Quick Card Tip #1 – Did You Need an AmEx?

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Nope. Not in America. At least I don’t seem to need one.

For years, my primary card was an American Express card that I got from Fidelity Investments. It paid me 2% cashback on every purchase. In July 2016, Fidelity switched to Visa for their 2% cashback card. For a while, I carried around an American Express card as back-up in case I ran into a place that didn’t take Visa. For example, Costco used to be AmEx only.

In the 2½ years since Fidelity switched from AmEx to Visa, I have NEVER needed a credit card other than my Visa. I have not left the U.S. during that time, except for a week in Vancouver (#humblebrag).

I use my card for everything, whenever possible. My Quicken software shows that I have made over 3,200 transactions with my Visa cards during that time. That’s 103 swipes per month. Visa is everywhere I wanna be.

I’m not knocking American Express. I’m just letting you know about my real-life experience of not needing one in over 3,000 transaction in 30 months.

If you use an American Express card, hopefully that card gives you perks/rewards that you like.

If you happen to have an American Express card that charges you an annual fee and you are thinking about closing it – don’t! Call the number on the back of the card and tell them you want to downgrade it to a free version of the card. This helps your credit score versus closing the card.

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