Why is amex not widely accepted

Related: Best no-annual-fee credit cards to use internationally. Expanding international coverage is a priority for Amex moving forward, so hopefully, we will start to see this change in the coming years.

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Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. This site does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers.

Please view our advertising policy page for more information. Skip to content. Advertiser Disclosure. Madison Blancaflor. Sign up for our daily newsletter. Sign up. I would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not sell your email. Please enter a valid email address Please check mailing preferences. Sign-up Successful! American Express is both a payment network and a major credit card issuer.

Credit card issuers primarily make money through interest charges and a portion of the interchange fees. Many American Express cards are actually not credit cards but charge cards. That means that the cardholder is required to pay the entire statement balance in full each month, so Amex typically receives no interest charges from these products.

Furthermore, American Express cards almost always provide competitive rewards in the form of cash back or miles and points toward travel rewards. With both the higher costs of offering rewards and less income from customers paying interest, American Express' business model relies on charging merchants higher interchange fees. Why You Should Always Have a Backup Credit Card If you primarily use an American Express card, then you should probably carry a backup card from a different payment network for when you encounter a merchant that doesn't accept American Express.

But regardless of which card you use, it's always a good idea to have one or more backup credit cards. For example, your primary card could become lost, stolen or compromised in some way, leaving you without a credit card until it's replaced. Having more than one card that you manage responsibly can also add to your positive credit history and improve your credit score.

American Express cards are accepted by millions of merchants, but not at every store that accepts credit cards. While you're likely to find that the vast majority of stores you visit will accept your Amex card, there are several reasons that you should still carry a backup card.

By understanding how credit cards work, and why Amex isn't as widely accepted as cards from other payment networks, you can make sure that you always have the right cards to make the purchases you need. Don't Apply Blindly Apply for credit cards confidently with personalized offers based on your credit profile. The purpose of this question submission tool is to provide general education on credit reporting.

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Your personal credit report includes appropriate contact information including a website address, toll-free telephone number and mailing address. We used it to check out a few retailers that you might not realise will happily take your Amex as payment and uncover a few that you might be caught short with. Sky is one of the biggest telecoms companies in the UK, so you might think it would accept all forms of payment. The Post Office started accepting American Express in April across its 11, branch network, making it one of the largest UK retailers to accept Amex.

Poundland started accepting American Express in March as more and more squeezed middle class shoppers turned to the discount retailer in search of better value for money. McDonalds, however, will happily take your Amex for a burger and fries. Just Eat, the popular takeaway app helping the nation avoid the washing up on a Friday and Saturday night, take American Express, as do rivals Deliveroo and Hungry House.