American Express has announced that it will be removing foreign transaction fees temporarily on the business checking product. The following notice was given to account holders:
- Effective July 17, 2024, we are temporarily suspending Foreign Transaction Fees for cash withdrawals and purchases made with your Business Debit Card. You will not be charged a Foreign Transaction Fee for cash withdrawals and purchases in foreign currency made with your Business Debit Card until we notify you otherwise. ATM owners or merchants may charge a separate fee on foreign transactions.
- We will provide you with advanced notice of when we will resume charging the Foreign Transaction Fee.
It’s unclear why this change is being made and also why it’s only temporary.
Hat tip to DDG
I’ve made two purchases on my blue business plus since this announcement that should have incurred FTFs, but they haven’t. Both charges have posted. The purchases are from a company based in Malta. I got hit with a FTF buying from the same company when I used my triple cash a couple months ago. As always, YMMV but at least so far it seems that they may have also suspended FTFs on the blue business plus as well.
Also received noticed on personal checking account.
I find the AMEX Checking accounts a bit half baked. Why they don’t offer some type of bill pay is a bit puzzling. Until they do, offerings from other institutions are way more compelling.
Its most compelling feature is arguably the $250 bonus they offered last year for just a $500 DD….after that, I rarely used it.
Time to extend this to the credit card lineup! 😉
They need to add it to the Blue Cash Everyday for online shopping…
That might help with gas as well. My best option overseas is currently X1, when it offers a 5x point ‘boost’ for gas. The points can be redeemed immediately as a 3.5% (5 x 0.7%) cash back, but the promotion is usually only available a couple times a month.
Just got targeted for 50k offer for P2 biz checking in app only (checked computer at same time nothing) for https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/banking/checking/welcome-50/
Will need to do selfie so finish later
Weird can’t get back to selfie screen.
Now email
“We need additional information to review your application”
“We need to verify some information on your application. Please call us at 1-888-556-2436.”
Same for personal. Received a notice for both.
It’s probably a compliance issue where the fees weren’t properly disclosed.
I got it on my personal checking account, too.
On a side note, Amex needs to add the ability to redeem credit card rewards to checking.
I received the email for my personal checking account, too. The “temporary” language seems weird, but I wonder if Amex is seeing if they can offer this permanently and testing it.
Funny enough, when I first saw the email, I thought it might have been for my EveryDay card, my only other Amex product with FTFs. I think it’s because I’m hopelessly trying to will refresh into existence (only saw the subject and the top portion of the message).
I haven’t ever used the app. When I’m on the web, I got to my credit card Reward Dollars. The site gives me 2 options: Redeem for Statement Credit [to credit card only] or Redeem Cash Back at Checkout.
Ah, Reward Dollars won’t work—that is something they should add! MR points->checking at 0.8¢/point is available, but that’s only on the web (go to Rewards & Benefits and then select the checking account). Since that doesn’t exist in the app, some people have had a hard time figuring that out.
Thank you for your reply!