10 Reasons Why I Won’t Ever Use Amex Again
Sure, an American Express card has prestige, but it comes with headaches, too. High annual fees, troublesome rewards programs and a mystery spending limit have pushed me to the brink and I’ve decided that it’s no longer worth the trouble. Here are ten reasons why I’m leaving home without it.
1. I embarrass easily: Every time I use my Amex card, I run the risk of having my purchase declined. Why? The reality behind Amex’s "no preset spending limit" policy is that you’ll never know exactly how much you’re allowed to spend. One change in your credit score or bank balance could lower your limit and leave you red-faced at the register.
2. I don’t like paying high annual fees: Amex annual fees range from $2,500 to $65. Nearly every card offered by the company requires a hefty annual fee, and the ones that don’t have their own drawbacks. For example, the Blue has no annual fee, but the rewards program does not stand up to what competitors offer. The Costco card is free, but you must pay annual club fees of $45 to qualify for the card.
3. I don’t like nasty surprises hiding in the fine print: Signing up for the Amex Blue means you have to pull out a magnifying glass to wade through the fine print . This is the only way to prevent becoming inundated with product offers and telemarketing calls.
4. I don’t like the way they calculate interest: I pay $3,000 on my Amex bill, leaving a balance of $6. A normal person might assume that I only have to pay interest on $6, but Amex begs to differ. They send me a statement where I owe interest on $3,006 and insist that this is allowed according to the fine print included with the card application.
5. I don’t want to be hassled to earn my reward points: Rewards are not enabled by default, so you have to call an 800 number and waste 10 minutes dealing with a customer service rep to get the program started. This, of course, includes plenty of time in which their representatives attempt to sell you something. Which brings me to my next point:
6. Nobody uses my time and money to try to sell me stuff: American Express personnel are well trained in hard-sell tactics. No matter what you call for, you’ll have to dodge numerous "must-have" offers that they assure you would be crazy to pass up. Does anyone actually buy credit life insurance?
7. I prefer cards that are more widely accepted: Not all merchants accept American Express cards, and who can blame them? Amex charges 2.5% merchant rates, much higher than MasterCard and Visa’s 2.5.
8. I don’t want to support credit card fraud: I’ve read that you can easily set up a business account online with American Express using a stolen identity. This practice is enabled by the fact that Amex does not call back to verify if the person actually requested an account be set up.
9. I prefer gift cards that come without a fee: Who do you think you are, Amex? I can get lots of gift cards for face value with no additional fees, so why should I bother to pay an extra $5 for yours?
10. I don’t care much for outsourcing: I am not impressed by the fact that American Express is India’s fourth largest American employer. Their customer service and company quality has suffered for it, allowing their bottom line to grow at the cost of frustrated customers and lost American jobs.