Just a warning for Amex users

[flagger]

I know this is a little off from Cruise related travel, but I wanted to share a little story with you based on this recent bill.

 

Amex has at least with this card has moved travel related expenses to their automatic Flexible payment option at 13.9%. My statement now has two amounts in the famous Amex Black box. One is my new balance and one is the Minimum due.

 

Being in a hurry I paid online and looked only at the amount at the far right which is the Minimum amount due. Had I not noticed last night the other amount, I would have incurred a finance charge. Amex is a card we use for business and pay off in full each month.

 

I think this is a very sneaky way to get bits and pieces of finance charges and I have called to see they reverse the way they show amounts due. Most of us look to the far right to see our actual payment amount. If they refuse, I will take my business elsewhere.

[J & G]

I know this is a little off from Cruise related travel, but I wanted to share a little story with you based on this recent bill.

 

Amex has at least with this card has moved travel related expenses to their automatic Flexible payment option at 13.9%. My statement now has two amounts in the famous Amex Black box. One is my new balance and one is the Minimum due.

 

Being in a hurry I paid online and looked only at the amount at the far right which is the Minimum amount due. Had I not noticed last night the other amount, I would have incurred a finance charge. Amex is a card we use for business and pay off in full each month.

 

I think this is a very sneaky way to get bits and pieces of finance charges and I have called to see they reverse the way they show amounts due. Most of us look to the far right to see our actual payment amount. If they refuse, I will take my business elsewhere.

 

Do you have the regular green, gold, or platinum card? I thought they had to get your consent to do the travel thing......yes, I nearly got in trouble on that one a few years ago, myself.

 

On my bill the amount to the right is the charges that I owe for the past month (up to the closing date of the statement) and the box on the left (total due) is last month's bill plus what is charged thusfar this month. Is that not how yours is?

[Desert Cruizers]

We have the Travel Option, and know exactly from our Bills, what is presently owed and what the overall total is. Normally we pay in full but it is a nice feature to have, especially if you have a large bill. In the past, if we found we couldn't pay in full, my DH called and asked if we could pay half and no problem.

[BecciBoo]

Thanks for the heads up, my DH checking our online statement as I speak. We are in the same boat as the OP. We do our business with Plat. Amex. Will be on top of that! Thanks again

[flagger]

This is a Gold Amex which I like because of the paperwork provided at the end of the year. It makes accounting flow so much better.

 

I just think it is a sneaky way of trying to hit me with 13.9%. I have never once made minimum payments

[zqvol]

Nothing new about this AMEX started this at least a year ago. They decided to put all hotel, plane and other travel related expenses into the time payment option without people having to call bvecasue so many were doint so. It is nto really a big deal at all. Just read your statement. The ones from AMEX are a lot clearer than any other card company's.

[FL_Cruiser64]

Just checked: no changes

 

We never use Flex Pay.

[luvscruising2007]

We have had this option for several years. I don't understand the problem. We just read the statement each month. Actually I read the statement of all my credit cards in great detail. They are all formatted differently. And OP I don't think AMEX is going to change their billing statements because you didn't read the statement thoroughly. Just MHO.

[BecciBoo]

Just checked: no changes

 

We never use Flex Pay.

 

Same here! Must be the difference in card agreements or something. We travel a lot and have never had that on our statement before, in fact paid for our current cruise with it.

[flagger]

I have never had nor authorized Flex Pay. As you might expect, I have had several travel related charges on it from airlines to hotels to cruises. This was the first time there was a new option. I find it a bit misleading though I am sure the change was made somewhere in the mousetype on a past statement that I missed.

 

Oh well I will change or cancel. Much cheaper for us to deal in cash or debit anyway.

[CanTex]

The AMEX statements for accounts with the flexible payment option can be VERY confusing, especially if you have transactions during the billing period that are credits to your account (e.g. you returned something to a store). It then can be very difficult to determine what the actual payment amount needs to be to avoid any finance charges since the debits / credits are split between the flex and and non-flex categories, and the payment due is reduced by any credits to your account. I've nearly been caught by this a few times.

 

You can tell AMEX that you don't want the flex payment option on your account and that makes it much simpler. I have never used a credit card (Visa or MC) or charge card (conventional AMEX) to finance my spending, and never will. Interestingly, if you ask them to take off the flex option, the grace period before payment is due is then about 7-10 days sooner than it otherwise would be.... ~2 weeks vs. 3+ weeks. That nearly caught me too after I told them to take off the flex option (I like to hang on to my money as long as possible).

[bruce-r]

Most of us look to the far right to see our actual payment amount. If they refuse, I will take my business elsewhere.

 

Nope, I always look for the Balance Due amount and it is almost always over $1000, so it's easy to find.

[Spender Nui]

I think (listening with one ear) that I just heard CNN say that AMEX has made the bailout list.

[rednancy1]

Although we have the flex pay option we never use it. We have the Platinum Amex so we can use the airport lounges. We always pay in full.:)

[Desert Cruizers]

Flagger, wishing you and your family a very MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR and everone here.

[swscruiser]

Simple solution,

 

Look at your statement, pay the total due amount.

 

Keith

[cruiser82]

I haven't used my AMEX (Blue) for a while, but I'll probably start using it again to replace my NCL credit card. So while this might be old news for some people it was new news to me! Thanks for posting this :)

[MaryEBS]

I know this is a little off from Cruise related travel, but I wanted to share a little story with you based on this recent bill.

 

Amex has at least with this card has moved travel related expenses to their automatic Flexible payment option at 13.9%. My statement now has two amounts in the famous Amex Black box. One is my new balance and one is the Minimum due.

 

Being in a hurry I paid online and looked only at the amount at the far right which is the Minimum amount due. Had I not noticed last night the other amount, I would have incurred a finance charge. Amex is a card we use for business and pay off in full each month.

 

I think this is a very sneaky way to get bits and pieces of finance charges and I have called to see they reverse the way they show amounts due. Most of us look to the far right to see our actual payment amount. If they refuse, I will take my business elsewhere.

 

What you are describing is Sign and Travel Express - this is an enrollment program and you should have been read a disclosure before enrolling in the service. All you need to do is call the 800# on the back of your card and the program can be discontinued.

[rednancy1]

Hey Flagger,

 

I've been meaning to ask. What is the dogs name? Love the winking dog. :)

[flagger]

That is Holly...my late first weimaraner.

[dolfandude]

We have had this option for several years. I don't understand the problem. We just read the statement each month. Actually I read the statement of all my credit cards in great detail. They are all formatted differently. And OP I don't think AMEX is going to change their billing statements because you didn't read the statement thoroughly. Just MHO.

 

Same here. AMEX has had this for years. But I do have a question for Flagger..... why are you discussing your "business" credit card here in this forum? While you say AMEX is "very sneaky", surely you don't use that "business" cc for personal travel and then find a way to expense it, do you?;)

[PhoenixCruiser]

I have never had nor authorized Flex Pay. As you might expect, I have had several travel related charges on it from airlines to hotels to cruises. This was the first time there was a new option. I find it a bit misleading though I am sure the change was made somewhere in the mousetype on a past statement that I missed.

 

Oh well I will change or cancel. Much cheaper for us to deal in cash or debit anyway.

 

Sounds like another way to screw with customers, just like how BOA waits until the last minute to send your bill...

 

I really hope the government makes the financial institutions disclose how they spent the bailout $$$.

 

Thanks for the heads-up Flagger.

 

###

[rednancy1]

That is Holly...my late first weimaraner.

 

Holly is lovely. :):):)

[tally10]

Here is our Amex story. We took a Mediterranean cruise this past October. DH paid off our Amex card and told Amex that we would be in Europe and that we would be using the card. We charged one night in a hotel precruise and a few inexpensive souvenirs with the card during the cruise. When he went to pay the hotel bill in Rome for the one night postcruise, the card was declined. We could not figure out why as we had totally paid off the card. Luckily we took our Mastercard even though the Amex card was to be the main card. When we got home, we found a letter from Amex stating that they had dropped our credit limit to what we owed. We were floored because we had called them the day before we left to let them know that this was the card we were going to use in Europe and that they confirmed we had paid it off. We have never been late on a payment, either. The old commercials that showed that Amex was there when you need them have gone by the wayside! They certainly could have told us when we called, that they were going to do that, as the postmark on the letter was the day we left for Rome. We could have been in a real pickle! Thank goodness for Mastercard!

[skisteamboat]

Never use my AMEX overseas anymore since they started charging the ~2% Foreign Transaction Fee in addition to normal foreign exchange rate. I now use a Capital One card since it does NOT charge such a fee.

 

Cheers