American Express Credit Cards

Brand History

American Express (Amex) began its journey in Australia in 1954 as a travel company operating out of David Jones in Sydney. In 1958 the brand's first card was launched in the US, but it wasn't until 1974 the first one launched in Australia. 

The brand is recognised for its innovative approach to financial services, including travel, insurance, and personal credit solutions. Over the decades, Amex has positioned itself as a prestigious provider, often catering to higher-income earners and business professionals, while also offering options for more general users.

Amex’s reach in Australia also extends into partnerships with retailers, travel companies, and businesses through co-branded cards and business services. The company is distinguished by its rewards program—Membership Rewards—which allows Australian consumers to accumulate points on everyday spending, providing them with various redemption options, including flights, cashback, gift cards, and more.

Quick Product Overview

American Express Cards on Offer in Australia

American Express offers a diverse range of credit cards to suit varying lifestyles and financial needs. These cards are known for their rewards, perks, and premium services but often come with higher annual fees compared to competitors.

Amex offers a comprehensive array of credit cards, divisible by your taste for premium features and palate for annual fees. A rundown for personal use (not businesses) is below:

Details correct at time of writing. Certain income thresholds may apply. Extra fees, features, and details available on Amex website.

Membership Rewards Points Explained - Sign Up Bonuses

Where Amex generally shines is through its sign-up bonus points. These offers change often, but are often a key way to gather points and make good use out of them, such as upgrading your flight from economy to business.

Offers can range anywhere from a few thousand points to hundreds of thousands of points. Amex’s own Membership Rewards points can be redeemed on travel via Amex’s 11 partner airlines, gift cards, or even be used to pay off statements.

Be aware that certain use applications may be better value than others, and may not be a $1 = 1 point equation. For example, transferring 2,000 Membership Rewards points nets only 1,000 Virgin Velocity points.

You will also have to weigh up the benefit of extra points-earning scenarios versus a card’s annual fee.

What about the Centurion/Black Card?

Not explicitly listed on any American Express website is the Centurion card, otherwise known as the black card. The card is invitation only, and you’ll likely only be invited to the program if you’re a high net worth individual or spending high amounts on your Platinum card. Some key features include:

• $5,000 ‘buy in’ fee with a $6,500 annual fee.

• It’s a charge card, so no set spending limits (more on that in a bit).

• Spend at least $100,000 on it annually.

• Have been a Platinum card user for 12 months.

For such a high-cost card, you’d want to have some benefits. None of this is confirmed by Amex, but the travel perks are rumoured to be substantial. Think of the perks on the Platinum charge card list above, and multiply them appropriately. This would include airline lounge access, points accrual, business or first class ticketing access and much more.

The Centurion Card is differentiated by the use of titanium rather than plastic to make the card. This gives the card a more weighty presence both literally and figuratively. Patrick Bateman would love the tasteful thickness of it.

Titanium also makes it harder wearing, and is said to occasionally set off airport security metal detectors. Baller.

One of the main differences with other cards in practice is that it’s a charge card, like the Platinum card. This means there is no pre-set spending limit, but that doesn’t mean you’re given carte blanche. Big purchases most likely need to be approved by Amex; this means you probably can’t just swipe the card to buy a Bentley without some speed bumps.

American entrepreneur Mark Cuban, of Shark Tank and Dallas Mavericks ownership fame, famously tried to buy a USD $140,000 bottle of wine on his black card, celebrating the Mavs' NBA championship win in 2011. This was denied by Amex and led to a very embarrassing couple of phone calls to clear the purchase and resume festivities.

Amex Charge vs Credit Cards

You may have noticed that the Amex Platinum card is called a charge card, which is technically different to a credit card. The main difference is that charge cards don’t come with explicit spending limits, but also don’t come with a set number of ‘interest free’ days.

This means you must pay the balance off in full every month, even if it’s tens of thousands of dollars. While there is no interest payable, you will face a fee if you don’t pay off the statement.

Spending is also not ‘unlimited’. Purchases likely go through an approval process, and Amex tailors the soft limit as it gets to know your spending habits better.

American Express (Amex) Acceptance and Surcharges

You may have been shopping before and noticed that the retailer either doesn’t accept Amex at all, or charges a heftier surcharge for accepting one.

This is because retailers' banks pay payment providers such as Mastercard, Visa, and Amex interchange fees. This is the cost to accept the purchaser’s card, and is one of the main ingredients of the total cost of accepting a card payment - scheme fees and acquirer (bank) margins are the two others. These costs are then passed on to the merchant.

Smartphone payments have also thrown another spanner in the works, though from September 2024 Apple Pay announced it has defaulted to ‘Least Cost Routing’ i.e. Eftpos which is likely to save merchants and customers some cash when making an iPhone Wallet transaction.

• The acquisition fees when accepting Eftpos, Mastercard or Visa - whether it’s contactless, debit or credit - tend to be much lower than Amex’s.

• RBA research in 2022 found the average cost to a merchant when accepting Eftpos was 0.3% of the transaction; Mastercard or Visa was 0.5% for debit and 0.9% for credit; and Amex was much higher at 1.3%.

On a $5 coffee, with Amex that’s 6.5c, or on a $100 pair of jeans that’s $1.30. And remember, that’s just the average.

All these tiny fees might not seem like much, but when extrapolated over hundreds or thousands of transactions a day, the costs for a business - particularly small ones who can’t negotiate favourable terms with payments providers and banks - add up in the long run.

These fees are also variable, based on factors like the type of card, whether it is an online or in-person transaction, the value of the transaction and the size of the merchant, and whether the shopper selects debit, credit, or tap. Cards that provide rewards to the cardholder also tend to have higher interchange fees.

Being that most of Amex’s cards are rewards or premium type cards, and offer credit terms only, the interchange fees are higher.

Eligibility Criteria for American Express Credit Cards

American Express has several eligibility criteria across all its cards, but there are some common requirements:

• Age: All applicants must be at least 18 years old.

• Residency: You need to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. In some cases, valid visa holders (such as those on Business Long Stay Visas) can apply.

• Income: The income requirements vary significantly across the range of Amex cards, typically starting from $40,000 p.a. for the entry-level cards like the Essential Credit Card and climbing to $100,000 p.a. for more premium options like the Platinum Card.

• Credit Score: A good credit score is generally required for most Amex credit cards, especially those with higher limits and extensive perks.

• Minimum Spend: To qualify for some perks or points bonuses you may need to spend a minimum amount per statement period. This could range into the thousands of dollars.