American Express (Amex)

• Variety of Cards
• Rewards Options
• Free Credit Score Monitoring
• Amex Offers and Benefits
• Cobrand Partnerships
• Premium Car Rental Protection
• Fraud Safeguards
• Customer Reviews

Variety of Cards

American Express offers a variety of credit cards with various rewards, perks, and benefits. Types of cards include:

• Cash Back
• Rewards Points*
• No Annual Fee
• 0% Intro APR
• Low Interest
• Travel
• Airline
• Hotel

*Many of the rewards cards have high annual fees to consider.

An array of options allows consumers to compare cards and ultimately choose the best card for their needs. It is important to note that American Express also has business credit card and corporate credit card options.

Rewards Options

American Express offers several rewards programs, cash back rewards, travel rewards, and business rewards, allowing consumers to either earn cash back, points, miles, and/or other benefits.

Offering generous rewards on a variety of cards, American Express can be a good option for creditworthy consumers who will be most able to maximize on rewards through their spending and use of the card.

Keep in mind that cards offering exclusive rewards have a much higher annual fee than you might see with other American Express credit cards, or rewards cards from other lenders. It is important to ensure that your use of the card will be worth the money spent on a card's annual fee.

Free Credit Score Monitoring   

To manage and understand your credit score better, American Express offers the MyCredit Guide service.

You don't need to be an American Express cardholder to use MyCredit Guide, but you must make a MyCredit Guide account to access its services.

MyCredit Guide services include the following:

• Free credit reports
• Credit change alerts
• Personalized recommendations for improving your credit score
• Credit score simulator

MyCredit Guide is free to use and will not hurt your credit score. It is important to note that this service provides you with your VantageScore by TransUnion.

Amex Offers and Benefits

All American Express credit cards come with access to Amex offers and benefits which can save you money. These offers and benefits are provided by a variety of merchants and are generally point or cash back offers when you spend a certain amount of money.

Some offers have an enrollment quota, limiting the number of cardholders who can register for that specific offer. An offer may still appear on your account even if enrollment has been filled, but you won't be able to register.

Be mindful that some offers are card-specific. If you have multiple American Express cards, make sure you keep track of which offers you've unlocked and on which card.

Cobrand Partnerships

American Express has some cobrand partnerships that are exclusive to the company, such as Delta and Hilton. These partnerships provide cardholders with access to additional benefits and perks when they use their card on expenses specific to the cobranded company.

Premium Car Rental Protection

American Express Premium Car Rental Protection is an additional insurance product offered by the company.

This program helps you save more on car rental coverage and offers the following features and coverage:

• Flat rate of $19.95/$24.95 per rental period, not per day
• Pay only when you rent
• Provided coverage is not subject to a policy deductible
• Worldwide coverage
• Up to 42 consecutive days of coverage
• Coverage ranges from $5,000–$100,000

Liability coverage is not included.

Fraud Safeguards 

American Express offers solutions to prevent fraud, including card identification verification, counterfeit detection, electronic verification, and charge authorization. Through the American Express online Security Center, you can report cases of credit card fraud, report a lost or stolen card, and learn more about how American Express protects your information and credit cards.

American Express takes your security seriously and also provides mobile wallet security and SafeKey services to protect you while shopping online.

Customer Reviews

The majority of American Express reviews on BestCompany.com are four or five stars. Customers most often highlight excellent customer service and great rewards, particularly for travel.

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• Credit Score Requirements
• Charge Cards
• Fees

Credit Score Requirements

Many American Express credit cards require a good to excellent credit score to qualify. This may not be attainable for all borrowers, and we would recommend that low credit borrowers look elsewhere for a credit card, at least to compare offerings with American Express.

American Express' high credit requirement is due to the exclusive rewards offered with some of its cards, which is also an indication of higher annual fees.

Charge Cards

Some cards offered by American Express are charge cards not credit cards.

Charge cards and credit cards are similar in use, but a charge card has no spending limit and cardholders are generally expected to pay their bill in full each month, whereas a credit card cardholder can just pay the minimum balance. Although charge cards don't have a set credit limit, that does not mean that they offer unlimited spending.

The following American Express cards are considered to be charge cards:

• Platinum card
• Gold card
• Green card

Make sure that you know the rates and terms of the card you are applying for, as you wouldn't want to end up with a charge card when you actually want a credit card.

Fees

Depending on the card, American Express can charge some of the most expensive annual fees in the industry. However, as with many credit card companies, the first year might have no annual fee.

American Express charges a late payment fee of $38 on any unpaid amount. A late payment may also result in a penalty APR.

While some companies in the industry do not charge a foreign transaction fee, American Express charges one, which can be inconvenient for frequent travelers.