Are there any bureau de change that accept American Express?

wiredchild_2

Hello,

I recently got myself an American Express Gold Card. It was less of a burning desire but more of a test to see what i could get from using a card like this. I'm VERY new to the world of credit cards/charge cards but someone suggested i could benefit from it, rather than using my standard debit card, so thought i'd give it a go as it's free for the first year.

Anyway, on to the topic in question. I'm currently trying to hit their £2,000 spend in three months, which gives me 20,000 bonus points (the equivalent of spending £20,000 on the card) so am trying to put whatever i can possibly put on there but have started finding out that a lot of places don't actually accept American Express, so this is proving harder than i expected.

I am currently looking to buy travel money for a holiday to Asia next week and had hoped i could buy it on the American Express card to make a good start to racking up that £2,000, however, i have been to The Post Office, Marks and Spencer, Thomas Cook, Thompson and several others and none will accept American Express. Is there anywhere that does?

I understand American Express have their own bureau de change in airports but if you use your charge card (like my Gold one) it's considered a 'cash advance' not a purchase, much like going to an ATM so i suppose that wouldn't count towards my £2,000 in purchases?

Any help appreciated.

BugsyBrowne

The banks will

reclusive46

You can buy travellers cheques from Amex, they don't count as a cash advance although buying anything to do with cash won't normally qualify for points or bonuses. (You'll still need to get Express Cash enabled though).

wiredchild_2

Thanks for the replies guys, i'm looking for a transaction that is classed as a 'purchase', rather than a cash advance as that will not offer points or move me any closer to hitting the '£2,000 in 3 months' spend on the card. Therefore travellers cheques aren't applicable unfortunately.

What banks would offer foreign money that could be purchased though an Amex charge card?

dzug1

wiredchild wrote: »

.

What banks would offer foreign money that could be purchased though an Amex charge card?

None that I know of - they will regard it as a credit card (if they accept it at all) and charge accordingly - as will AMEX

[Deleted User]

wiredchild wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, i'm looking for a transaction that is classed as a 'purchase', rather than a cash advance as that will not offer points or move me any closer to hitting the '£2,000 in 3 months' spend on the card. Therefore travellers cheques aren't applicable unfortunately.

What banks would offer foreign money that could be purchased though an Amex charge card?

Don't ever buy currency at the airport. The exchange companies have you by the short and curlys and offer the appropriate (very poor) rates.

Your best bet is to use your card to order from Amex in advance. You can either have it home delivered (for a small fee or free for over £500) or choose to collect it from the airport. Google 'travel money now' to find the website.

Despite what you may think (or read elsewhere) Amex class this as a purchase. I have done this several times, most recently a couple of weeks ago. You will earn 1 Amex MR point per pound exchanged and this will count towards your £2000 spend target. I can personally state that this is the case with Amex charge cards - I haven't tried with their credit cards so that may be another matter.

You can also go via the British Airways Executive Club or Avios links to earn 1 Avios per pound exchanged but you will receive a slightly worse exchange rate. It will depend on if you collect avios and how you value them to determine if this is a better deal for you.

You may read on the Amex website that your card must be enrolled for 'express cash' to be able to do this. Also if you call Amex and ask they will tell you that ordering online will count as a cash advance. They are wrong and it does not. I think this is only the case if you withdraw cash from an ATM, not order currency online.

Incidentally, the above is also true for Amex travellers cheques. Ordering these also counts as a purchase and if you order Pound Sterling cheques you can then redeposit them into your bank account (although it will cost you the 1% fee for the cheques themselves).

Someone always seems to argue the toss on this issue so let me be very clear about the answer to your question:

Travel money ordered from the Amex website with an Amex card counts as a purchase, not a cash advance. You will receive MR points and it will count towards spending targets.

[Deleted User]

reclusive46 wrote: »

You can buy travellers cheques from Amex, they don't count as a cash advance although buying anything to do with cash won't normally qualify for points or bonuses. (You'll still need to get Express Cash enabled though).

You don't need to get express cash enabled. In fact, I would recommend NOT having it enabled just in case this results in money orders being treated as a cash advance.

matty747

Order online from moneycorp. They are the best I found that take Amex with no fee and it's not treated as a cash advance. Amex's own site travelmoneynow isn't as good in my opinion as the order usually fails if paying by Amex. Moneycorps rates are better too.

matty747

Moneycorp counts for minimum spend target and gives points as it's counted as a purchase.