I’ve had an American Express Blue card for several years now. They were in fact the first people to actually accept an application from me for a credit card. (I had been determined not to have a credit card at all, but decided to apply for one that would benefit a charity… they refused me!) I wouldn’t say my experience with them has been terrible, but it hasn’t been fantastic either.

The rates and terms & conditions obviously change over time, but when I joined the APR was 16.9% - as I was inexperienced in these matters I didn’t realise that there are a lot of cards out there with better rates. Still, it wasn’t a problem for me at first because for about the first year I rarely used it and always paid off the full amount as soon as the next statement came through. (Even though I’m in the UK the statements are airmailed from America, despite the payment being sent to the London-based office in England – I’ve always thought that was a bit odd, but I’ve never once received the statement noticeably late!) The monthly interest rates on my card were: 1.45% for credit transaction, 1.50% for cash advances. There is an annual membership fee of about £17, but this is waived if you spend a certain amount in a year.

The interest rates are obviously not the best as you can see from the above information, but on the very few occasions when I’ve managed to forget to send the monthly payment, they’ve usually been pretty good as far as cancelling the late payment fee. On occasions they’ve actually phoned me up and asked about the payment, and then cancelled the fee if I’ve paid something off then. You do get a cashback scheme with the card, currently one pence per pound up to £3,000 credit, two pence per pound for any spending over that amount. They occasionally run special promotions where you can get more cashback, typically in November / December. This isn’t a bad scheme although in recent years I’ve very rarely actually used my AMEX card for purchases in the last two years.

One of the reasons for this is that the interest rate is a bit unreasonable, but also it’s actually quite difficult to find companies in Britain that are happy to accept it. (The old “American Express? … That’ll do nicely” adverts ring a bit hollow over here!) I’ve rarely used it in Europe, where Mastercard is definitely the card of choice, though it did come in handy when I went to America a few years ago. (Sadly I couldn’t actually get any cash when there because, never having used the PIN, I couldn’t remember it! At least everywhere accepted it in the States…) So, as a basic card, I really wouldn’t recommend it much to anyone outside the USA (and possibly Canada?) – and not that much to them either to be honest. There are much better rates available on other cards.

However, there have been one or two benefits coming from the card that make it more worthwhile. As a member I was able to get a personal loan at a very good rate, about 2-3% less APR than most other loans that were being offered around the same time. Also I got a balance transfer from another card which had an APR of just 2.9% for 6 months, which even taking into account the fee for the transfer saved me a lot of money. You do occasionally get other offers and benefits that aren’t bad – for instance their travel insurance is quite good, though not the very best available.

The customer support when you phone up isn’t really very good (in my experience very few major companies have good customer support), and certainly my experiences with phoning them haven’t made me feel more inclined to stay with them. (Their customer service ironically seems better when they phone you rather htan the other way round.) I can't comment much on their website because after trying and failing to log in a couple of times, I didn't bother revisiting it.

Once I’ve completely paid off my American Express Blue card (which unfortunately is likely to take up to two years), I’m definitely going to get rid of it. Some of the card member offers are good but overall I wouldn’t recommend it because the interest rates are too high, it’s not commonly accepted across Europe, and the customer support often leaves quite a bit to be desired. If you must have a credit card, you can do a lot better than turning blue.

My only other review so far in Personal Finance: Best Ways to Avoid Credit Card Debt - if I'd realised some of these things early on, I probably wouldn't owe so much on my American Express Blue card right now!


UPDATE (part of the Update 2008 Project)


Well... it's a good job I've just paid my card off. AMEX have written to me informing me that after reviewing my account history, my APR has now rocketed to 22.9%. I was going to cancel my subscription anyway once I'd paid the card off but even if I hadn't, there's no way I'd be staying with them now. They have offered no other explanation - I realise the credit crunch is hitting the UK hard, but they didn't say that was part of their reasoning. So, I'm putting my rating down to 2 stars. (They avoid the dreaded 1 star rating... but only just!)


Recommended: No