American Express, popularly called Amex, is a global financial services institution founded in the year 1850 in Buffalo, New York City. It has its headquarters in Manhattan’s Three World Financial Centre in New York City. Its key products are charge cards, credit cards, and traveler’s cheque. It provides insurance, finance, and travel-related services worldwide.
Credit Card
American Express offers a host of credit cards as well as charge cards to its customers. Amex credit cards are designed specially to help you enjoy the great things of daily life with maximum benefits.
- American Express Platinum Card: It is a type of charge card with a yearly fee of Rs. 50,000 plus tax. The card promises premium lifestyle benefits and entitles the cardholder to avail attractive discounts on luxurious items or services, such as hotel stays, branded merchandise, etc.
- American Express Gold Card: It is a type of charge card, with an annual fee of Rs.1000 plus tax in the first year and Rs.4500 from the second year onwards. The card promises reward points which are based on two levels of Gold tiers like 18 carat rewards and 24 carat rewards. The card holder can earn 1 reward point for every Rs. 50 spent.
- American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card: Various discounts on every spend at restaurants, shopping, retail purchase etc and also allows access to select airport lounges.
- Jet Airways American Express Platinum Credit Card: It is a travel card which rewards the customer with discounts on flight tickets through its Reward Program when travelling with Jet Airways.
- American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card: This credit card too is a travel card offering benefits and privileges with respect to travelling.
- American Express MakeMyTrip Credit Card: Offered in partnership with MakeMyTrip, this credit card gives discount vouchers on tickets bookings, hotel bookings and holiday package booked through the Makemytrip website.
- American Express Payback Credit Card- American Express has partnered with PAYBACK for this credit card offering. This card promises reward points on shopping at PAYBACK merchant outlets.
In order to make any card transaction, American Express has a special safety feature namely Chip and PIN. It provides a safe and secure environment for any card transactions thus saving the cardholders from any sort of fraud or malpractice. The card-holders are provided with a specific PIN that authorizes card transactions, thereby making the card safe for use. Further, the card uses an enclosed microchip to encipher the personal data provided by the card-holders resulting in a detailed and factual deposition of a Card. Through this facility it becomes very difficult to duplicate the stored personal data on the card thus protecting it from being misused if stolen.
Interest Rates are charged on the money left and not on the whole borrowed money. The card holder can calculate the total interest on a credit card through Annual Percentage Rate (APR). A credit card’s APR helps the customer know what should be payable by him monthly. Card holders can compare credit cards on the basis of APRs, as different cards have varied APRs, and then choose the one that benefits them the most. American Express has two types of transaction fee, see below:
- Interest Rates on charge cards: No interest is levied on charge cards as the card-holder has no left over the balance at the starting of any month. The entire balance on the charge card gets deducted from the card-holder’s bank account.
- Interest Rates on Credit Cards: Interest rates on credit cards are different for different people. The cardholder can opt for a card having the lowest APR in order to get additional benefits such as Reward Points or Loyalty Programs. As of now, the PAYBACK and the Jet Privilege Miles credit Card are gaining popularity and suit almost every individual.
American Express also offers online services to its customers wherein they can do a variety of things with just one click of the mouse. The payments can be made from anywhere around the world through a Paperless Statement thus making the transaction secure and swift. The key aspects of American Express’ online services are as follows:
- Present balance can be checked anytime, anywhere.
- Managing of rewards is made simple through an easy registration process.
- The transactions have no amount of paperwork involved.
- Details like email addresses and password are changeable as per the customers convenience.
American Express offers a wide range of insurance related services to card-holders with offers that are custom made by ICICI Lombard. The insurance products are as follows:
- Travel Insurance- American Express provides extensive and flexible travel insurance plans based on the needs and requirements of the card-holders. It provides coverage up to 85 years of age payable instantly and only for the total number of days travelled.
- Motor Insurance- It gives coverage to the vehicles owned by the card holders in case of accidents. It does not need any kind of paperwork and is a digitally signed plan. It also provides roadside assistance to its customers.
- Health Insurance- It covers all health-related problems of the card holders as well as their close ones. It takes into account all the medical related needs of the card holders and provide them with a best made-to-order plan based on their requirements.
- Personal Accidental Insurance- The card holder has the liberty of opting for a far-reaching personal accidental plan that would safeguard them on every step at the time of any personal accidents. It provides coverage of Rs. 2 crores up to the age of 65 years and no medical check-ups are needed. It also has an easy and swift claim facility.
