American Express (AMEX) Platinum card

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
21
I had miles and more Amex platinum for a few years and gave it up because:

- with senator I had lounge access anyway, also priority check in.

- Miles and more Amex is not the same as regular Amex it seems. I could not get into the centurion lounges for example, and could not use their concierge or travel services. Might have changed now.

- car deductible insurance is available free with a much cheaper visa gold card. The visa gold also came with priority pass (pay per use lounge entry)

- travel insurance was included in my supplementary health insurance.

22
So I went ahead with the Amex platinum card.

It's been refused at 2 locations in the last week one was a restaurant, the other was Conforama.

I'm about to go to the post office and see if I can use it to pay a bill. I know you can't use credit cards to pay bills but I'm not sure if an Amex charge card is treated the same. Does anyone know, before I wander down there to find out?

23
Just confirming.

The post office will not allow you to pay invoices with an Amex charge card.

Starting to wonder if this was worth it after all...

24
It's the one place that I can't just use my watch/phone to pay stuff with and either need my physical savings account card or cash. I hope they change this at some point in the future but for the 2-3 times I go there per year it's not a huge issue.

25
Amex is not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard. Ideally have one of those as a back-up card.

26
Haven't had any issues. Did you use the wireless facility or actually insert it in the slot? I understood, and I may be wrong, that the first time you use it, you need to put it in the slot.

Also, have you called AMEX to find out why the problem? They are generally really helpful. They'll be able to see that your transaction didn't go through and will, presumably, be able to tell you why.

27
I had the card for a couple of years. Never really made full use of its benefits, so I eventually canceled it. The most tangible benefits for me were the PLUS credits, lounge access, Uber credits, and airline fees. Rewards rate was modest at best, there are better cards out there without the annual fee. AMEX has excellent customer service, and I suppose the travel insurance/concierge service would have come in handy if needed, but such a situation almost never arose due to better coverage from my employer.

Not sure if you know, but if you have a portfolio with Schwab, they offer a $200 discount on the annual fee each year provided that you maintain holdings of >$1 million with them.

28
the post does not take credit cards full stop.

you can work around this with a credit card behind TWINT but IIRC the UBS and white-label TWINT Apps do not support Amex in the background, only Visa and Mastercard.

29
Thanks Snoopy. This wasn't the first time in use, but both times I attempted to tap it first, then inserted into the slot. Both times, the attendant said 'oh no, we don't accept American Express.' So I guess it must be a vendor preference - maybe it's cost-related? I'm not sure.

30
The post doesnt accept credit cards. Amex doesnt produce any debit cards... I am not sure what you mean with "charge card".

Up to 2016 did post not even accept any bank cards. At all. It took an order from the Swiss parliament to change that(!).

Fun fact: they dont even accept THEIR OWN Postfinance credit cards: https://www.srf.ch/news/panorama/zah...%20Postfinance .

31
That's so surprising, even their own cards not accepted??

The Amex card is not a debit card, nor a credit card. A charge card operates differently. A debit card requires an account that has funds in it, and when you use it, it deducts those funds. A credit card obviously operates differently - the funds don't exist yet, but you can use up to your pre-agreed amount.

A charge card is like a combination of the two - there isn't a pre-approved spending limit, however you are required to pay off the balance in full each month (or pay exorbitant fees).

As far as spending goes, it operates like a credit card, but you should treat it like a debit card.

32
Technically that’s a credit card with the same high fees to be paid by the merchant... which is why post don’t accept them. Because they don’t need to give 4% share to Amex. If I were a monopolist... I’d do the same. It’s not like you can go to a competitor.

33
Ah, I misunderstood! Not accepted...thought you meant declined.

34
Strangely enough, Post does accept Amex online. If you are buying online stamps or printing out a label for a parcel, you can pay with Amex.