Originally Posted by
danielmadrid07
2-In Spain, as you will soon uncomfortably find out, all billing is done through -domiciliación bancaria- which means, as part of the condition for accepting the credit card, you must agree to allow the credit issuer to directly debit your bank account on the date THEY chose, and AMEX is no exception, and there is no ¨float¨ as there seems to be with most other countries´ AMEX product.
It is is a HUGE pain in the butt because, in essence, I could literally have to pay for a charge done on the 7th of the month, 2 days later, on the 9th of the month (my cycle closes the 8th of the month, and the 9th of the month AMEX debits my account for all charges)
If by chance your bank account fails to have the amount AMEX wants to collect, they consider it as offensive as a combination late payment in the States (though in theory you are not late) and bounced check, and lower your exposure and will not allow any credit increases or allow for you to apply for new AMEX products for 6 months.
Very true. I had a UK Platinum first and then got a Spanish Gold card. I uncomfortably found out recently that they take the payment by direct debit 2 days after closing the statement. Also, the statement doesn't show any "payment due date" as the UK statements do. And they don't tell you exactly when the payment is taken, just something vague like "in the next few days we'll collect the payment". Come on, I need to organise my cash-flow!
Originally Posted by
danielmadrid07
3- The exposures (also known as your non disclosed ¨credit limit¨) on Spanish AMEX's are very low and disproportionate because they seem to base it on the Spanish system of economics, IE: They have been downright flabergasted when they see over 1.500 € worth of charges in one month on my Spanish Platinum card, and at the 2.500 €.charges mark one time, asked that I pay off the balance mid-month before they would allow further charges, but the median monthly salary in Spain is 1.000 € so this is understandable I guess) This is also reflective on the Express Cash function: Spanish Gold Card customers can only take out 600 € per 30 days, and Plat can take out 1.000 € every 30 days, Centurion an insulting 1.500 a month, whereas ICC Plat's can take out 2.000 € every WEEK.
I had no issues with this with a Spanish Gold. I am putting a lot of employer-reimbursable spend through it. My first balance was 4500€. I have made single purchases of over 3000€ and they go through with no issues.