Does Amex Centurion Cards have Foreign transaction fees ?

[glenn.im]

Hello Ladies & Gents!
I am keen in knowing if Amex Cent card has overseas transaction fees of 3% like the fellow Amex cards.

I Have a Platnium card and a ANZ Black Amex and both of them have 3% transaction fees. I do about 800,000$ annually on business expenses over the cards, however it comes with the price of 3% which is like 25,000$

Could any of th existing centurion card holders confirm this please ? Heard the American Cent. Cards have 0% transaction fees.

Cheers
Glenn

 

[russ]

Hello Gents!

Gents?! What about everyone else?

 

[glenn.im]

Gents?! What about everyone else?

Sorry! edited it. No offence meant.

 

[marki]

Sorry! edited it. No offence meant.

I had no idea about the American Centurion overseas spend was 0 percent. The Ozzie is 3% but we get insurance attached 3 months replacement if lost or stolen etc....and 1 year extra warranty.

Heard that the AMEX in LOTFAP annual price went up!!

 

[glenn.im]

I had no idea about the American Centurion overseas spend was 0 percent. The Ozzie is 3% but we get insurance attached 3 months replacement if lost or stolen etc....and 1 year extra warranty.

Heard that the AMEX in LOTFAP annual price went up!!

Thanks for the info.

Yeah! I think even the American Amex platinum card doesn't have overseas fees. I personally think the 3 months replacement insurance and extra warranty is not really a big deal. I get those benefits out of my ANZ Black anyway.

 

[marki]

Thanks for the info.

Yeah! I think even the American Amex platinum card doesn't have overseas fees. I personally think the 3 months replacement insurance and extra warranty is not really a big deal. I get those benefits out of my ANZ Black anyway.

Pisses me off completely this foreign spend issues, u are right about the insurance prefer to save cash!!

 

[albyd]

I think this is another example of local market pricing. There aren't any Aussie issued premium rewards cards that don't charge it. Same for other markets like HK & UK so Amex charges it in these markets.
In the US, there are heaps of banks with nil currency conversion fee cards so Amex's premium cards there don't charge it.
I wonder how fair the FX rate is in return for the 3% & bonus points you get. I've never checked with my Amex.
I have a US issued Citi card & for the most part it's very close to spot and no conversion fee. So my Amex stays in my wallet when I travel & I still get rewards points without the added cost.

 

[Mr_Orange]

All Bankwest Platinum and World Mastercards have the forex fees waived including the QFF points linked cards.

 

[moa999]

And now Macquarie too

 

[albyd]

Looks like I stand corrected. How far from spot do their FX rates usually sit? Might need to look at this again.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Looks like I stand corrected. How far from spot do their FX rates usually sit? Might need to look at this again.

Best I can tell with BW is that they use the Mastercard business rate (or whatever it is called) not the tourist rate so it seems to be pretty good.

 

[marki]

The FX rates are good, and you earn double points on foreign spend. ( it softens the blow) just the 3 percent gets me

 

[Mr_Orange]

And now Macquarie too

This only applies to debit cards not credit cards, as per AusBT: Macquarie Bank axes international transaction fees on debit cards - Australian Business Traveller.

 

[marki]

Thanks for your call this morning and your feedback about the fees. I will of course escalate your concerns to my manager and to our marketing and benefits teams as the more they hear about card-member dissatisfaction regarding fees the better chance we have of changing things. In the short-term however I’m afraid there’s nothing that we can offer, the ATO actually charge a 3% merchant fee and we’re already absorbing over half of that to reduce it to what is passed on to you. I’m not aware of any other Amex cards still in the market that are offering a full point, The Westpac Altitude card used to but then reduced it to 0.5 and now has removed the ATO altogether for points earn – considering the other benefits, management believe that the card still remains competitive in the market by offering 0.5 points per dollar spent.

With regards to the international 3% fees, I understand your frustration but again they remain in place to cover any fluctuation in exchange rate during banking processing times and the fees passed on to American Express to transact internationally. I agree there are cards with lower fees but these are often hidden in the exchange rates in most cases.

If I can be of further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me, I’m sorry I can’t offer a more positive outcome in this inst

 

[marki]

Any body help with drawing up a draft reply

 

[glenn.im]

Bankwest does offer 0% overseas transaction fees on their platinum credit cards. However, you are not supposed to use it for business. I was excited to apply but the sales guy told me that it cannot be used for business so yeah :|

Regarding the Forex Exchange rate, American Express is the most accurate. I do daily Forex transactions so I frequently keep checking the rates which vary every second and Amex has been very impressive with up to date rates.

I did a test to on my cards to compare the rates. I used three cards,

1: Amex Business Gold
2: ANZ Black Amex
3: ANZ Black Visa


I charged 1000 Euros on each of the cards, on the same day and same time. The Market rate when I performed the transactions was 1492 AUD for 1000 Euros.


I got the below final rates on my statement after the conversion and added fees.


Amex Business Gold: 1536.76 AUD ( Including 3% Forex Fees) - Very Accurate
ANZ Black Amex: 1537.08 AUD ( Including 1.5% Amex Forex Fees + 1.5% ANZ Forex Fees) - Accurate
ANZ Black Visa: 1553.73 AUD ( Including 3% ANZ Forex Fees) - Disappointing


If you see, there was a minor difference between Amex Gold and ANZ Black Amex while ANZ Visa charged 17$ extra.

 

[glenn.im]

Any body help with drawing up a draft reply

Marki,
otIf we look from the business perspective, Australia does n have a flexible forex option. 3% with Amex is the best value for our overseas transactions + earning points.
0% Overseas transaction fee cards such as Citi Banks Visa Debit + Bankwest Platinum etc do not use the market rate but customise rates which the bank has set. So one way or the other, these banks know how to make their profits.

Like you and others, even I am disappointed with Amex over the forex rates.
Did you know Amex charges only 1.5% forex fees on the cards issue to banks like ANZ, WestPac etc and the banks add 1.5% on top of that as their commision.
If not compeletely, Amex should at least lower the forex fees to 1.5% just the way they do it to the popular banks. But I think that again must be their business monopoly.

 

[exp1k]

The main problem I have with these fees is when a transaction is reversed.

Say I reserve a hotel overseas for $1000 on a refundable rate. I have to pay $30 fees, but get 2000 points in return, fair enough.
Now when I cancel my reservation and get the $1000 refunded, I have to pay another $30 fees and the 2000 points are deducted.

That means I paid $60 in fees and earn 0 points for a reversed transaction. I'm happy to live with the risk of fluctuating exchange rates (sometimes you win, sometimes you lose), but to have 6% fee for a canceled transaction is totally unacceptable in my opinion.

 

[marki]

The main problem I have with these fees is when a transaction is reversed.

Say I reserve a hotel overseas for $1000 on a refundable rate. I have to pay $30 fees, but get 2000 points in return, fair enough.
Now when I cancel my reservation and get the $1000 refunded, I have to pay another $30 fees and the 2000 points are deducted.

That means I paid $60 in fees and earn 0 points for a reversed transaction. I'm happy to live with the risk of fluctuating exchange rates (sometimes you win, sometimes you lose), but to have 6% fee for a canceled transaction is totally unacceptable in my opinion.

That should never happen its criminal

 

[Mal]

That should never happen its criminal

Amex standard practice worldwide (AFAIK). It's sad.