I want to get an Amex card. What are the pros and cons as compared to Mastercard/Visa?
by Author on Monday, September 6th, 2010 | 9 Comments
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Hi! There are so many different kinds of credit cards offered by American Express, Visa, and MasterCard, that it makes it difficult to compare them without knowing which specific cards you are interested in.
That said, Visa and MasterCard are accepted virtually everywhere credit cards are accepted in the United States and American Express less so. If you choose American Express, it may still be beneficial to have a Visa or MasterCard to use in the event that you encounter a merchant that doesn’t accept American Express.
You also have to consider the benefits offered by the various cards. Have you decided which American Express card you would like to get?
Do you intend to carry a balance? Look for low APRs. Or do you intend to pay off the balance each month? Forget the APR and look for the best rewards, including considering an American Express charge card.
Do you travel abroad frequently? Only Capital One offers Visa and MasterCard credit cards with 0% foreign transaction fees.
Do you want cash back? American Express Blue Cash and Chase Freedom Visa are two good ones in that category.
Do you want points and other intangible benefits? The American Express Green Card is the good introductory American Express charge card with the lowest annual fee.
Do you want easy management of the card? Often your bank or credit union will offer credit cards that unifies your bills, and some of them offer special perks if you have a checking account relationship with them. Typically these cards are from Visa or MasterCard but increasingly from American Express as well.
Bottom-line: Visa/MasterCard vs. American Express matters far less than X card vs. Y card.
Cons: It is less widely accepted. You cannot use it in many places.
Pros: They require you to pay the full balance, so you are less likely to let it rollover. It is more impressive in some circles.
Amex is a charge card… and you are expected to pay the balance in full when the bill comes.
You get to pay fees and yearly dues for the privilege of being able to flash the card.
Frankly… keep it because you won’t be able to use it a lot anyway.
Visa and MasterCard are accepted everywhere… and yes…. they charge interest, etc. but you can revolve the balance.
Just try and use that Amex Card at most gas stations…. you will find out that it is hardly accepted anymore. (When your profit on gasoline is in the pennies…. you will not tolerate Amex that takes it all in merchant fees).
There is some outdated or not necessarily accurate information provided.
I have an AMEX Blue card and I don’t have to pay the complete balance because it is a credit card, not a charge card, and interest accrues and I can have a revolving balance too.
The main con is that AMEX isn’t as widely accepted as Visa or MasterCard.
The main pro is that there are some merchants who only accept AMEX because the cost of processing the charges is cheaper than accepting Visa or MasterCard for purchases.
But I can say a big con is that MasterCard/Visa are still accepted at more places than American express.
Two major pros though are that if you buy a big ticket item, AMEX grants you a warranty of 90 days on that purchase that would even cover theft, so long as the theft was well documented (I’m not sure the dollar amount max though). I found this out the hard way when I had both AMEX and VISA and bought a $200 dvd player/SACD player and 25 days later my apartment was robbed and the robbers stole my new DVD player among other things. THat was the first I heard of AMEX’s deal and confirmed it with them. Unfortunately, when I found my receipt I found out I used my VISA card (I used to favor the AMEX at the time). I’ve since moved to VISA more because it’s accepted everywhere and has become a habit, but if I buy a big ticket electronic item (more than say $150 that is) I’ll use the AMEX card…..just to be safe. (I didn’t have renter’s insurance because I had been renting for years without any problems and was in a safe area in some nice apts but apts that had nothing on the major mansions of the area–I lived off the lake in decent apts that were very reasonably priced for the area, accross the street and just north of our apts were multi million dollar mansions on Lake Michigan, so I thought I’d be fine.
Another pro for AMEX is that it’s the only credit card accepted at Costco….
Ultimately though it’s not accepted in as many places as you’d think, so if you’re going with 1 credit card, VISA or Mastercard might be a preference (especially when travelling to more remote areas or at least last time I went, overseas)…. Otherwise I’d get an AMEX card as a supplement, it’s available in more places than it used to be, but still lags far behind it’s two main competitors (and oddly I’ve always preferred Visa over Mastercard, I don’t know why, but that’s for another discussion)….
The biggest thing holding me back is that most of the AMEX cards charge a yearly fee on top of your interest rate.
Amex is a status symbol that USED to be impressive, but isn’t anymore. There’s really NO reason to have it. Stick with MC and Visa.
I find that not as many places accept AMEX as Visa/MC.
for info ; open the third & sixth link in: http://www.credit-debit-card.co.cc