Using Amex To Pay The Monthly Bills

[Deleted User]

Not at all - carry on.

Just throwing some light on the fact that trying to forcibly spend £10,000 for a £50 return is a bit of a time waste IMO.

BakingC

He is going to spend the money anyway so wants to channel his spend via his Amex to give him points to use towards something which provides more value to him (trip to america). Avios should be worth 1p per point at least when used correctly especially on a popular route like to the USA / business class (don't do economy as the taxes are too high in comparison to the cash value to make it worth it).

Also I am reading this as 10,000 bonus points for a specific spend (guess gold card here). So if you spend £15K in the year you get 15k normal points + 10K bonus points for hitting spend so the earn per £1 increases to 1.6 Avios per £1 rather than 1.0 which when used on a long haul business class redemption could easily be the same as 1.6p per £1 cashback or more.

AnotherPaul

BakingC - ta da! :beer:.. yes.. you are a genius!

That's everything explained to everyone :j
Paul
.... traveling in economy in vastly reduced price seats purchased 50 weeks in advance from BA :j

bd10

I remember a study in which is was shown that consumers spend more on credit cards than when using good olde cash. The lesson was, that the lack of immediacy of parting with cash removed the pain factor from the transaction, so consumers tend to spend more using plastic incl. credit cards. Now keeping this in mind, should the question not be perhaps whether one tends to overspend by less that the credit card's reward earning percentage to be overall better off?
So I made a little experiment a few months back. For one month I used my Starling card with direct notification. The pop up messages clearly heightened my sense of spending. Psychologically speaking I found it more painful than when using my Amex card where the focus was on racking up points. Personally speaking the jury is still out but after one month debit card only I spent between 5% and 10% less compared to previous Amex-only months. So overall, I was 4-9% better off. This experiment really got me thinking of what's the point reward credit cards after all. Just a thought.

[Deleted User]

Amex provides instant notification on spends as well

bd10

I know, all I can say it felt different spending for daily things on a debit card vs. a credit card. https://spectrum.mit.edu/winter-1999/the-psychology-of-spending/
Of course I keep my Amex card plus my two other travel credit cards. In fact I rotate them, but when I got my debit card I have a much more acute sense of loss at the till.
(disclaimer: I am running a tight budget across all cards, never carry balances).

[Deleted User]

I don’t get the “psychology” part.

Whatever I spend on my CC isn’t spent on my DC and is paid back in full each month anyways.

So either way money is spent

System

AnotherPaul wrote: »

Strange world. Every so quick to take your money... but restrictive on how you pay it back?

Because AMEX will charge them 3% for taking a payment via AMEX. So little wonder many places don't want to take AMEX.

AnotherPaul

Well so far so good... only small amounts...but the following have converted to taking Amex as a method of payment for automatic monthly payments with Amex - meaning they'll take from the card...

• Talk Talk
• 3 (mobile phone network)

And with EDF (gas & elec) I've managed to reduce my DD to a small amount and then pay the balance manually each month with Amex. And with EDF I could spend more on the card by getting myself in credit with EDF just by paying them more.

And none of the organisations above are charging any extra by paying by Amex.

The sewerage & water utility companies would both take payment by credit card - but not Amex - and both would charge 2%.

Sky (TV) takes Mastercard - so I've changed to paying monthly with that - at least it'll get some Avios points as opposed to no Avios points had I just let it stay as a DD from my bank. Again - no extra charge.

My landlord would take Amex - but charge me 3%.

So with only a few other DDs/SOs to look at which I currently pay straight from my bank - I think that's probably it... unless anyone else has got any other ideas?

Thanks again everyone (so far) for your help and guidance.

Paul

System

AnotherPaul wrote: »

The sewerage & water utility companies would both take payment by credit card - but not Amex - and both would charge 2%.

My landlord would take Amex - but charge me 3%.

Both Illegal. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/card-surcharge-ban-means-no-more-nasty-surprises-for-shoppers