Who benefits from an American Express card?

chriskh94

I wanted to know, who benefits from getting an American Express card? Is it only worth getting one if you are a business owner, looking to buy a house etc? And what are the benefits of getting one?

elsien

Looking up their cards to see what benefits are on offer would seem to be a good starting point? 

Not entirely sure where looking to buy a house comes into it. 

[Deleted User]

Cashback is the main reason people get one, thought the customer service is also very good. 

The vast majority of people who get one are not business owners or looking to buy a house.

WillPS

Generally better rewards and occasionally decent promotional offers (e.g. £50 off when you spend £200 at Hilton fairly frequently).

Customer service used to be excellent but is now just OK.

Amex has no additional benefits to a cardholder's credit record compared to any other (prime) Credit Card, other than they tend to be generous with credit limits (which can also be a disadvantage depending on the lender's scoring criteria).

Sandtree

chriskh94 said:

I wanted to know, who benefits from getting an American Express card? Is it only worth getting one if you are a business owner, looking to buy a house etc? And what are the benefits of getting one?

Benefits vary by card

AmEx tend to have some of the more generous spend based benefits (points, airmiles, cashback etc) and so those that benefit the most are those that can spend the most via the card. People that travel a lot for work and who's employers allow them to pay on personal cards and expensive it can do very well, same as business owners who can do the same over a wider set of categories (or choose to have an AmEx business card instead).

AmEx is well known for its invitation only Centurion card and certainly most the people I know who have one are those with their own business and/or extensive international travel as a high level sales person. 

For the average person the cashback may well be preferable to MR points or the ability to get free room upgrades in expensive hotels etc.

pecuniam_hominem

Cashback and excellent customer service. I got £75 cashback this year.

Dandytf

Offers can be very good, and cashback on top.

lr1277

My view is reading the website Head for Points, is that people who travel and stay in hotels a lot get the most benefits. The other Amex tie up is with Nectar. So if you get a card that earns points, you can use them to get upgrades or free nights in hotels. Or you can get upgrades or free flights. Some cards give you access to Airport lounges if that appeals. But you can get this with Priority Pass. PP costs but with Amex,it depends on the card whether you pay a topup to enter a lounge.

What do you mean would it be useful for a business owner? Again if you are putting travel related expenses on the card, then you will find a high level of acceptance. If you are looking to buy items/services for your business outside of the travel industry, you will have to investigate if your suppliers accept Amex.

Sandtree

lr1277 said:

What do you mean would it be useful for a business owner? Again if you are putting travel related expenses on the card, then you will find a high level of acceptance. If you are looking to buy items/services for your business outside of the travel industry, you will have to investigate if your suppliers accept Amex.

Cannot speak for the OP but if you look on other forums which are a little more "aspirational" then many recommend getting a business AmEx for business owners because whilst the claimed minimum spend for a Centurion card is double that than the personal version if you have 10 members of staff regularly travelling etc using their business AmEx card its much easier to hit the target.

Whilst in theory the business gets the benefits like the $1,500 statement credit for booking travel via AmEx etc you as the owner/director get the Diamond hotel status, Platinum status with Delta, free room upgrades, concierge to book in "fully booked" restaurants etc and the annual fee ($5,000 in the US) becomes a business expense so tax deductible. 

lisyloo

I’m just a normal person with no massive spend but I find Amex cashback to be good and sometimes offers. In general I’d say the customer service is superior e.g. you can talk to someone who’s first language in English - not racist I’m talking about comprehension and communication. They do good introductory offers.

lr1277

Again, this is gleaned from Head for Points. I read the daily chat threads. Every so often I have seen the advice it is better to speak to the CS staff at Brighton as opposed to anywhere else. This is because the staff at Brighton are more likely to accomodate unusual/infrequent requests. However I don't know how you talk to the staff at Brighton as opposed to anywhere else.

I should add I am not an Amex holder. Take my suggestion as you wish.