American Express Rewards Card

Samsung_Note2

Applied and was excepted for the Rewards Credit Card..just wondering and yes i know its a "How long is a piece of string" post...how generous are Amex with there Limits.

Never had an Amex card so no experience of what they are like with initial limits..i know MBNA show the limit when accepted,its not a huge deal as just going to be day to day spending and cleared in full each month.

jde91

If you have been accepted you can just call them and ask.

Samsung_Note2

jde91 wrote: »

If you have been accepted you can just call them and ask.

Didnt think of that as assumed it would take a few days to decide the limit...worth a call and asking.

Just edited to say Thanks good suggestion...called them and what great customer service agents,so friendly and polite and highest balance ive been given as a start @ £5000,she said after 3 months i can increase if wanted.

NoTB

After 3 months you can apply for a CLI. I read that they are very generous and offer 3x initial limit on CLI request. I went from an initial £3k limit and tried my luck on the first available try and was offered £9k.

But also be very, very careful as some things can trigger a financial review and boy o' boy do you not want to be on the receiving end of them when they dispute something with you as I've recently found out...

stevenhp1987

NoTB wrote: »

But also be very, very careful as some things can trigger a financial review and boy o' boy do you not want to be on the receiving end of them when they dispute something with you as I've recently found out...

Why be careful? Surely only doing something "out of the ordinary" will trigger a financial review, e.g. trying to "manufacture spend" or obtain cash advances through PayPal (or similar)?

Using the card regularly for normal transactions should not result in that & *if* it does, you'd have nothing to worry about unless you lied on your application or if you refuse to comply.

dont_use_vistaprint

I find their customer service better than any bank or card company, the app is pretty good too.

I have only ever had 2 disputes and both were resolved quickly in my favour. The first was a car I purchased for £8500 and then returned a few days later as it developed a fault with a fuel injector. The dealer refused to accept the return and insisted I take another car. I called AMEX and explained the situation they advised to leave the keys and car and they would charge the amount back, the amount stayed on the account for a couple of months while in dispute but no interest was charged.

The second dispute was Vistaprint, VP Rewards ,Adaptive Infinity , whatever they call themselves these days. They kept taking £9.95 insisting that because my browser disabled pop ups the , I had agreed to a rewards programme by not being able to tick a box to opt-out, that was never displayed. Even after cancelling 3 times they continued to take money.

Once is was logged with AMEX they immediately cancelled and replaced the card as its a known issue with Vista Print and they have no way to prevent them making the requests, and all the money was returned to my account.

I have the AMEX Nectar not rewards, after a while, the limit is pretty much whatever you request.

NoTB

As far as I'm aware they can randomly choose to do a financial review on anybody, at any time.

I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary opposed to not spending on the card.
On my charge card I used purely for business expenses (flights, accommodation, client schmoozing etc) in order to receive the points and exchange for Avios. There was a balance for at most one week at a time while I waited for the expenses to go through and card was cleared.
Over the course of 18 months I must have spent in excess of £20k on the charge card, one transaction alone was accommodation for two serviced apartments in London for one month which cost just over £8k and was approved, not so much as a phone call to confirm it was me etc.
Never missed a single payment nor was late however was still subjected to a FR.

Never used it for 'manufacture spending', cash withdrawals or even set it up with PayPal.

I'm sure there are hundreds of stories from people being subjected to a FR and it being all good, no issues and have never heard from anybody again however all I am saying is my experience was, and still continues to be, awful as a result of an Amex FR.

bd10

I got my Rewards Credit Card a few months back. Prior to that I have been holding the Halifax's Clarity Card for 3 months. Amex offered an initial 10k limit. No complaints. More than twice what Halifax initially offered, although they upped the limit by a bit after 3 months as well.

etienneg

In this context, what is a "financial review"? Presumably they ask questions, but what sort? Why is it so onerous? (I'm not arguing with what you say, I'm just interested in finding out as I have no knowledge or experience of this.)

guesswho2000

NoTB wrote: »

Never used it for 'manufacture spending', cash withdrawals or even set it up with PayPal.

Indeed they can randomly review their customers at any time, for any reason, but so can any other card issuer.

As for these suggestions:
-Manufactured spending is likely to raise flags with any issuer, so definitely be careful here, Amex are no different.

-Cash withdrawals (if offered by Amex, which they usually are on their credit cards, you have to specifically opt in on their charge cards, but that’s not applicable to OP) are a feature of the card, if you do use them, there’s nothing untoward about it. The advice to avoid them is good though, as they’re expensive. There’s a slim chance that, if Amex (or indeed any issuer you’re taking cash advances with) thinks you’re struggling financially, you could be flagged/reviewed, but an occasional cash advance is very unlikely to result in this. Indeed a frequent cash advance is still somewhat unlikely to be an issue, if you’re repaying the balance in full, no other credit issues, etc., however still best avoided if possible (exceptions being on specific cards for obtaining cash overseas - Amex Rewards CC isn’t one of them, in fact no UK Amex card is).

-Setting it up with PayPal - no issue doing this whatsoever. There is zero chance that setting your card up with PayPal for normal, everyday transactions, such as eBay purchases or whatever, will result in any problems. What would be an issue is using PayPal to funnel lots of cash into current accounts, see manufactured spending above, however in this instance PayPal will almost certainly cut you off much more quickly than Amex, and their review process, from what I’ve read, is a painful one, which can result in funds being tied up for months, while you prove you’re not money laundering, or involved in other illegal activity.

Samsung_Note2

Blimey...lots to think about.

Think i"ll be ok..just paid off my Paypal credit account and closed it,linked debit card to paypal so no balance.

Amex was for the points...will be paid in full each month when statement produced,cant imagine id want a balance increase (Barclycard has 5K limit zero balance,MBNA has 3.5k limit with £500 being cleared pay day,Halifax has 1K limit zero balance for use abroad and 1st direct has 4k limit with 2.6k on 0% for next 20 odd months)..just handy to have.

Regards the other cards they offer...if in the future i felt say a Nectar points card would benifit me more,is it easy enough to swap them over or do you have to reapply agin.