in the US (I've already told them I'm going abroad). How likely is it to get declined?

Never had an issue using cc abroad but always inform the cc company in advance that I will be in that country, otherwise they may block the account because of unusual transactions.

baby_frogmella

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Off topic I know, but why do you need a US Netflix account? Doesn't the selection depend on the DNS setting rather than the billing address?

Netflix US is a trillion times better than its UK counterpart, ie far better selection of movies. However Netflix US requires

1) A US credit card & Billing address - i use my UK issued Amex Green card with a dummy US billing address
2) a US based IP address - i use UnBlock US to get around this (costs £30 a year)

I watch Netflix on my Boxee Box connected to my Pioneer Plasma and everything works like a charm

(OP, sorry for going off-topic!)