What Is AMEX "Pay Over Time"?

Amex has been dealing in credit cards for a few decades now. Think it started with Amex Blue.

Yes, credit cards from AMEX one knew about, but why would anyone put charges on their Green, Gold, Platinum or Black card, then pay them off over time with interest. That sort of defeats whole purpose of charge cards.

R2 Well, you know that, but there are plenty of people looking to have just one more card to max out before declaring bankruptcy, again.

^^^true.

[quote]Amex has been dealing in credit cards for a few decades now. Think it started with Amex Blue.

They started way before that with Optima dating back to the 80s if not 70s.

The Pay over time interest is usually very very high.

You also cannot get rid of any POT balance without paying your entire AMEX statement first.

That is if have payment due for $2500, charges for next cycle of $3000, and POT of even just $1000, you need to pay $6500 at once to erase everything.

Friend got suckered into POT without understanding. Ran up a balance of over $4000. Paid down about half, then stopped using his AMEX Gold card for a bit to clear off any charge balances, then did a balance transfer at very good rate (0% for 18 months), to get rid of rest. That was last time he mess around with Amex's special programs.

Moral of story is use dedicated credit cards when you intend to carry a balance.

Amex allows a lot of their charge card customers to run up a balance and pay it off "over time"

Just another revenue stream

True, but AMEX keeps customers on a very tight lead. Accounts are monitored closely and if something starts to deviate from what they like it can cause account to go into review. That is last thing any Amex card holder wishes. If it's a hard review can result in card being cancelled. More soft touch can result in charge/credit limits being lowered, ability to use any special features like POT restricted or simply cancelled. Oh and a hard account review could mean pulling hard credit reports, something that has an effect on credit score if only for a while.

Don't want to mess around with AMEX balances. Before I got financially sound, I was using my AMEX like a credit card and ran up a small balance. They hounded me every month with threats unless I straightened up. I did and now I got a Hilton AMEX card and haven't paid for a Hilton brand hotel room in 15 years. They have their good points.

I have an American Express card, but I pay off the bill every month. When you realize you do that it sure does put a damper on what it is you think you need to buy.

Find have so many great deals with cash back cards have used my AMEX gold less and less over years.

AMEX points are great in their own way, but when you get down to it their cards are normally geared towards travel, entertainment, etc... They've been getting better at offering deals with various merchants (spend "X" get back "Y" or "Z" amount of points), but 2% cash back when you spend serious coin each year shouldn't be ignored out of hand.

Then there is fact AMEX gold is only card have to pay an annual fee. AMEX won't budge on that point one bit; even during height of pandemic they still charged annual fees to most all their charge or credit cards.

Reaching out to AMEX to have fees waived is hopeless and useless. Tried during pandemic when airlines and hotels were basically shut down, and AMEX couldn't be bothered.

Best they will do is offer some sort of incentive which involves threatening to close one's account, then being transferred to a "retention specialist". Even there AMEX isn't giving up much of anything. CSR merely pulls up account and system will generate what's on offer based upon programmed variables. Retention offers usually most always involve same as others from AMEX; spend "X" and get "Y" points, and or maybe "Z" in cash credit to account. The latter won't likely never approach full price of annual fee.

Oh dear. Old people questions.

R12

More like people with money, assets and know how to manage their finances you mean.

Our gal who comes several days per week to do for us has a AMEX gold card, she's hardly old, not white and certainly not wealthy.

Over years as with many other things AMEX cards have lost their cachet. Green and Gold cards once were something you whipped out to impress; now they are so common no one bats an eye. You have to move up to Black of Platinum to make any sort of impression nowadays.

Other credit cards such as various offerings from Chase have gone after AMEX market (high end, high net worth individuals, etc....) to point latter has taken notice and come out with various offerings in response.

Only "old people" thing would be someone who has a Diners Club personal card.

R13 are you kidding? OP still has a charge-a-plate for Gimbels.