American Express Credit Cards

The American Express foreign transaction fee is 2.7% of all international transactions or $0, depending on the Amex card. There are plenty of American Express cards with no foreign transaction fee. Those cards tend to be the best options for travel.

If you’re unfamiliar with foreign transaction fees, they’re a surcharge for using a credit card with a foreign merchant. Credit cards with foreign fees usually charge 1%-3% of the purchase price. That can really add up, especially since Amex’s 2.7% foreign fee is on the higher end of the spectrum.

Here are the American Express foreign transaction fees:

• American Express cards with a foreign transaction fee charge 2.7%.
• Many American Express credit cards have no foreign transaction fees.
• Amex foreign transaction fees apply when you buy things abroad OR shop at foreign merchants online.
• Some of the best American Express cards with no foreign fees include Amex Platinum and Premier Rewards Gold as well as the PenFed Premium Travel Rewards card and the Amex cards affiliated with Starwood, Hilton and Delta.

If you’re looking for an international credit card, it’s best to get one with no foreign transaction fee, and American Express does have a good selection. But American Express cards aren’t accepted by nearly as many foreign merchants as Visa and Mastercard. So you may find yourself somewhere your Amex won’t work. And that’s why it’s probably better to have a Visa or Mastercard for travel.

The best American Express business card is the Business Platinum card because it offers up to 75,000 bonus points for spending $20,000 in the first 3 months. It also gives 5 points per $1 on flights and prepaid hotels through amextravel.com. And it offers at least 1 point per $1 on everything else. On top of that, cardholders get 35% of their points back when using them to book flights on one selected airline or when booking any first or business class flights, regardless of airline. Lastly, the Platinum card gives free access to 7 major airport lounge networks. The annual fee is $595.

If you aren’t willing to shell out many hundreds of dollars per year for an annual fee, consider the Amex Green Card.

The only American Express secured credit card is the USAA Secured American Express card. It has a $35 annual fee and requires a deposit of at least $250. The card also has a special lowered interest rate of just 4% for deployed military personnel. This card is issued by USAA, but it is on the American Express card network. There is no American Express secured credit card issued by Amex. All American Express-issued credit cards require at least good credit for approval.

To get the USAA American Express secured credit card, you must be a USAA member. You can join USAA if you are active or former military. You’re also eligible to join if your spouse or a parent is a USAA member with a USAA auto/property insurance policy.

The American Express Global Lounge Collection is a network of 7 airport lounges with more than 1,000 locations in over 120 countries. Amex Platinum, Amex Business Platinum and Amex Centurion cardholders can access them for free. The airport lounge brands that belong to the Amex Global Lounge Collection are Centurion, International American Express, Delta Sky Club, Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Airspace and Escape.

Different lounges offer different amenities. But in general, you can expect to receive free Wi-Fi, free snacks and beverages, charging stations and comfortable seating. Depending on the lounge network and location, you might also find things like business meeting rooms, printing, newspapers, showers and more. To enter, you will need to present your credit card and ID. In some cases, you will also need a same-day boarding pass. Each lounge has their own rules about how many guests you can bring in for free and how much it costs to bring in additional guests.

The Global Lounge Collection is a valuable perk, as buying a membership for even one of these individual lounges can cost hundreds of dollars. As long as you have one of the eligible Amex cards, you get unlimited free access to each lounge.

The best American Express cash back credit card is the Blue Cash Preferred card. It offers $250 cash back for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. Cardholders also earn 6% cash back on the first $6,000 spent per year at U.S. supermarkets. And there’s unlimited 3% back at U.S. gas stations and 1% on all other purchases. Blue Cash Preferred has a $95 annual fee. But it also gives introductory APRs of 0% for 12 months on purchases and Not Offered on balance transfers.

If you don’t want to pay an annual fee, the Amex Cash Magnet card is a better choice. It gives 1.5% cash back on all purchases. Its bonus is a $150 statement credit for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. And Amex Cash Magnet helps keep interest costs low, too. It offers 0% for 15 months on purchases and Not Offered on balance transfers.

There are 18 American Express airline partners, including U.S. companies like Delta and JetBlue. American Express cards with reward points (excluding cards co-branded with a business) allow cardholders to transfer their points to these partner companies. Most Amex airline partners allow transfers at a 1:1 ratio. But there are a few exceptions, so be sure to check what you’re actually getting in return before you transfer.

You actually can’t set an American Express travel notification. Amex is one of the few credit card companies that doesn’t allow it. Most issuers want you to tell them ahead of time when you plan on traveling, so they won’t flag your purchases as fraud if they see you spending money in another country or state. Amex, on the other hand, is confident in their ability to recognize fraud without travel notifications.

This is what American Express has to say about travel notifications on their website: “We use industry-leading fraud detection capabilities that help us recognize when our Card Members are traveling, so you don't need to notify us before you travel.” While the exact nature of how they do this is an Amex secret, some Amex customers have been able to provide insight into the process. For example, some report that Amex sent them an email saying their recent purchases indicated they’d be traveling in the near future. So if you buy plane tickets, for example, Amex will reasonably assume you’ll be going somewhere.

So in the end, you don’t need to set an American Express travel notification, and there’s no way to do it even if you wanted to. You should just expect Amex to figure out when you’re traveling. But if your card ever is flagged for fraud, a call to the number on the back of your card should quickly sort things out. It’s also a good idea to make sure Amex has the right phone number on file for you, so they can let you know if there’s an issue.

To get access to the Amex Centurion Lounge, you must be an American Express Platinum or Centurion cardholder. Guests of cardholders can also get into the Centurion Lounges. Amex Platinum cards have a $550 annual fee, and the Centurion card has an annual fee of $2,500.

If those annual fees weren’t high enough, the Centurion card is available by invitation only, so you can’t apply for it. You can apply for the American Express Platinum Card, but will need to have a credit score of 700 or higher. Once you have the Platinum Card, you can work toward gaining an invitation for the Centurion card by spending at least $250,000 on your Platinum card in a calendar year.

If you gain access to the Centurion lounges, you’re looking at some truly incredible benefits. Before you can experience those benefits, though, you’ll have to show your Platinum or Centurion card, boarding pass for air travel that same day, and a picture I.D. You can bring up to two guests, and can purchase additional guest passes for $50 each. Your guests will have to be with you to gain entry.

There are nine Centurion lounges you can currently visit:

• Dallas-Fort Worth
• Hong Kong
• Houston
• Las Vegas-McCarran
• Miami
• New York-LaGuardia
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco
• Seattle-Tacoma

Five more Centurion lounges are scheduled to open in 2019, in Denver, Los Angeles, Charlotte, New York-JFK, and London. From chef-curated food buffets and specialty wines selected by sommeliers, to shower suites and spa services, these are next-level luxury airport lounges. Select lounges are also designed to reflect the tastes and trends of the city they’re located in, and most lounges offer seasonal cuisine options.

There are three types of free American Express travel insurance available on most Amex credit cards: travel accident insurance, baggage insurance and rental car insurance. To be eligible for coverage, cardholders must either pay their entire travel fare with an Amex credit card or pay at least part of it with Amex rewards.

Amex travel accident insurance reimburses you when a travel provider causes a death or serious injury. All currently available Amex cards have it. The coverage amounts vary by card. But they can be as high as $500,000.

American Express baggage insurance pays you back for baggage that a travel provider damages or loses. You can get it on most Amex card offers. The coverage is as high as $3,000 per person per trip.

Amex rental car insurance pays for damage to and theft of rental cars. Most Amex cards have it. And the coverage is as high as $75,000 per vehicle.