American Express is one of the leading card issuers in the United States. It's known for its top-notch customer service and some of the best rewards available. From ultra-elite business travel cards to everyday rewards, American Express has credit cards that are a good choice for many different types of cardholders.
Why can't every store accept American Express cards? The answer is simple: stores want more money in their pockets. American Express charges stores, or merchants, higher fees than other credit card networks like Visa, Mastercard, and Discover.
Centurion® Card from American Express
Why It's One of the Most Exclusive Credit Cards: The most exclusive, prestigious credit card is without a doubt the American Express Centurion Card, otherwise known as the Amex Black Card. That's because it's the most famous.
The main disadvantage of an American Express card is the cost – not to you, but to the businesses it processes the payments for. Unlike Visa or Mastercard, American Express operates its own network, which means it charges vendors an additional fee to use the card, much like some other credit cards.
Centurion® Card from American Express
Why it's one of the hardest credit cards to get: The hardest credit card to get is the American Express Centurion Card. Known simply as the “Black Card,” you need an invitation to get Amex Centurion.
The easiest American Express credit card to get is the USAA Secured Card, so long as you're eligible for USAA products. Ifyou're not, you might want to focus on one of the Amex cards that require good credit, like the Amex EveryDay Credit Card.
No. American Express is not specifically for rich people, though applicants need good or excellent credit scores of 700+ to qualify for Amex credit cards. In addition to high credit scores, applicants that have an annual income of $60,000 or higher are often more likely to get approved.
The simplest way to compare American Express vs. Visa as payment networks is their acceptance. The more merchants that accept your card, the better the card network. ... Visa is tied with Mastercard as the most accepted payment network in the world, ahead of American Express.
100,000 points go a long way
According to travel website The Points Guy's valuations, Amex points are worth 2 cents apiece. That means the Amex Platinum's 100,000-point bonus is worth $2,000.
The Centurion® Card from American Express (Review) is generally considered the most expensive credit card; it charges a $10,000 initiation fee and a $5,000 annual fee. It's only available by invitation. The Mastercard® Gold Card™ (Review) is the priciest card that anyone can apply to thanks to an annual fee of $995.
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'” The main reason: Compared with the other payment networks, AmEx tended to charge merchants higher interchange fees, aka "swipe fees." When you swipe (or dip or tap) a credit card, the store pays a fee to ensure that you get charged and the store gets paid for the sale.
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