Originally Posted by
Happy
Not only that, the acceptance of AMEX card outside US is much worse than inside US.
When we rented a week of apartment stay in BCN last April, the owner would not accept AMEX but gladly take Visa or MC.
You go to Canada, most of the oriental restaurants dont take AMEX.
My local favorite restaurant here in town, stopped taking AMEX 3 months
ago.
Frankly I am disappointed in Fido's card offerings. These days I only use the ATM card from mySmartCash account when travelling overseas so I dont need to hunt down a member bank of BofA's Global ATM network, or in countries there is None, such as Spain and Italy. Note: You can only get fee-free withdrawals from member bank's own host country. If you withdraw money from, say, Barclays branch in Spain, you will get hit with the BofA international withdrawal fee. You only get fee-free withdrawal in UK using Barclays. The ATM card from mySmartCash solves this issue, though this is Fido's response to the similar product Schwab introcuded months ahead.
For me the lack of acceptance of Amex is a non issue. I can't recall ever coming up on a situation where Amex was not accepted while Visa/MC was.
I called Fidelity and tried to convert my Fidelity Amex Gold Card and was told that this can't be done - I would have to apply for a new card.
. Will re-visit this in a year or so.