America - do I need a visa CC? (Boring)

[Captain Raymond Holt]

Morning all,

We’re going to be spending some time holidaying in the US soon, west coast.

Simple question - we do our spending here on AmEx, what’s it like in the US? Would it be sensible for me to sort out a Visa credit card too?

Not sure how widely accepted AmEx is.

Cheers

[Rick101]

Not sure if serious.

[the-norseman]

AmEX

American Express..

[Alex Z]

If you’re on a long foreign trip, surely it’s wise to have at least two payment methods anyway?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

I go to the US roughly once every 6 weeks and use my Revolut card. Never had an issue.

[Sheepshanks]

Alex Z said:

If you re on a long foreign trip, surely it s wise to have at least two payment methods anyway?

You need two in the UK - I use Amex by default but a lot of places won’t take it.

[Slow.Patrol]

You can always look at a prepayment card. The post office do one. I think it is MasterCard based.

[Captain Raymond Holt]

Cheers (most of you ) for the helpful posts.

Hadn’t thought of the Revolut type cards cheers

[DeuceDeuce]

UK issued Amex cards will incur a 3% fee on foreign currency spending. As mentioned, Revolut or similar would be my choice.

[Captain Raymond Holt]

DeuceDeuce said:

UK issued Amex cards will incur a 3% fee on foreign currency spending. As mentioned, Revolut or similar would be my choice.

That’s helpful

the-norseman said:

AmEX

American Express..

That, less so

[the-norseman]

Your initial question was how widely accepted are American Express cards in America. What kind of response did you expect?

[Guyr]

I was just analysing the spend on my last US trip over a huge range of venues including bars, restaurants, shops and entertainment over three weeks and on my Amex card it was thousands of pounds, then I checked my Mastercard and it was £11. Everywhere takes Amex, but take a backup just in case.

[Captain Raymond Holt]

Guyr said:

I was just analysing the spend on my last US trip over a huge range of venues including bars, restaurants, shops and entertainment over three weeks and on my Amex card it was thousands of pounds, then I checked my Mastercard and it was £11. Everywhere takes Amex, but take a backup just in case.

Cheers,