The "cash a check" feature of Amex is one that I used for years, back in the days before ATMs and the global banking network. It was my stanbdy, not just for emergency cash, but for getting cash at all--I always hated travelers' checks, and with Amex you get the cash for free. For the three years that I lived in Russia in the early 1990s, I would walk down to the Amex office once a month and get a thousand bucks to pay my rent and living expenses--that was essentially how I drew cash from my US bank.