AMEX Platinum Overseas

[hexDoor]

I'm lucky enough to be able to work remote for work so was planning to be a "digital nomad" in order to take advantage of lower cost of living countries (Asia).

However, I am aware that AMEX Australia cards have a 3% foreign exchange fee and that currency other than USD is converted to USD then AUD (2 stage conversion although 3% fee only applies once).

I was wondering if it would still be worth to apply for this card for overseas spending as I am still paid to my Australian bank account and would like to maximise my rewards by primarily using AMEX.

If not, anyone have any ideas on any great companion cards? I was thinking Macquarie Bank debit but that has no rewards.

 

[Doctore1003]

I don’t think a 3% fee is worth it. There’s also the AMEX acceptance issue.
I always use the Bankwest World mastercard overseas. No fee and earns Qantas Points.

 

[hexDoor]

I don’t think a 3% fee is worth it. There’s also the AMEX acceptance issue.
I always use the Bankwest World mastercard overseas. No fee and earns Qantas Points.

I should probably mention that the countries I plan to be at don't have an AMEX acceptance issue (at least not anymore) but not sure on Qantas since I haven't really flown with them (I mostly fly Asian carriers like JAL, ANA, Korean Air etc.)

 

[Human]

I never use AmEx overseas. The 3% surcharge really adds up and it more than cancels out any rewards points earned (though I plan to use it later this year to take advantage of the $200 overseas dining credit).

When overseas I use the Coles Rewards Mastercard. It has a low ($99) annual fee, no currency conversion fee, reasonable exchange rates and it earns the eqivalent of 1 Velocity point (=0.645 KrisFlyer mile) per A$ spent.

 

[sudoer]

Check out the CBA Ultimate Rewards card. 1.2 QFF per dollar on international transactions with no Forex charge.

If you spend over $4k per month the card is fee free.

 

[sydunipete]

I have a platinum Amex and CBA Ultimate. Both have devalued (for me) in the last few months. But Amex is great in Australia and when travelling (Priority Pass lounge access, $450 travel credit, some good business class fares and some restaurant credits, lots of hotel and car hire membership upgrades). Overseas I tend to use the Amex only as a backup because of the 3% charge. The CBA Ultimate Mastercard gives me time-unlimited travel insurance (within the terms of the PDS), 3 points per $ spent overseas, no overseas fees and it's free if I spend more than $4000 per month (was $2500 until about now). As backups I have a Bankwest Mastercard (free but no points) and Latitude 28 degrees (ditto).

It pays to model your planned spend and travel activities and have goals for your points collection activities then come up with a combination that works for you.

 

[albyd]

If you want to go a local AMEX in the country that you're primarily living in to avoid the 3% fee, then possibly, best to apply through Amex's Global Transfer program. That does introduce FX risk if you're still being paid in $A and AMEX's MR program has differing levels of attractiveness depending on the country as each market's offering is different and they compete depending on what's available in that market (ie AU AMEX has the 3% fee as not enough "Premium" cards don't charge it yet but AMEX US has no FX fee as most cards in the US don't charge it).

There's alot to this - this thread might give you some food for thought:

Strategy to obtain US Amex

This will take time & patience, so either “Patience hurry up” or “Hurry up & wait”. This has not been tested & is a strategy that might work to obtain a US Amex Plat Business Charge Card with a USD$450 annual fee. The Australian version is quite a hefty annual fee in excess of AUD$1500...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

The US Cards are particularly good though just depends on what the $A is doing against the $US (it's falling like a stone which isn't good for us Aussies).

YMMV.

 

[hexDoor]

If you want to go a local AMEX in the country that you're primarily living in to avoid the 3% fee, then possibly, best to apply through Amex's Global Transfer program. That does introduce FX risk if you're still being paid in $A and AMEX's MR program has differing levels of attractiveness depending on the country as each market's offering is different and they compete depending on what's available in that market (ie AU AMEX has the 3% fee as not enough "Premium" cards don't charge it yet but AMEX US has no FX fee as most cards in the US don't charge it).

There's alot to this - this thread might give you some food for thought:

Strategy to obtain US Amex

This will take time & patience, so either “Patience hurry up” or “Hurry up & wait”. This has not been tested & is a strategy that might work to obtain a US Amex Plat Business Charge Card with a USD$450 annual fee. The Australian version is quite a hefty annual fee in excess of AUD$1500...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

The US Cards are particularly good though just depends on what the $A is doing against the $US (it's falling like a stone which isn't good for us Aussies).

YMMV.

Thanks for the link.

Can only pray that AMEX manage to convince themselves that people will spend more internationally if they remove the 3% fee + remain reasonable with their exchange rate.

I've heard that some of the the 0% international fee cards just recover what they lose by gimping the exchange rate so that it sometimes comes out being worse than just having the 3% fee. Don't have any concrete sources so take with a grain of salt but with the lack of transparency, could very well be true.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Thanks for the link.

Can only pray that AMEX manage to convince themselves that people will spend more internationally if they remove the 3% fee + remain reasonable with their exchange rate.

I've heard that some of the the 0% international fee cards just recover what they lose by gimping the exchange rate so that it sometimes comes out being worse than just having the 3% fee. Don't have any concrete sources so take with a grain of salt but with the lack of transparency, could very well be true.

It's about 1% spread on US based cards. Factoring FX transfers it isn't worth it if you're not hitting the bonus categories.

I would be surprised if AU Amex waived the international fees anytime soon..

 

[Dave FF]

Thanks for the link.

Can only pray that AMEX manage to convince themselves that people will spend more internationally if they remove the 3% fee + remain reasonable with their exchange rate.

I've heard that some of the the 0% international fee cards just recover what they lose by gimping the exchange rate so that it sometimes comes out being worse than just having the 3% fee. Don't have any concrete sources so take with a grain of salt but with the lack of transparency, could very well be true.

Spot on with this reply. I use Paypal, and just checked preview payment using my standard Australian NAB card for a USD $100 payment and it would have come out to AUD $159 (paypal tells you exactly what the amount will be), whereas with Amex it was AUD $151. Now there may be an extra 3% charge so that brings it to AUD $155.5 which is still less considerably than $159 and I get all the points benefit.

Be aware of the spread most companies use on exchange rates. It's the biggest hidden fee that exists. I would avoid any company that provides zero international transaction fees, as you are most certainly getting done on the spread.

 

[Human]

Spot on with this reply. I use Paypal, and just checked preview payment using my standard Australian NAB card for a USD $100 payment and it would have come out to AUD $159 (paypal tells you exactly what the amount will be), whereas with Amex it was AUD $151. Now there may be an extra 3% charge so that brings it to AUD $155.5 which is still less considerably than $159 and I get all the points benefit.

Be aware of the spread most companies use on exchange rates. It's the biggest hidden fee that exists. I would avoid any company that provides zero international transaction fees, as you are most certainly getting done on the spread.

Interesting opinion but one which in my recent experience is not supported by the facts.

I was in NZ last month and between my wife and me we put spending on 3 credit cards: my American Express (3% foreign transaction fee), my Coles Mastercard (which had no foreign transaction fee at the time), and my Commbank Smart Awards Mastercard (no foreign transaction fee).

So I can directly compare which card was better.

The American Express gave me an exchange rate of AUD 1 = NZD 1.0366 (after charging the 3% fee).
The Coles Mastercard gave me an exchange rate of AUD 1 = NZD 1.0744
The CommBank Smart Awards Mastercard gave me an exchange rate of AUD 1 = NZD 1.0924.

So in my (admittedly very limited) experience last month, the Commbank card with no fee gave me the best exchange rate, and contradicts your assertion that I was "most certainly getting done on the spread".

Obviously your experience might be different but from my experience, cards with no foreign transaction fees are better for overseas transactions.

Edit: just noticed that that was your first post... welcome to AFF! (and sorry that the first response to your first post was a rebuttal...).

 

[Blinky]

I have Amex platinum mainly because you can double dip (points when you purchase, points when you pay it off). I also have an ANZ platinum Visa with no fees where I get Velocity points. It’s handy having 2, because not everybody takes Amex

 

[Human]

I have Amex platinum mainly because you can double dip (points when you purchase, points when you pay it off). I also have an ANZ platinum Visa with no fees where I get Velocity points. It’s handy having 2, because not everybody takes Amex

Can you explain how you get points from paying off the card?

 

[Blinky]

Can you explain how you get points from paying off the card?

Sorry, I thought that was how it worked. According to Velocity:

“For example, use your card when you book a Virgin Australia or partner airline flight or shop online with the Velocity eStore2 and you’ll be surprised how quickly the Velocity Points build up. By using your Velocity Points earning credit card as the form of payment, you’ll earn two lots of Velocity Points for a single eligible purchase.”

I do earn double points when using Amex. I thought I got the second amount when I paid it off, but I get one lot from Velocity and one from Amex. Unless I’m misunderstanding something.

 

[oz_mark]

Be aware of the spread most companies use on exchange rates. It's the biggest hidden fee that exists. I would avoid any company that provides zero international transaction fees, as you are most certainly getting done on the spread.

This is not true in many cases. If the conversions are being done by a scheme (Visa or Mastercard), and the bank is charging 0% transaction fees, it's almost as good as it gets.

 

[Human]

I do earn double points when using Amex. I thought I got the second amount when I paid it off, but I get one lot from Velocity and one from Amex. Unless I’m misunderstanding something.

Yep, that sounds right. But that's not a feature of AmEx cards per se: you can double dip that way with any points-earning credit card.

 

[Cynicor]

Spot on with this reply. I use Paypal, and just checked preview payment using my standard Australian NAB card for a USD $100 payment and it would have come out to AUD $159 (paypal tells you exactly what the amount will be), whereas with Amex it was AUD $151. Now there may be an extra 3% charge so that brings it to AUD $155.5 which is still less considerably than $159 and I get all the points benefit.

Be aware of the spread most companies use on exchange rates. It's the biggest hidden fee that exists. I would avoid any company that provides zero international transaction fees, as you are most certainly getting done on the spread.

Complete nonsense.
The visa and MC scheme rates are visible online.
Card companies using the schemes can’t just set their own rates.
The spread on the fx free cards is within 0.5% usually and using an Amex will screw you compared to, say, Bankwest plants card which has no FX fee and gives points

 

[Ko0l]

Australian NAB card for a USD $100 payment and it would have come out to AUD $159 (paypal tells you exactly what the amount will be

Thats the paypal rate and not from NAB. Paypal charges ~3.5% for the conversion.

Visa/Mastercard is generally around ~0.5% of the midmarket rate. Hard to beat that except maybe using revolut or interactive brokers which is around 0.1-0.2%.

 

[Blinky]

Yep, that sounds right. But that's not a feature of AmEx cards per se: you can double dip that way with any points-earning credit card.

Fair enough. Thanks.