Forums › Payment cards › American Express › Balance transfer from Amex Platinum – possible?
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Hi there,
I’ve tried to transfer my balance from my platinum amex to my Barclaycard but I get an error message saying “Unfortunately we are unable to accept balance transfers from this card.” However I’ve just balance transferred from my BA amex so the problem isn’t the fact that it’s amex.
It’s a fairly new platinum card that I’ve yet to make a payment on if that changes anything. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks,
I had the same problem recently trying to do a balance transfer from Amex Plat – couldn’t transfer to MBNA, Halifax or Virgin CC. Had no problem transferring in from other Amex card, just the Plat. I’ve had the card for a year so dont think it’s connected to how old the account is
I can’t understand why any of the above is newsworthy. If your finances are such that you need to use balance transfers, it’s wholly inappropriate to be taking out credit cards with a fee of almost £600/year and it would appear Amex agrees. Whatever putative benefits the Platinum card may offer, they are all luxuries incompatible with balance transfers offered very profitably by card providers to the financially incontinent.
@JDB I’m not sure how helpful your comment is. The OP asked a question and I provided an answer. You do not know anything about my finances – the purpose of me trying to make a nominal amount (£10) transfer was to see if it was possible if I chose to make a large upcoming purchase on the Plat card to earn points and then transfer to take advantage of a long interest and fee free repayment period with a different provider. I consider the money better in my pocket for as long as possible if an interest and fee free option is offered to me.
Thanks @SteveJ, on the whole I find this forum very helpful and many here who try and help others when they ask a question, but there’s always some…
Not sure why Amex Platinum and balance transfers would be “incompatible”. What a bizarre comment.
As @lollyfry says, it’s often very handy to have the money in your pocket for as long as possible. And if you can leave a card balance sitting there at 0% interest for a couple of years, in a period where you can easily get, say, 5% interest on cash savings, then the benefit of such stoozing (to me at least) is obvious.
@JDB I’m not sure how helpful your comment is. The OP asked a question and I provided an answer. You do not know anything about my finances – the purpose of me trying to make a nominal amount (£10) transfer was to see if it was possible if I chose to make a large upcoming purchase on the Plat card to earn points and then transfer to take advantage of a long interest and fee free repayment period with a different provider. I consider the money better in my pocket for as long as possible if an interest and fee free option is offered to me.
Entirely sensible. Shows you are financially literate (far from incontinent).
I can’t understand why any of the above is newsworthy. If your finances are such that you need to use balance transfers, it’s wholly inappropriate to be taking out credit cards with a fee of almost £600/year and it would appear Amex agrees. Whatever putative benefits the Platinum card may offer, they are all luxuries incompatible with balance transfers offered very profitably by card providers to the financially incontinent.
I lurk here but you have motivated me to make an account and respond.
1. You don’t know this person or why they want to transfer a credit card balance.
2. Using basic financial literacy there are clearly benefits to taking on long-term 0% interest debt. Don’t assume you know what is best for someone else.
3. A balance transfer is only profitable for the card provider if you (a) fail to make the minimum payment during the interest-free period or (b) do not pay off the debt at the end of the interest-free period. Why not take your logic further – none of us should use reward cards because credit cards are “offered very profitably by card providers to the financially incontinent”?
Back to the issue at hand, I believe the background is that, whether for reasons mentioned by @JDB or other, the Platinum card isn’t really targeted towards the balance transfer cardholder community – until not very long ago it was the Platinum Charge Card after all, and not a credit card at all. Unsurprisingly it doesn’t seem to be top of Amex’ list of priorities to ensure a smooth balance transfer process for their “elite” products.
To underline the point: The Amex Centurion card t&cs don’t even mention balance transfers …Good point by tbtb31. OP hasn’t made it clear if he holds a charge or credit card. Won’t be surprised if the charge card doesn’t play with balance transfers.
Thanks @SteveJ, on the whole I find this forum very helpful and many here who try and help others when they ask a question, but there’s always some…
My point was simply that, as also now identified by others, the Platinum card (charge or credit) clearly isn’t aimed at the balance transfer segment of the market. Also, as mentioned in reviews, while Plat has benefits for some people it has a very poor points earning rate vs other paying Amex cards or the Barclaycard Avios Plus and the same earning rate as the free Barclaycard. Platinum isn’t the best card to make a large purchase with unless you are trying to earn a SUB.
@lollyfry, you learn to ignore @JDB. Whilst a very knowledgeable poster, for someone who boasts about being raised properly they’re one of the rudest people on here and is very quick to make assumptions.
What you call rudeness, I call being blunt or simply stating hard facts. The Plat card benefits are almost all fripperies aimed at better off people and balance transfers are a very different market. Also, at a time when Amex is getting more discriminating about who it wants as cardholders and how much credit it wishes to extend to them, a balance transfer (and yes, Amex knows the source of funds) won’t help any more than having the balance transfer borrowing sitting on the record. When you combine that with the low Plat points earning rate (ex reaching thresholds) using the Plat card in the way described isn’t sensible.
What you call rudeness, I call being blunt or simply stating hard facts. The Plat card benefits are almost all fripperies aimed at better off people and balance transfers are a very different market. Also, at a time when Amex is getting more discriminating about who it wants as cardholders and how much credit it wishes to extend to them, a balance transfer (and yes, Amex knows the source of funds) won’t help any more than having the balance transfer borrowing sitting on the record. When you combine that with the low Plat points earning rate (ex reaching thresholds) using the Plat card in the way described isn’t sensible.
Very much doubt these are “facts” at all. On the Platinum MR CREDIT card Amex allow you to transfer another balance IN to Amex per their Ts&Cs, I’d be pretty certain a transfer out to another provider will be possible. OP’s issue is no doubt what has been mentioned earlier, they must have the Charge Card.
All the rest of this post quoted is just noise. All of the credit profile impacting elements described in this post have nothing at all to do with the Platinum MR vs any other Amex.
JDB wrote:
What you call rudeness, I call being blunt or simply stating hard facts.Let us test out this claim…
“I can’t understand why any of the above is newsworthy.” This is not a “hard fact”, this is just you acknowledging that you are struggling with the point of the post.
“If your finances are such that you need to use balance transfers, it’s wholly inappropriate to be taking out credit cards with a fee of almost £600/year” This is also not a “hard fact” as the OP did not mention that they needed to use a balance transfer, just that they WANTED to. Also, if the benefits of taking out the card are worth more to the holder than the costs then it IS appropriate for them to have it!
“Whatever putative benefits the Platinum card may offer, they are all luxuries incompatible with balance transfers offered very profitably by card providers to the financially incontinent.” Again, not a “hard fact” as many high earners take advantage of offers such as balance transfers, they are offered on a similar basis to any SUB. A bonus to those who are financially astute, a trap to those who are not. They are offered pretty universally to entice people in, not just to “the financially incontinent”.You are a very knowledgeable person who has contributed a lot on these forums, but your claim that your rudeness is just you stating facts that are definitely true and do not need to be questioned, is clearly false or delusional…
To answer the original question, which despite all the waffle above it seems the OP has not even returned to clarify, I have just done a test balance transfer of £100 from my week old Amex plat to my 0% Santander and it’s gone through fine
*contra £100 added to savings at 4.5%..
@lollyfry, you learn to ignore @JDB. Whilst a very knowledgeable poster, for someone who boasts about being raised properly they’re one of the rudest people on here and is very quick to make assumptions.
What you call rudeness, I call being blunt or simply stating hard facts. The Plat card benefits are almost all fripperies aimed at better off people and balance transfers are a very different market. Also, at a time when Amex is getting more discriminating about who it wants as cardholders and how much credit it wishes to extend to them, a balance transfer (and yes, Amex knows the source of funds) won’t help any more than having the balance transfer borrowing sitting on the record. When you combine that with the low Plat points earning rate (ex reaching thresholds) using the Plat card in the way described isn’t sensible.
On the Platinum CREDIT card Amex allow you to transfer another balance IN to Amex per their Ts&Cs, I’d be pretty certain a transfer out to another provider will be possible. OP issue is no doubt what has been mentioned earlier, they must have the Charge Card.
All the rest of this post quoted is just noise. All of the credit profile impacting elements described in this post apply to any Amex credit profile and has nothing at all to do with the Platinum vs any other Amex.
JDBs comment was at best speculative and with nose straight up in the air.
BTs is how I first got into the game before I knew the depths of other options available.
Most cards will happily accept a BT and users shouldnt be scolded for hitting a bonus then having it at 0% for 32 months?
Hi – resurrecting this thread to see if there has been any recent experiences of balance transferring from the Amex platinum and if so, if there are any cards which work successfully?
Hi – resurrecting this thread to see if there has been any recent experiences of balance transferring from the Amex platinum and if so, if there are any cards which work successfully?
Both Amex to NationWide and NatWest were both working for me fairly recently.
Helps spread the cost of some large purchases, while still being able to put the spend to work towards a SUB or BA voucher. As long as you can find a card with a low enough transfer fee.
Thanks very much – likewise, I am buying my first home so need to fill it with a fridge, sofa, bed, washing machine etc and balance transferring is a good way to frontload expenditure in a sustainable way while still earning points.
If any other cards work with Amex Plat please do let me know!
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