American express CC - is it Visa? Mastercard??

Jimbo

Jimbo

Jimbo

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
6,674
Location
Newcastle, England
I am trying to order from overclockers and I am using my Lloyds TSB American Express Credit Card.

The only options I can choose in are Mastercard / visa debit, delta or connect / Visa / switch/meastro / solo

Wich is mine?? it dosent say on my card.. and yes I am thick. :p
 
American Express isn't any of those, it's another "type of card" itself. Most places will take it but it's accepted significantly less than any of the others - quite a few small shops don't take them, for example.

(and since there's not an option, I would guess that Overclockers don't either.)
 
Oh I dont belive this, it looks like overclockers wont accept it then?

its not listed and there is no - Start Date (MM/YY) and Expiry Date (MM/YY)

Just a valid thru 09/07 and a member since 04. Dammmn. :(

So much for thatll do nicely.
 
American Express isn't a very widely accepted card in Britain (compared to VISA and MasterCard) a lot of places don't accept it. I had the same trouble with my company credit card as for some bizarre reason they chose Diners. Was a nightmare when trying to book hotels and finding places to eat.
 
And to think those g**s at Lloyds talked me into accepting one and I got rid of my gold visa card.. LOL. :rolleyes:
 
Muban said:
American Express isn't a very widely accepted card in Britain (compared to VISA and MasterCard) a lot of places don't accept it. I had the same trouble with my company credit card as for some bizarre reason they chose Diners. Was a nightmare when trying to book hotels and finding places to eat.
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Ouch, Diners cards are pretty much worthless unless you have an icy windscreen.

imo american express cards are just a status symbol.
 
Xpander said:
Otherwise it's just a 'showy' type card.
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Rubbish. My Amex Platinum card gets me travel insurance, discounts on flights, concierge service (I phone them, ask them to book a flight, theatre ticket or whatever and they do it), etc...

As a very frequent traveller I wouldn't be without my Amex card.

In any case, if someone is impressed by the colour of the plastic in your wallet, then they're a pretty sad individual.
 
American Express - forget it, get a better card!

I have one as my company credit card (cause I work for an american company) and its useless. Majority of places don't accept it because they charge so much for using it....

The adverts crack me up :D
 
We don't generally accept Amex at work - and we can't accept Electron either due to the way it authorises. This is getting really annoying as many banks are withdrawing Solo (which we accept) and replacing them with Electron (which we can't)

Apparently there are certain fraud issues with Amex as well that don't tend to occur with Visa/Mastercard
 
Xpander said:
But does it enable you to buy products in 99% of shops worldwide? Come off it, American Express is a status symbol. It has an air of exclusivity that most other cards don't.
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No, but then again, I've never tried to pay with the card to be told that they don't accept it. I use it nearly all the time I'm in the US because I get better exchange rates with it.

As for it being a status symbol, meh, if you think so. It isn't like just about anyone can't get one, it isn't the elitest club people seem to think it is. If I considered it a status symbol then I'd probably tell everyone that I had one and try to be subtle about dropping it into converstations. I don't because I don't consider it a status symbol.
 
I got a gold american express card when i was earning £5.50 an hour.
They near enough give them away in packets of cornflakes.

I dont understand why more people dont use it, considering the interest rates are so low.
 
atpbx said:
I got a gold american express card when i was earning £5.50 an hour.
They near enough give them away in packets of cornflakes.

I dont understand why more people dont use it, considering the interest rates are so low.
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the proper amex card doesn't have an interest rate as you have to pay it back in full each month , the amex credit card is a different thing , I have had Amex card for about 15 years but very rarely use it
 
Yeah Amex isn't that widely accepted in the UK which is a pain in the arse... I find it tends to be better outside the UK though. I only had to get one because HSBC won't up the credit limit on my personal Mastercard enough for me to pay my bills when I am on business travel :(
 
Amex is great. I have only once found a place that doesn't accept it.

I find they will do more for me than companies like Visa, they have many different services.

I have booked flights on Amex and got them to change the seat when the airline themselves said 'sorry, it's too late to change'.

Best time was when I was in Vegas. Amex has relationships with many popular restaurants and clubs where they get good treatment, faster bookings, etc.

I couldn't get into a club where work colleagues were becuase it was full ('capacity' they say in the US). There was a long queue and people were not coming out. It was looking like many hours wait.

Called Amex, told them I wanted to spend the evening at said club and I wanted to get in, they confirmed they had a relationship with them, or it was on their list, whatever. Gave it 30 minutes, went back right up to the front and found that we had been put on the guest list. Didn't even have to pay the $20-30 to get in.
 
Rotty said:
the proper amex card doesn't have an interest rate as you have to pay it back in full each month , the amex credit card is a different thing , I have had Amex card for about 15 years but very rarely use it
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The old man has a Amex charge card, i am aware of what it is, but we are talkign about credit cards as i understood it.
 
amex charge cards are good but dangerous! pretty much unlimited.
the blue square cc is cool, it has AMEX AMEX AMEX across the top that can be seen under ultra violet light.
 
Amex charge cards sound kind of useless to me, the only people to benefit will be the super rich.
IIRC the usual consumer credit laws don't apply with charge cards, so it doesn't seem to offer much apart from unlimited credit.
 
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