171–180 of 287 posts
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That would be cool. Amex support way better than GS that’s for sure. Would suck for retailers though. Amex fees among the highest when compared to other networks and issuing banks. On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling.
Apple Card was already charging high merchant fees. https://www.imore.com/retailers-are-paying-premium-you-use-y...
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> But whipping out your phone sucks compared to just tapping your card against a reader. And I’d have said whipping out my card sucks compared to using the watch that’s already on my hand. (Of course that works with my other cards as well)
I don't really understand how whipping out your phone is harder than whipping out your card even if you don't have a watch. In my case I gave up carrying the cards at all a few years back and pay for everything on my phone anyway; the convenience of not needing a wallet or any cards at all is high.
(I love paying via watch but I think it’s good that most cards now do the same.)
Apple News subscribers can read for free here: https://apple.news/AUUOrnDm9QTiEj7T66kNLmg
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The fact the Apple card was a Mastercard and had no foreign transaction fees was largely the only reason I opened it, as I too find my Amex a pain in the ass in Europe. If it does become an Amex card, I will likely close the account.
no foreign transaction fees In an FX transaction, what is the difference between a trading fee and a wider spread? Nothing. (Why do people keep falling for this?) What you really want to see is a combined promise. For example: No fees, plus 1% or less FX spread on major currencies. (My preferred credit card promises that.) Honestly, it is very hard to pay a total of less than 1% on foreign transactions. Still, this i…
The banks don't control the exchange rate, it's determined by the card network. So yes, when a card advertises 0% foreign transaction fee, it really does mean that they don't take an additional charge on top of the spread (which they don't control or profit from).
It's in fact quite easy to pay less than 100bps for a foreign currency transaction; everybody with a 0% FTF card is doing it right now (especially for high volume corridors like EUR/USD).
> No fees, plus 1% or less FX spread on major currencies. (My preferred credit card promises that.)
You bank can't promise what they don't control; Visa and Mastercard determines FX rates, and they're below 100bps because of an old settlement. So the bank is promising you something they had no role in creating; you're the one here falling for the marketing, not everybody else.
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In France, the fees required to accept Amex are still way higher than MC/VISA. They are still not widely accepted and not a lot of persons know about Amex.
I thought the EU had regulations on credit card fees? As I understand it, the Amex isn't widely supported because Amex's fee-heavy business model wouldn't be allowed to launch. Visa's highest tier cards (Visa Infinite cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve), already have higher fees than the Amex Platinum. The difference is, Visa won't let merchants ban single cards (you have to accept ALL Visa cards), while banni…
With Amex, Amex themselves are both the issuer and the acquirer, so there is no interchange to regulate.
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/201...
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Cash just sitting untouched in my Vanguard account's default money market is earning more than my Marcus account. I had to transfer everything out of Marcus because there was no point in using it.
That isn’t FDIC insured like Marcus (or other HYSA) are.
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Doesn’t work in Costco. Visa works everywhere.
Costco only accepts whatever credit card the Costco credit card currently is. Right now that's Visa, but it used to be American Express before 2016, ironically. Supposedly this exclusively allows them to negotiate down the fee really low.
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That would be cool. Amex support way better than GS that’s for sure. Would suck for retailers though. Amex fees among the highest when compared to other networks and issuing banks. On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling.
I got an Amex card and I think it kinda sucks. Many businesses in Thailand don't accept Amex, I think due to the high fees. At some point I want to change my card (once I can get a credit card from a bank in Thailand, cause my Amex card is from The Netherlands). Would be much better if Apple would get with MasterCard. Based on my experience, no issues anywhere.
Sure that works if you’re selling perfume or handbags, but if you’re a family restaurant then rich people and regular people eat the same quantity of food, your margins are low, why accept it?
Moreover Amex is pretty rare outside of certain markets. If only foreigners use Amex, and your business is not catered to foreigners, then you probably aren’t going to support it or in some cases even know what the hell it is.