New to AMEX, few questions!

AlexanderT

Hello all,

I'm a newbie to this forum and would like some advice on an AMEX gold charge card I took out today, how do these work, and do I have a set credit limit?


Cards I have at the moment:
RBS 28 Months 0% BT = £3050/£3500
Virgin CC = £550/£1500
AMEX Platinum 5% cashback = £0/£3000
AMEX Gold Chargecard

Closed Credit cards:
Barclaycard Platinum (£10,000 Limit)


About me:

I'm 21, earning £25,000 P/A and part time student at university.


Kind regards,


Alexander

thebritishbloke

You can not hold a balance on a charge card, you MUST pay it IN FULL every month. Failure to do so will result in your credit file being trashed.

You don't technically have a credit limit, but AmEx will have an internal amount theyre willing to lend to you. You won't find out what that is until they decline a transaction one day. Just using the card regularly and paying in full will make them less likely to ever really impose a limit (or at least one that you'll ever realistically hit). You could put a car on it and if you'll probably get a phone call about it, but if you've been with them a while they'll probably approve it.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Call me old fashioned, but I would have found out how it worked before getting one. Otherwise how would I know if there was any benefit to having one?

AlexanderT

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

Call me old fashioned, but I would have found out how it worked before getting one. Otherwise how would I know if there was any benefit to having one?

I appreciate your comment, although, a chargecard is a card for life surely? I have had a look at some of the benefits, I won't be using it much.

Paully232000

AlexanderT wrote: »

I appreciate your comment, although, a chargecard is a card for life surely? I have had a look at some of the benefits, I won't be using it much.

No more for life than any other card in that either you or Amex can close it when you/they feel like it. I like it as the membership points and offers are good for me. However I use it a lot, but if you are not planning on using it very often I cant see how the fee will be worth it.

As the above said there is no set limit that you will find out about in advance, but if you are, early on going to charge something high spend then I would phone them in advance. After a while of good use of it this wont be the case, within reason. Ive had one charge card or other for 10 yrs or so and use it for everything from 10 pound lunch to 1000s with no probs.

AlexanderT

Paully232000 wrote: »

No more for life than any other card in that either you or Amex can close it when you/they feel like it. I like it as the membership points and offers are good for me. However I use it a lot, but if you are not planning on using it very often I cant see how the fee will be worth it.

As the above said there is no set limit that you will find out about in advance, but if you are, early on going to charge something high spend then I would phone them in advance. After a while of good use of it this wont be the case, within reason. Ive had one charge card or other for 10 yrs or so and use it for everything from 10 pound lunch to 1000s with no probs.

Nice, I'm hoping to pay my rent on it which comes to about £2000 per 3 months then pay it off straight away is this beneficial? I see if I spend £2000 in the first 3 months, I get 20,000 points, which can buy me 12 bottle of nice white wine. That's fab imo!

Paully232000

AlexanderT wrote: »

Nice, I'm hoping to pay my rent on it which comes to about £2000 per 3 months then pay it off straight away is this beneficial? I see if I spend £2000 in the first 3 months, I get 20,000 points, which can buy me 12 bottle of nice white wine. That's fab imo!

One thing you will find is amex is accepted in far fewer places that visa and MasterCard, so ask if the place you pay rent accept amex, they may not. But if they do they may charge a fee for doing so.
As for amex letting you charge 2000 as one of the first things you charge, when you earn less than that in a month, possibly, maybe phone them to make sure.

AlexanderT

Thank you...would be embarrassing to be declined

mrmajika

AlexanderT wrote: »

I appreciate your comment, although, a chargecard is a card for life surely? I have had a look at some of the benefits, I won't be using it much.

Also worth noting that the AMEX Gold Charge card has an annual fee of £125, which is only waived in year one.

It's not worth having if you are not using it regularly after year 1, as the fee is high.

PeacefulWaters

Paully232000 wrote: »

One thing you will find is amex is accepted in far fewer places that visa and MasterCard.

Fewer places, yes.

Far fewer? I'd suggest you're over-egging it there.

bozo007

AlexanderT wrote: »

Nice, I'm hoping to pay my rent on it which comes to about £2000 per 3 months then pay it off straight away is this beneficial? I see if I spend £2000 in the first 3 months, I get 20,000 points, which can buy me 12 bottle of nice white wine. That's fab imo!

I do not know of any place that accepts a card for rent payment without any surcharge.