British Airways Amex card fee

Vinknut

mawfortyone said:

WillPS said:

Just because you expect something to be free does not mean it is.

Amex provide a free BA card, and yet you chose the one with a fee. I can believe you overlooked the fee element (which is your mistake) but I can't believe you genuinely cannot see any value in the card you applied for over that one. Therein lies the justification for the fee.

There is nothing "unethical" at all about charging for banking services. There are ethical issues with agreeing to terms you haven't made any effort at all to read or understand however.

It seems the term 'unethical' has a different meaning to banks and financial institutions than any other business sector, I guess that's why the FSA was created! I think people who work in that industry genuinely believe they are operating ethically but that is purely conditioning after decades of dodgy practices. It seems to me, the more regulated you are, the more you convince yourself that you are ethical and ignore your natural human judgment "Is this right, is it a fair and reasonable way to behave" gets ignored in favour of "It's within the rules/regulations" 

If they deliberately HID the fact there's an annual fee, you would have a valid point.

But they don't, so you don't.

It should also have been clear from the representative APR which is about 110.1% at the moment, because it includes the annual fee.

Did you read any of the other terms and conditions? Did you know how many Avios points you'd collect per £1 spent?

I'm amazed that they offered you £60, as according to the letter of the regulations (which you appear keen to mention), they certainly didn't have to.

dcfc67

Should, of read the small print

AMEX Gold charge £160 after 12 months membership. (30000 free avios on a 3K spend in first 90 days)

Refunds are pro rata if you cancel after fee is charged.

From what i can see you clear your debt and then close account straight away. The £60 discount they applied should cover the interest charged

Clive_Woody

A valuable lesson for the future. Definitely prudent to think carefully before signing up for services you then subsequently decide you don't want to use.....and read every screen carefully as pleading ignorance when it very clearly states that there is a fee and exactly how much that fee is.