As most churners know, American Express always has the best deals, but most non-buisness owners don't bother becuase it's so hard to meet criteria when most of Australia doesn't accept Amex payment.
My question is, is there anything dumb I'm missing for why it wouldn't be a great idea to open Amex cards prior to Europe and churn them over there? Has anyone tried similar? Am I missing niche disqualifiers? Or is it just too cost prohibitive to use a non-travel card?
your question is poorly worded.
ChatGPT
is there anything dumb
OPs Post
lol what
Going by their username, I believe this is just toilet humour.
Not (as) worth it after forex fees which are going to be 3-3.5%
it's so hard to meet criteria when most of Australia doesn't accept Amex payment.
I guess it depends on what you spend on, but the main grocery stores, the big chain/department stores, and lots of other stores (maybe 50% of them on average?) all take amex, most of them without surcharges.
I’ll second this, other than BNPL and rates/utilities/insurance there’s not many places I go that don’t take Amex
American Express does not always have the best deals.
Is your question:
I don't spend enough to qualify for most Amex deals. I am soon travelling and the holiday spend will allow me to meet spend requirements. Is this a poor idea because of exchange rates and fees?
If so, maybe point to call deal you are considering so people can help.
Sorry probably my poor wording.
I can meet spending on local cards easily, but for amex specifically it's too hard as most places in Australia don't accept Amex.
If I go to Europe, I believe they are far more amex friendly so meeting the target should be easier.
Anyway Shadowsfury's point is a case closer, the fees make it not worth it.
Maybe use your amex to book the airfares.
If you were already at looking at hotel accomodation, then you can look for your flights and/or accommodation via AMEX Travel portal, to satisfy your 'churn criteria'.
That being said, you can use AMEX inside PayPal as well.
Also, AMEX works well inside USA too.
"churn them over there?"
wot?
I hate when people ask questions, get an answer and then go off to delete it all instead of it being google-able to other people…
I hate it almost as much as people who post on deals "…I got it for less a few weeks ago" - THEN WHY NOTY POST THE DEAL A FEW WEEKS AGO RATHER THAN KEEPING IT TO YOURSELF!
relax mate.
Everyone said it was a shit question and couldn't make sense of it. The premise (amex usability) was flawed too. Why keep it?
This isn't some niche engineering question.
Thank-you for restoring my faith in OzBargain. It wasn't a stupid question and handy for me as even the most trivial information might be useful in the future like if I appear on a game show and they ask this specific question.
You'll get super shitty value for exchange rates and possibly international fees on top.
Assuming I understood correct because your question is poorly worded.