Amex Platinum Cashback Credit Card Direct Debit changes

sausage_time

Dates are moving 2 days earlier.  Notification by email below - may impact other Amex cards too?

From 1 November 2024 onwards, we are changing when your Direct Debit payments to American Express will be collected. Your full payment is currently taken from your bank account fourteen days after your statement date. For your statements produced after 1 November 2024, this will change to twelve days after your statement date.

Lumiona

It's weird with Amex that they take the DD so soon and way before the due date. I've now cancelled the DD and pay manually on the day before the due date.

sausage_time

I think I'll do the same.  The gap for me was already 11 days, and that will be increasing to 13 days.

WillPS

I'd recommend setting it to minimum payment, just so that in the worst case and you forget/fall in to a coma or whatever the account won't fall in to arrears.

jbrassy

Does it matter when the DD is taken? The whole point of these cards is to use them for day to day spending and pay them off in full. If you don't have the money to cover your monthly statement, should you really have the card?

WillPS

jbrassy said:

Does it matter when the DD is taken? The whole point of these cards is to use them for day to day spending and pay them off in full. If you don't have the money to cover your monthly statement, should you really have the card?

... yes, because that's money which could be earning interest for you until payment is necessary.

sausage_time

Two weeks on £1000 at 5% (Trading 212) is £1.92 so typically about £23 a year per £1000 Amex spend.  Nice bottle of wine that.

jbrassy

WillPS said:

jbrassy said:

Does it matter when the DD is taken? The whole point of these cards is to use them for day to day spending and pay them off in full. If you don't have the money to cover your monthly statement, should you really have the card?

... yes, because that's money which could be earning interest for you until payment is necessary.

2 days interest?

WillPS

jbrassy said:

WillPS said:

jbrassy said:

Does it matter when the DD is taken? The whole point of these cards is to use them for day to day spending and pay them off in full. If you don't have the money to cover your monthly statement, should you really have the card?

... yes, because that's money which could be earning interest for you until payment is necessary.

2 days interest?

No, 13 days (up from 11) each month when your money has been sent when it could have been earning interest elsewhere, compared to settling manually (by debit card or faster payment) on the due date.


13 days interest (x12) on 4 figure sums isn't trivial.

sausage_time

The Amex change highlights how unreasonable the existing gap is, and may spur many people to review.  I like the suggestion by @WillPS of setting the Direct Debit to the minimum and topping up with a "manual" payment. 

Does anyone know how long it takes a Faster Payment to Amex to actually hit the account?  That may erode the 13 days.

WillPS

sausage_time said:

The Amex change highlights how unreasonable the existing gap is, and may spur many people to review.  I like the suggestion by @WillPS of setting the Direct Debit to the minimum and topping up with a "manual" payment. 

Does anyone know how long it takes a Faster Payment to Amex to actually hit the account?  That may erode the 13 days.

Very fast, a few minutes. 

Debit card payments clear the balance immediately after they're approved most of the time - I did have one which for some reason didn't but when it eventually sorted itself out the payment was dated the same day as the transaction.