Amex’s Pay Over Time feature is something I recommend not using, but which may still be worth signing up for. Let me explain. What is Amex Pay Over Time?In general, one of the ways credit card companies make money is by funding fees. I recommend avoiding financing fees whenever possible as you usually pay a pretty high interest rate. What is interesting about American Express is that not all cards in the issuer’s portfolio are credit cards – some are even hybrid cards (they used to be called charge cards). With these cards you usually have to pay your balance in full every month. That is, unless you sign up for Amex’s Pay Over Time feature. This gives you the opportunity to spend more time paying for your purchases. Purchases can be credited to a pay-over-time balance and then paid off over a longer period of time so that you do not have to pay your balance in full at the end of a billing cycle. The catch is that you pay interest. Which Amex cards are eligible for Pay Over Time?American Express credit card purchases are automatically eligible for funding, so this feature is not required for payment over time. Pay Over Time is available on select American Express hybrid cards, including the following: Why you shouldn’t use Amex Pay Over TimeIf you can avoid it I would recommend not using Amex’s Pay Over Time feature:
Why you should (maybe) sign up for Amex Pay Over TimeThe reason you should sign up for the Pay Over Time feature is because American Express often offers an incentive to do so. Keep an eye on your American Express email and mail and you may see an offer that encourages you to sign up for Pay Over Time. For example, I received one of these in the mail yesterday offering 20,000 Membership Rewards bonus points for signing up (I estimate Amex points at 1.7 cents each, which is worth $ 340 for me). Suffice it to say this is a great offer – there is no fee to activate Pay Over Time, and you don’t actually have to use it to earn the 20,000 points. If you continue to pay your bill with each billing cycle (as you probably did before) nothing will change. It is always worth keeping an eye on these offers. And although they sound too good to be true, they are not … This is exactly how it works and who doesn’t want 20,000 “Free” Points? Although you will usually be contacted directly about these offers, you can also check this link to see if you are eligible. If you have multiple hybrid Amex cards, you should go to each card’s profile to see if you are eligible for a registration bonus. Bottom lineAmex’s Pay Over Time feature enables you to fund fees over a longer period of time on hybrid cards that were not eligible for funding in the past. In general, I recommend avoiding card financing fees as the interest rates can be quite high (aside from around 0% introductory APR offers). That being said, if you are being targeted for a promotion, it might be worth signing up with Amex Pay Over Time. It’s not uncommon to see registration offers of 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which is a lot of points to get for free. There’s no need to use Pay Over Time, and if you keep paying your fees in full you won’t be billed. Have you ever signed up with a specific offer for Amex Pay Over Time? Via https://globalconnekt.com/what-is-amex-pay-over-time-and-should-you-sign-up/
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