Loading pre-paid debit cards with Amex credit card - purchase or cash advance?

MrCoffee81

I'm looking at paying a HMRC VAT bill (circa £4.9k) and wanted to use my BA Amex to hit the spending target and collect avios.

HMRC don't accept Amex, so I'm looking at perhaps using the Amex to purchase and load a pre-loaded a visa debit card, and then pay this bill.

1. Will this work and what pre-paid debit cards can you use amex with?
2. Will Amex change this as a purchase or would Amex class this as a cash advance? Would be an expensive mistake to get wrong!!!

My research seems to lead to the now defunct Tesco Pre-Loaded Visa. I can't seem to find much information out there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

rehanmalik3030

MrCoffee81 wrote: »

I'm looking at paying a HMRC VAT bill (circa £4.9k) and wanted to use my BA Amex to hit the spending target and collect avios.

HMRC don't accept Amex, so I'm looking at perhaps using the Amex to purchase and load a pre-loaded a visa debit card, and then pay this bill.

1. Will this work and what pre-paid debit cards can you use amex with?
2. Will Amex change this as a purchase or would Amex class this as a cash advance? Would be an expensive mistake to get wrong!!!

My research seems to lead to the now defunct Tesco Pre-Loaded Visa. I can't seem to find much information out there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Stupid suggestion, but why do you not try contacting Amex and asking them. Follow the link below: Its possible that they may give you a correct answer.

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/need-help/contact-us.html?page=CM&uk_nav=cscontactmain

grumbler

I'd be surprised if it didn't count as a cash advance. It would be a far too easy way to avoid the ~3% CC's cash advance fees and the immediate interest on cash advances.

eDicky

Any prepaid card that does accept a Top-up using a credit card will impose a hefty surcharge, because of the interchange fee collected by the CC company.

Yolina

eDicky, I think the OP is referring to 'gift card' type rather than the proper prepay cards that you can reload. I could well be wrong but I'm pretty sure I came across some such Mastercard gift cards somewhere that could be paid for with Payapal I think. They are basically a non store specific gift card for £x amount of your choice

boo_star

Yolina wrote: »

eDicky, I think the OP is referring to 'gift card' type rather than the proper prepay cards that you can reload. I could well be wrong but I'm pretty sure I came across some such Mastercard gift cards somewhere that could be paid for with Payapal I think. They are basically a non store specific gift card for £x amount of your choice

For nearly £5k though?

I think the OP will struggle to find a card that will let them load that much without extensive checks, and that's before you consider the "cash advance" issue.