matrixwalker2012

In Hong Kong and Singapore, I’ve seen Amex offer Platinum credit cards, but how come these credit cards don’t exist in the US? It would be nice to have some higher end credit cards from Amex. How come Amex will offer those plat credit cards overseas but not here back home?

kyanar

They may be called Platinum credit cards, but they do not offer any of the Platinum amenities the charge cards offer. No Centurion Lounge access, no status in hotel loyalty programs, no free supplementary cards, that sort of thing.

Low Roller

I've never really understood why people make such a big deal about Amex issuing "charge cards" instead of "credit cards". Other than the ability to carry a balance (which is generally a bad idea anyway), is there any real distinction?

mia

The USA market Platinum credit cards were discontinued or renamed to reduce confusion with the Platinum (charge) Card. There was not anything high end about these cards, unless you like the color of the plastic or the word platinum on the front.

In the USA American Express offers various pay-over-time options to charge card holders. If you need to carry a balance, using one of these can be better than using a typical credit card because new transactions are not immediately added to the interest bearing balance.

Kacee

I noticed that a couple of months ago AMEX stopped requiring that I pay the new balance on my Plat card every month. Instead, they require I only pay what looks to be about 3% of the new balance. They may call it a charge card, but in this respect it's now functioning very similar to a credit card. With the benefit (among others) that the balance does not count against utilization for credit score purposes.

GeezerCouple

We noticed this some time ago, but in a two-stage process.

First, they offered "extended pay" (my wording; I forget what they called it) for travel related cost, but one needed to sort of declare it in advance. (No idea if one could change it later if one belatedly decided to pay over time, as we didn't use it that way.)

And then, is seemed to become a choice for any purchases.

It reminded me of the (long gone?) Amex "Optima" cards, from back in the '90's. Those were linked to a regular card (I first remember seeing this for the green card, but Platinum was already out, I think), so one needed to decide which card to use, the "regular" charge card, or the Optima "credit" card.

GC

Charles4515

I still have the Amex Platnium Optima credit card. I have not used it in many years but they keep renewing it at every experation date.

ekwang

Yes, I remember the Optima line of credit that could be used with the Platinum card. Of course, they also had the Optima Platinum card too.

Astaroth

Naturally depends where you are in the world. In the UK a credit card is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act whereas a charge card isn't.

One of the benefits of the CCA is that it makes the card issuer jointly liable with the merchant for all purchases over Ł100. So you order a new sofa for Ł2,000 and the furniture company goes bust before it delivers it to you, with a credit card the card issuer would have to refund the Ł2k whereas with a debit or charge card its up to you to try and get the money back from the administrators of the company (so if lucky you'll get Ł20 back). Or if you buy something whilst on holiday that turns out to be faulty, rather than try make an international claim against the shop in India you can just claim against your card.

The UK charge cards do go to some extent to offer insurances that are similar to what a credit card would give you but they are not as complete and evidently not statutory rights.

comptalk

Isn't the Optima card now part of the AMEX Oasis program? AKA getting back into AMEX's good graces after screwing them on past monies owed.

MSPeconomist

IIRC I accepted the AmEx offer of a Plat Optima card in order to get membership rewards points on my regular Plat charge card account. I don't think I *ever* used the card, but AmEx kept sending me new ones for a long time.

ijgordon