American Express

The American Express Company is a finance firm founded in 1850. Originally, it was a railroad service that crossed the United States delivering cargo. From there, it evolved into money orders and Traveller’s Checks.

In fact, the direct ancestor of the current Traveller’s Check was the “money order” that one of the company’s employees devised. The journey of American Express since then has been unstoppable, starting in the world of financial services to offer cards and bank services, before becoming one of the most important companies on the planet.

Originally from Buffalo, in the United States, it is now present all over the world. They offer a varied catalog of services in most countries on the planet. Among the main ones are charge or credit cards; travel services such as tourist packages or insurance acting as a travel agency, business services, loyalty programs and use of its products, with a long list that is adapted to each country.

What are American Express’ qualities?

If we discuss American Express, we are talking about reliability and guaranteed quality. Through agreements with regional banks and their years of experience in the sector, they have managed to position themselves as the leading card for many buyers around the world.

They offer personalized services, protection, security and a multitude of promotions to their users, such as the loyalty program for which you accumulate points with each use. It is also accepted in the vast majority of shops and businesses, which has led American Express to become a world-renowned payment method.

The main difference to other credit cards is that they are issued by the company itself, and not through collaborating entities. It is a purchase card that also has a service card version in its original form.

It works like this: you have an “X” credit granted by American Express that you can spend, and which you generally pay back the following month. It is very useful in case of temporary needs, but keep in mind that if you do not manage to return the full amount the following month, interest will start to be charged.

What are the advantages in using American Express?

• It does not require the opening of a checking account
• It is a globalized payment method found in many countries
• It is exempt from all kinds of commissions in some of its special versions
• In its most basic version, it does not require a very high initial deposit
• The more you use it, the higher your credit will grow
• There is access to exclusive promotions and discounts for card users
• They have complete and active customer service every day of the year, 24 hours a day
• They have an orderly and attractive website with all the information you need, within the reach of a click
• By registering with your email, you will be able to receive a large amount of info
• It can be requested both in person or online

What are the disadvantages in using American Express?

• Expensive annual fees on certain specific products
• Very variable conditions depending on the contracted product
• High interest if you cannot pay the credit used in the previous month
• It is easy for you to lose control of what you have spent with such an accessible line of credit
• To use it as a tool to obtain cash, you must meet a series of requirements
• Despite its global use, not all businesses accept American Express. In Canada this happens in online casinos especially, due to the use of specific terminals that require a large expense.

The key with this financial product is that you must evaluate very well what you need, how much you expect to spend, and in what type of shops or services you are going to use it.

Small businesses don’t normally accept it as a payment method, but large companies do. In this sense, it has only been accepted by high-end shops – especially restaurants and hotels – although the company is trying to attract other profiles of customer. One of them is casino players, since today you can also deposit money at an online casino with American Express.