iaink

It has higher charges to the retailer, its far from universally accepted. Mostly its smaller mom and pop places that dont want to eat the costs. Its more common to have problems with it in Canada though than the states.


Mind you, its been a while since I had a corporate Amex, I chose not to pay for the "privilege" of having a personal one.

el_richo

My amex is free. The only places i can't use it is in a Superstore or at a few shitty little gas stations or the tiny private stores.

Most places are fine though. I have a mastercard as back up.

Novocastrian

I also have a Corporate Amex but I only use it for <gasp> corporate expenses. It's a bit annoying because our finance department is a bit slow in reimbursing, so more than once I've been dinged with late payment charges.

YoshiPal2010

We got a Global Payment Card from our bank. Issued by MasterCard, but works like a Debit Card in that the purchases are taken straight from our chequing account (we checked this once while away: sure enough, the money was straight out from our account). And it has never been refused in the US (or anywhere else, for that matter!)

Super Plumb

the only problem I had in the US with M/card was getting petrol(read gas) from the pump as some require you to enter a zip code...........and apparently 90210 doesnt cut it

Atlantic Xpat

I have one but stopped using it in favour of a personal credit card that collects aeroplan points for me. It's a handy back up in emergencies but the only place I've had to use it in the last year was a small restaurant in rural Netherlands. Everywhere else takes visa & I've been able to use my interac card in most places during my travels down south.

scribe123

That's exactly why I refuse to get an Amex for work expenses, and just use my own mastercard that I pay off manually.

I get nasty emails and a gentle prod off my boss every now and then, but I point blank refuse and state that I'm not putting my credit history in the hands of the company.

They say they will never pay late, but this is coming from the company who claimed my expenses had been paid but nothing had landed in my bank account. I called finance which had been centralised to India and the call centre guy said: "it was paid last Wednesday into the account with sort code, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, and account number zero, zero, zero ..."

"let me stop you there" I said "do you see the problem?"

Sadly/worryingly he didn't. Company policy or not, no Amex for me.

Plus at one point a few years ago, there was a mass move away from Amex by retailers in the UK because of the high charges for the transaction (unless Amex have changed tack and reduced them).

Tony-the-Tigger

You're right. AMEX isn't a popular card in the UK. I wouldn't want to rely on one. What they are doing now is piggy backing existing VISA accounts eg. I'm with MBNA and have 2 credit cards for the same account, one VISA, one AMEX. The AMEX offers better cashback but can only be used in certain stores and websites due to their higher fees.
When booking a flight online for example, you need to be aware on the payment page that if you pick AMEX rather than VISA, the price may increase.

Souvy

I have a corporate Amex card. I only use it for flights, hotels and computer stuff. I don't care if the bill is paid late. I never see the bill.

I have in the past found Amex to be very good at replacing lost/stolen cards in a matter of hours. Their security also seems pretty good. They noticed immediately when "I" bought a mattress in NYC (where I have never been) and petrol in Michigan (I don't drive).

scribe123

If the card isn't in your name then you need not worry, but if it is in your name I would worry about late payments as they will damage your credit rating.

MarylandNed

Yep - I've run into that problem. For example, Tim Hortons accepted Mastercard but not VISA until just recently.

MarylandNed

It's usually OK but problems are becoming more common. I tried using a US swipe credit card at a restaurant in the UK but the young cashier didn't know how to process a swiped transaction (she actually told me they could only accept chip & PIN cards). I ended up paying by cash. I found out later that they could process swiped transactions - she just didn't know how to do it!

Although retailers in Europe in general are supposed to process credit card transactions that are not chip & PIN (through an agreement with the credit card companies), this doesn't help you if you are dealing with a machine that only accepts chip & PIN cards (e.g. an automated ticket machine at a train station). I've heard stories of US travellers missing early morning trains in Europe as they wait for the ticket windows to open so they can buy a ticket from a ticket agent.

Chip & PIN is now coming to the US - but slowly. VISA and Mastercard have given US retailers a deadline in which to switch to the more secure chip & PIN technology. Once the deadline passes, liability for fraudulent swiped transactions switches from the credit card company to the retailer.

Some US credit card companies have begun offering chip & PIN cards to select customers and to those willing to pay a hefty annual fee. However, I found a US credit union (AFCU) that offers one for free. I joined to get their chip & PIN VISA card (it can also be swiped so will continue to work in the US). I'll be trying it out on my next trip to Canada or Europe. My 2 oldest daughters are also taking one to Europe shortly.

The US is well behind on this issue. US credit card companies are hearing an increasing number of complaints from US travellers who are experiencing problems using their credit cards abroad.