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What is the difference between American Express card and other credit cards?*

Someone told me that they are different and american express is easier to get. I also heard american express is more like a debit card. I would like to know because im thinkin bout gettin one. do you need a strong credit history to get an american express? It would be my first credit card.

Answers:

1) Amex cards are actually much more difficult to get. Some of them require the entire balance to be paid every month and carry an annual fee. They take far better care of the customers and rewards programs seem to be much better than their mastercard or visa rivals. They also charge merchants almost twice as much in processing fees as they would with a visa. You will most likely need some credit history. It'd probably be easier to get a Visa/Mastercard through your local bank which may be affiliated with them. Discover will probably issue you credit also.

2) They charge a lot more in processing fees than MC or VISA, so the number of merchants who accept them is a lot lower. They have huge fees for the "prestige" of having an Amex card. Personally, I have more important things to do than try and impress the kid at the car rental company with my "prestige" credit card.

3) In 1882, American Express started its expansion in the area of financial services by launching a money order business[5] to compete with the United States Post Office's money orders. Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J.C. Fargo took a trip to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional letters of credit, he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere except in major cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create a better solution than the traditional letter of credit. Berry introduced the American Express Traveler's Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $100.[9] Traveler's cheques established American Express as a truly international company. In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, American Express offices in Europe were among the few companies to honor the letters of credit (issued by various banks) held by Americans in Europe, despite other financial institutions having refused to assist these stranded travellers

4) American Express is not the easiest of cards to get approved for. They require good credit history , a good FICO score and are not accepted as widely as Visa or MasterCard The pros being good service, reputed, and best rewards in the industry. Its nothing like a debit card. For Debit cards you use the money you have money for purchases, for credit cards you use the banks money and pay it off later. All banks pay for and use services of Visa and MasterCard to issue their branded cards. American expresses uses their own. For your first card i would advice you to try Capital one or go through the bank where you have a checking/savings account.

5) The diference is that they require you to have great credit but offer rewards points such as Discover check out www.fastcreditcardapprovals.com

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