10K Bonus with AMX FX Transfers

[dimgai]

This whole thing is one big con.

No con involved. The Terms and Conditions were clear, if between Amex AU and the receiving bank involves routing through a 3rd party bank, they may charge a fee. When I sent funds from Amex AU to HSBC HK, it routed through Standard Charter HK who charged a fee, as expected since HSBC inward advice showed it came through Standard Charter. If you can get a better deal through OzForex, why change?

My 10k points took 2 follow up, not hard, just 5 minutes on the phone and explained what I was chasing, they looked into it and credited the points without too much hassle. Just give them a call to start the bonus point escalation process.

 

[pauly7]

No con involved. The Terms and Conditions were clear, if between Amex AU and the receiving bank involves routing through a 3rd party bank, they may charge a fee. When I sent funds from Amex AU to HSBC HK, it routed through Standard Charter HK who charged a fee, as expected since HSBC inward advice showed it came through Standard Charter. If you can get a better deal through OzForex, why change?

My 10k points took 2 follow up, not hard, just 5 minutes on the phone and explained what I was chasing, they looked into it and credited the points without too much hassle. Just give them a call to start the bonus point escalation process.

Who did you call, MR or Amex FX?

 

[dimgai]

Who did you call, MR or Amex FX?

I called MR (actually Plat Charge account enquiries) who transferred me to Amex FX who just confirmed I was on the list to be processed and asked me to be patient.. Apparently they had an issue during the time when I did my qualifying transfer and hence an extra long wait.

 

[dajop]

No con involved. The Terms and Conditions were clear, if between Amex AU and the receiving bank involves routing through a 3rd party bank, they may charge a fee. When I sent funds from Amex AU to HSBC HK, it routed through Standard Charter HK who charged a fee, as expected since HSBC inward advice showed it came through Standard Charter. If you can get a better deal through OzForex, why change?.

At least you have an explanation for the fee. I just have a problem with fees that no-one can explain, and are not published (as I said what is stopping them charging hundreds of dollars, nothing as far as I can tell). Only changed as rates were close and earnt points, which was fine for the 10K sign on, but not worth risking random fees here and there on an ongoing basis.

 

[dimgai]

At least you have an explanation for the fee. I just have a problem with fees that no-one can explain, and are not published (as I said what is stopping them charging hundreds of dollars, nothing as far as I can tell). Only changed as rates were close and earnt points, which was fine for the 10K sign on, but not worth risking random fees here and there on an ongoing basis.

Just to clarify, I only knew that it routed through standard charter from looking at the HSBC inward advice and that a fee was charged (due to the amount HSBC received is less than what Amex AU sent), but whether the whole amount charged was collected by Standard Charter or if another bank along the way had also had a hand in it and collected some of that fee, I don't know. The total collected along the way was ~AUD18 if I recall correctly.
In the end, I re-worked my conversion rate out taking into account of all the fees, still pretty good for the occasional need I have... But I never really looked into services like ozforex, so I can't compare.

 

[coolsteps]

i was going to send it to NZ but discovered that the fees by the intermidary bank were too high. finally i decided to sent it to my Uk bank after finding out that small amounts dont get charged any fees by the processing bank. I sent only $15 Aud in total. Amex took $10 as their fee since i dont have a platinum charge card. the $5 aud was converted to pounds and I recieved the full amount in my uk bank account with no fees deducted for the incoming wire. Now im just waiting for my MR points. Not a bad promo for 10k points i think. Anyhow if anyone needs an overseas account to send a couple of dollars to to get the 10k points just PM me.

Just to clarify, I only knew that it routed through standard charter from looking at the HSBC inward advice and that a fee was charged (due to the amount HSBC received is less than what Amex AU sent), but whether the whole amount charged was collected by Standard Charter or if another bank along the way had also had a hand in it and collected some of that fee, I don't know. The total collected along the way was ~AUD18 if I recall correctly.
In the end, I re-worked my conversion rate out taking into account of all the fees, still pretty good for the occasional need I have... But I never really looked into services like ozforex, so I can't compare.

 

[lovestotravel]

The promo has long finished though ?

 

[coolsteps]

The promo has long finished though ?

i got an email saying its been extended for me as i signed up late Oct. you are best just to call them ask if you qualify and what the new deadline is for yourself.

 

[Happy Trails]

My only gripe has been the speed (or should I say slowness) of the service.
From initiating a transaction to receiving the funds takes at least 5 days IME

 

[lovestotravel]

My only gripe has been the speed (or should I say slowness) of the service.
From initiating a transaction to receiving the funds takes at least 5 days IME

Geez you were lucky then!

It took them 10 working days to initiate my payment, which is just pathetic

I also have a business FX account and those transfers are initiated instantly!

 

[coolsteps]

My only gripe has been the speed (or should I say slowness) of the service.
From initiating a transaction to receiving the funds takes at least 5 days IME

it depends on how you choose to fund the tranfer. if its from your bank account it takes the longest to process the direct debit. if you choose bpay before 4pm sydney time i think its the fastest method. thats what i was told on the phone.

 

[dajop]

Just to clarify, I only knew that it routed through standard charter from looking at the HSBC inward advice and that a fee was charged (due to the amount HSBC received is less than what Amex AU sent), but whether the whole amount charged was collected by Standard Charter or if another bank along the way had also had a hand in it and collected some of that fee, I don't know. The total collected along the way was ~AUD18 if I recall correctly.
In the end, I re-worked my conversion rate out taking into account of all the fees, still pretty good for the occasional need I have... But I never really looked into services like ozforex, so I can't compare.

I think if I'd sent more than than just a $1k would have been fairly insignificant. But still I guess $30 or so for 10,000 pts (if it arrives) is still pretty good. No suggestion in my outbound or inbound transaction record of an intermediary, in fact Citibank is listed as one of the banks for SG for Amex and on my transaction record it indicates "Intermediary Bank: N/A", I've still got a sneaking suspicion that it's not Amex, but Sh##ybank. Calmed down a bit now.

 

[KodiakBlack]

I had my 10k bonus lob in my account yesterday, dead on a month since making the transfer. Not bad considering how long others have had to wait.
No sign of the actual transaction based MR points yet though. They may arrive soon, they may not...either way, given that it was only a $30 donation to a wildlife fund in Canada, I'm unlikely to be too bothered.
$30 total spent for 10 000 bonus points though....brilliant!

 

[Deewhy]

I had my 10k bonus lob in my account yesterday, dead on a month since making the transfer. Not bad considering how long others have had to wait...

My points just posted yesterday - less than 4 weeks. 10K points plus the base points for not much ... makes me a happy camper!

 

[mini2]

Made my transfer back in September but still haven't got a single point relating to that transfer :evil:

 

[LowRoller]

Yup I received mine today as well. 1 month from the day!

 

[greenfrog86]

Ok so here we go... a couple of comments from someone in banking.

Often when payments are sent internationally it is necessary to use an intermediary bank as the sending bank may not have the required licenses etc to operate in the end country or to deal in that currency so they use a bank who has these arrangements.

Sometimes these banks will charge a fee and sometimes they don't.

I had a recent situation where I paid Amex in Europe for my International Euro card (a post for another time, however a very useful product) and the amount applied to my account was 20 euros less than I sent.

Upon calling Amex they were very up front with me and indicated they had been seeing this occur with their Euro correspondent bank so they chose to redirect payments in Euros through another bank that isn't likely to charge these fees.

They apologised for the inconvenience and gave me some 'goodwill' for my troubles, especially since I was using Amex to pay Amex...

As far as the timing issues that people are experiencing, I have an account with Westpac so do a transfer into the Amex IP account with Westpac which appears same day. For Westpac-Westpac payments you can email them your receipt to speed up release of the payment that day.
You also need to remember the different time zones involved in foreign currency payments - you may be making your payment (or it might get released) after hours in the location of that currency etc. I have found that the 'value date' Amex gives when you initiate your payment to be pretty much spot on.
That being said though, your bank on the other end may drag their feet in applying the payment to your account.

Hope this helps with some people's concerns - I have also found the Forex team at Amex to be very knowledgeable and helpful so perhaps if you have any concerns give them a call...

PS - I work in a Private bank that does A LOT of international payments which is where my experience comes from where its not my direct experience of sending payments with Amex

 

[AdMEL]

greenfrog86, as someone who also works in banking (I suspect we may work for the same bank in the same office!) and also deals with a number of international payments, the one thing I, as both an employee and a customer, have an issue with, is the lack of disclosure/transparency regarding intermediary bank charges!

If the bank is using an intermediary bank, there is some sort of agreement in place between the banks and given this, the fees should be negotiated between the banks, or at least disclosed by the intermediary bank, so that the initiating bank can disclose this to their customer with certainty.

I should note that I don't have an issue with the intermediary bank charging a reasonable fee for the service it provides, I just have an issue with the lack of disclosure.

 

[mini2]

Finally got my 10k points added.

Timeline...
1. Registered the thing back in August
2. Got verified late (admittedly my fault)
3. just before I made the transfer in October, one of their reps said I'll still get the bonus points despite the ID verification and the transfer will be made after the initial cut off.
4. Chased them in November, got 30 points mysteriously added then more chasing when the 10 weeks was up and they ate their words about I'll still be eligible for the points.
5. More mucking around in the past week and they've decided they will honour the e-mail that was sent to me in late September/early October.

 

[rgalbr10]

Given that this offer is live again, did anyone get an additional 10,000 points for signing up a supplementary card holder for the offer?