Amex Card with free dollars

[traycie2201]

Hi have just been into a thomson travel agent ( old lunn poly ) and they currently have an offer on the pre loaded travellers cheque cards, put $700
(about £420 and they will add on an extra $50 free , the card is also currently free ( normally £20 ish) , I was told offer on till end of December and that they would beat best exchange rate in your local area. I'm planning on getting one each for the people in our party which will give us an extra $150 free.

 

[mandymouse]

Hi Traycie, we've got one for our holiday, I'll let you know how we got on with it when I get back

 

[dc1964]

Thomas Cook also doing cash back offer, load $2000 dollars on the card at time of purchase and American Express will give you $250. Both me and the wife got one each for Xmas trip and that is $500 free. Effectively this gave us an exchange rate of 1.89.

 

[kristieuk]

For anyone who already has a card, if your reload on the Amex website at the moment with at least $1000, you get $75 free.

The exchange rate is quite good at the moment - when we did this earlier this week, it made the equivalent rate $1.83. I think the offers in the travel agencies only apply to new cards (but that has now got me thinking - could you get yourself another brand new card, or would they know you already had one?).

 

[traycie2201]

I'm sure you could get another card and benefit again from the offer
I Think i'll take a look at the thomas cook deal, the more free money the better !

 

[angel659]

We used the Amex travellers card while we were there in October and it was fantastic. Much easier than travellers cheque although it was harder to keep an eye on what we were spending.

 

[dc1964]

It is only one card per person over 18 so you cant apply for another one in the same name.

 

[traycie2201]

I just looked on the thomas cook website and couldn't find anything about the $250 offer was it recent ? also can you draw the money out back in the uk in the unlikely event that you have any left over

 

[kristieuk]

We bought $2000 card at the end of October when Thomas Cook had the free $250 on offer. It was a 'limited take-up' offer - they were basically saying it could be withdrawn at any time, they couldn't say when. I haven't seen the offer still on in this area, but haven't paid too close attentionYou can withdraw cash with the card, but there is a charge. I'm pretty sure that I read even if you have $ on the card, you could use it in a UK atm, and you would get the equivalent in £, but you would be charged. I'll have a look on the Amex website as I might have seen it there....

 

[kristieuk]

Taken from the Terms and Conditions on the Amex website:



CANCELLATION/REDEMPTION


You (for these purposes, not including an Additional Cardholder) may also cancel your Card and redeem any Available Funds on the Card at any time by notifying Customer Service. We will cancel (deactivate) the Card and reimburse you (for these purposes, not including an Additional Cardholder) the amount of any Available Funds, in excess of 10 Euro or Sterling or US Dollar equivalent, remaining on the Card after fifteen (15) business days and after deducting the applicable Cancellation/Redemption Fee (see the section entitled "Limits and Fees for Travellers Cheque Card" above).

To redeem the funds on your Card you (for these purposes, not including an Additional Cardholder) can either obtain cash via an ATM or if you wish you can phone Customer Service and we will make an electronic transfer to an account with a bank/building society or to the credit, debit or charge card account which you used to purchase that Card from American Express or we will issue a cheque to you. We reserve the right to hold funds up to fifteen (15) business days before redeeming Available Funds to ensure all transactions have been received. In the event that additional charges or fees are incurred on your Card, we reserve the right to contact you and/or bill you for any such amount that is deemed a valid transaction, whether incurred before or after notification to cancel. We reserve the right to make it a condition of reimbursement that your Card is returned to us, in the event that the Card has not expired.

The minimum redemption amount is 10 Euro (or Sterling or US Dollar equivalent).

Where the Card has expired, please refer to the section entitled '"Valid Thru" Date' above




TRANSACTIONS MADE IN FOREIGN CURRENCIES

If you make a transaction with your Card in a currency other than your Card currency (for example, if you use a US Dollar Card to make a purchase in Euro), the transaction will be converted into your Card currency on the date it is processed by us or our agents as follows:

1. Unless a particular rate is required by applicable law, you understand and agree that our treasury system will use conversion rates based on Interbank rates that it selects from customary industry sources on the business day prior to the processing date, increased by a single conversion commission of 2.73%.
2. For Cards loaded in Sterling or Euro, if the transaction is not in US Dollars, the conversion will be made through US Dollars, by converting the transaction amount into US Dollars and then by converting the US Dollar amount into Sterling or Euro as appropriate. If the transaction is in US Dollars, it will be converted directly into Sterling or Euro as appropriate.
3. In all cases the conversion rate may differ from rates in effect on the date of your Card transaction and if charges are converted by third parties prior to being submitted to us, any conversion made by those third parties will be at rates selected by them.

No currency conversion occurs where transactions are incurred in the currency loaded on your Card.

 

[kristieuk]

Sorry, don't know why that is partly in bold. It won't go away

 

[fizz13]

Does anybody know if I would be able to use one of these at a disney hotel to link it to my room key? In other words, use it like a credit card behind the desk so my charges would come from the card?

Claire xx

 

[kristieuk]

No, I don't think you can. There are FAQ's on the Amex site, and I'm sure one of those refers to doing a similar thing on a cruise, and it specifically says it cannot be used in that way. However, you could pay your check out bill with it, provided there were sufficient funds left on the card.

It's a similar situation with car hire - you can't use it as your 'guarantee' card, but you can use it to pay any extras at the end of the hire period.

Hope that helps!

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
Actually you can use it as a room charge card, but it's not a good idea as the hotel reserves a certain amount of $'s so this would show as a pending amount on your Amex card a/c.On our last trip I left a credit card for room charges and then paid the bill with my Amex tc card the day before we checked out. Some shops and restaurants also claim more than the actual cost of your purchase and again this is corrected later. Also avoid using the card to pay for petrol at the pump for the same reasons.

Mick.