American Express International Euro Cards

Hi

I'm thinking about applying for one of ther Amex Green Cards. Appears to be an international service in UK for all European Residents. Does anyone know anything about this? I've read previous threads about BOI being the only Amex issuer in Ireland. I have issues with BOI and their so called 'Customer Serice' does anybody know if by applying through the international office I'll still end up directed back through BOI?

Thanks.

Try this link:

http://www.americanexpress.com/icc/homepage.shtml

It has all the info you might want to ask.

I have the international $ card and my card has nothing to do with BOI (thanks goodness), it is serviced directly from the UK.

I have an Amex card - if you are looking to pay in shops for things, I would rather go for Master/Visa; I have not found one shop in Ireland that accepts Amex.... if it's just for flights and major webpages it should work

What are the difference between a Amex and a Visa/Mastercard ?

Amex costs the card taker even more than Mastercard.

Yeah but from the consumers point of view?

As Darraghdog says above :

"I have not found one shop in Ireland that accepts Amex"

Retailers just dont want the cost of it so they dont sign up

The reason I was going to get it was because I travel a lot with work (in the states). I have been using my visa up until now and would like to get a seperate card for work expenses only. Maybe Amex isn't the best solution?

Amex is a chargecard. You MUST pay the balance in full in full every month.

Yes, Amex Green is a charge card. Amex blue is a credit card - which gives 1% cash back on all purchases. I wouldn't rely on it as my sole credit card.

Marion

Unregistered said:

The reason I was going to get it was because I travel a lot with work (in the states). I have been using my visa up until now and would like to get a seperate card for work expenses only. Maybe Amex isn't the best solution?

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If you travel a lot in the US than get the international $ card which saves you the charge by charge currency conversion you get on your Visa. Also there are a lot of Amex Cash ATM's arround in the US (they have their own network) and cash via that card is usualy cheaper than from your VISA credit portion (not if you have a + on the account) or Lasercard.

You get the bill in $ and can pay it in $ from your irish bank account or via a $ draft. You also are uneffected by the ups and downs between the time the charge hits for example your visa and your company pays you if this is T&E.

Amex has the advantage that it has a good customer service, in the US you can pay at a lot of places, especially T&E, the travel agents are great and in an emergency nearly every Amex office can help you with cash or a replacement card.

As extopia points out, this is a charge card, it requires payment when you get the bill and the payment is due in full a couple of days after the bill.

Usualy they say "no preset spending limit" however the green starts with about 1000$ revolving credit limit and anything else is than by incident depending on your history with them and other credit cards.

In respect of aceptance in Ireland, well that's a different story :-(

darraghdog said:

I have not found one shop in Ireland that accepts Amex....

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This is rubbish. Ever shopped in Superquinn, Dunnes, Tesco? Brown Thomas or Meadows & Byrnes? Mothercare or the Tie Rack? Roches STores or Next? Ever bought petrol? Just a few examples taken from my last Amex statement. Amex is not as widely accepted as Visa or Mastercard, and I wouldn't rely on it as my only card - but is it certainly my favourite card thanks to the 1% cashback.

Unregistered said:

The reason I was going to get it was because I travel a lot with work (in the states). I have been using my visa up until now and would like to get a seperate card for work expenses only. Maybe Amex isn't the best solution?

Click to expand...

Amex is more widely accepted in the US than here. Get the Amex Blue and make 1% of all your expenses.

Unregistered said:

You get the bill in $ and can pay it in $ from your irish bank account or via a $ draft. You also are uneffected by the ups and downs between the time the charge hits for example your visa and your company pays you if this is T&E.

Click to expand...

But assuming your income is in €, you are then hit by FX charges when you go to pay the bill - right?

Original Poster.

I like that it is a chargecard. I get expenses which I intend to put on the card in advance. So I plan to put these expense advances on the Amex and anything over this will be repaid by my company at 2 week intervals. I will easily be able yo pay any o/s balance off at the end of the month. I also may need cash from time to time and would not want to take this out of my visa. I'm actually glad that the card is not that widely accepted in retail outlets (in Ireland) will help me resist the temptation. I think this will probably be a good option for me afterall.

If I get a $ card will it cost me more to pay my bill each month from my IRE € account?

Thanks to all for their very informative replies.