Originally Posted by ajnaro
An MBNA rep told me that all of their AMEX cards would remain at 1% total, with the 1% being charged by AMEX. Their Platinum card, with a cash rebate of 1.5% - 2% (at a spending level of around $10,000 year) seems like a good deal the first year. After that there will be a high annual fee and fewer points earned per dollar spent, but it's a good deal for one year.
I think this is the usual BS from Amex, but I don't have the card so I haven't wasted time trying to get a straight answer from the Bangalore call center.
With a regular AMEX card, the markup is at least 2%, and that is on top of a mediocre exchange rate.
[Yes, in my personal experience, it was mediocre and far below the WSJ wholesale rates or the rates used by VISA/MC]. I can't imagine why Amex would spend money to implement a different system for processing MBNA transactions or why they would treat MBNA customers better than their own.
The only plus to carrying an Amex card is you can sometimes get a replacement card from one of their overseas offices. I once lost a card at Oktoberfest and received a replacement card within an hour from the Munich office. Unfortunately the magnetic strip didn't work (I'll bet the offices don't have coding technology), but the card worked fine. ^
Good luck getting a VISA delivered on a platter at the pool as they used to show in the TV commercials. You'll be lucky if you can get your bank to fedex it to your billing address.
