Update 5/24/23: Deal is back through December 31st. There’s now a public landing page. Hopefully this offer now works for everyone, let us know. (ht Thomas)
The Offer
American Express business cardholders – check your emails for the following offer (subject: Welcome offer enclosed. <your name>, American Express Global Pay is now available)
- Earn 30,000 Membership Rewards points after you make at least $5,000 equivalent of foreign exchange payments within 90 days of being approved for American Express Global Pay.
- You’ll also get 1 point per $30 sent on an ongoing basis.
The Fine Print
- You can earn 30,000 Membership Rewards points after you make at least $5,000 equivalent of foreign exchange payments within 90 days of being approved for American Express Global Pay. To be eligible for this offer, your application for American Express Global Pay must be received by December 31, 2022. This offer is only valid for foreign exchange payments for goods or services. It is not valid for same currency transactions (e.g., U.S. Dollar to U.S. Dollar). For example, if you order a payment in the amount of EURO 4,200 within 90 days of being approved for American Express Global Pay, and if we charge you USD $5,000 for those EUROS, then you will be eligible to receive the one-time bonus award of 30,000 points. This exchange rate is for illustration purposes only.
- American Express will award one (1) Membership Rewards point for every USD $30 equivalent of foreign exchange payments that your business sends using American Express Global Pay. The maximum award per payment is 4,000 Membership Rewards points. This offer is only valid for foreign exchange payments. It is not valid for same currency transactions (e.g. U.S. Dollar to U.S. Dollar), and it is not valid for any other products. For example, if you order a payment in the amount of EURO 10,000, and if we charge you USD $11,000 for those EUROS, then we will award 367 Membership Rewards points (11,000 divided by 30 = 367 points). This exchange rate is for illustration purposes only.
- In order to benefit from this offer, your business must first designate an existing American Express Card that is enrolled in the Membership Rewards program to which we will award the Membership Rewards points. The Card must be linked to the same User ID as your American Express Global Pay account. Once we award points to the Card Member’s Membership Rewards program, the Card Member decides how to redeem those points, not you. It is your responsibility as well as the designated Card Member’s responsibility, to find out if you are, or the designated Card Member is, liable for any federal, state or local taxes as a result of receiving or using points. You are also responsible for tax information reporting, if any, that is required in connection with the receipt or use of points by the designated Card Member.
- In order to benefit from this offer, your American Express Global Pay account and the designated American Express Card must be in good standing at all times, including the time of points fulfillment. No Membership Rewards points will be awarded for payments made through American Express Global Pay before we complete the processing of your request to designate an American Express Card to receive the points. In the event a designated American Express Card is canceled for any reason before we award the 30,000 bonus points, we may allow you to designate a different American Express Card to receive the bonus points. This offer cannot be combined with any other Membership Rewards related offer. If we find that you have abused this offer, we may cancel this offer and any points awarded pursuant to this offer.
Our Verdict
I got an email with this offer, not sure how widely it’s been sent out. The ongoing earn rate is probably dwarfed by the fees. The initial welcome bonus looks interesting, though. It looks like fees are waived for the first 90 days, so this might be an easy-ish way of netting 30,000+ Membership Rewards points if you have a foreign vendor to pay. Let us know how this works out, in practice, if you try.
Do you know the fees (I.e. The spread)?
And is EUR payment sent by SEPA or intl wire? Sepa is free whole intl transfer can easily cost $50+.
There are many fintechs, which will automatically give you UK or EU bank account when opening. So it might work.
Not really sure how this works as well.
I have a foreign bank account and a AmEx Biz checking account, so I would like to take advantage of this.
It says “Global Pay is for *business* payments only and may not be used for personal, family or household payments of any kind.”
However – it also says “Global Pay…allows you to send funds to the domestic or *international bank accounts* of your recipients.”
All international bank accounts that I know of have an IBAN (International Bank Account Number).
I am assuming Global Pay would send money via the IBAN?
The question is, how would they know if it is a business or a personal account?
does it have to be a business international bank account?
That’s the question. I don’t think anyone knows?
I got an email for Global Pay with fees waived for 90 days but no offer of points.
I got the invitation 50,000 points for $5000 global payment. I do have business platinum card. Does it do hard pull for application? Can I send my sister in another country $5000? What is the fee?
Applied/approved for this offer:
Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards® points after you make at least $5,000 equivalent of foreign exchange payments within 90 days of being approved for American Express Global Pay. Apply by August 31, 2023.
Would appreciate help from MS pros for this one.
I have AMEX Business CC and checking.
Same targeting, not sure how to take advantage
Some notes from reading the offer terms:
The offer code / Bonus ID is B6WZ (Does not seem to be targeted).
Specifically prohibits sending money to family or friends or yourself. Only to businesses.
Cannot charge this to your Amex card. Funds must come from a business checking account.
Membership Rewards account must be explicitly linked to the Global Pay account. The rewarding may not be automatic.
I think I’ll pass this one.
We looked into this for multiple wires we needed to send (vendors for destination wedding in Europe who do not take credit cards), but couldn’t get any real information that made us comfortable it would work as expected. Look forward to hearing from others how it goes.
No idea how this works? Will I be able to send money to a foreign bank account? I have family living abroad. Can I send money to them from business credit card? I thought it wasn’t possible as it counts as cash advance.
Pls add more details to the post. Much appreciated.
Its all in the FAQ if you actually click the link to Amex’ website. They explain it in very close detail. No you don’t pay with a credit card, you pay with deposited money in an Amex Biz checking account.
From the FAQs:
Your American Express Global Pay payments must be funded in advance. You do this by giving us authority to debit your business bank account to pay for your payment, including any applicable fees.
It would be wise to use Wise
Can you give us any details on your experience – e.g. in regard to fees/rates, availability to just send money abroad to another person, and so on?
TIA… 🙂
I didn’t complete this offer