TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin AmEx?

Hello - the car rental company that we plan on using just advised us that their banks don't accept American Express anymore. Is this all over the island, or perhaps certain merchants?
Thank you!

Phyllis--there was a thread on here about this topic about two weeks ago. Although it's not at all clear, apparently the problem is with cards not issued directly by Amex. Very confusing.

What Carol said at the end and also a decision of the merchant too.

Long discussion.
https://www.traveltalkonline.com/ub...amex-cards-on-dutch-side.html#Post334355

Thank you, everyone - will also try to get clarification from AmEx.

Calling Amex won’t help. I would plan on not using an Amex and use another card. Amex has always been hit or miss on the island. It was stated that cobranded Amex cards were the issue. But the stores etc do have the right to not accept. Always have a visa or Mastercard as backup.

Could also find a car rental company that takes Amex. Especially if it is the insurance reason.

It is really a merchant by merchant basis, so not sure AmEx themselves can really "help."

Simply bring the AmEx if its your first choice and have a backup like a Visa or MasterCard.

The short version is AmEx stopped acquiring transactions directly from merchants in some Caribbean countries and instead shifted to a model where the merchant’s bank needs to act as the intermediary. This is how Visa and Mastercard work. But not all merchant banks decided to work with AmEx. So if a merchant used to process directly with AmEx but the bank they process other cards with doesn’t accept AmEx, then that merchant cannot accept AmEx anymore (without switching banks).

https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/idc/assets/pdfs/caribbean-global-accounts.pdf

Thank you, all. This is very helpful.

As a retired commercial banker with some experience in this, many merchants stay away from Amex because Amex charges a higher interrchange rate than Master and Visa...

Going back as many years as I can recall the use of AMEX was always iffy.some places accepted it but many didn’t and we always heard it was because of the higher fees they charged merchants. We always travelled with our AMEX and back/up MC and/ or VISA jic.

I contacted our car rental company, UNITY, and they are accepting AMEX which is good because AMEX offers collision coverage.

Gonna apply for my Canadian Express card

We had to do via our Daughter in Toronto.

Good luck with that! In any case, it's still an Amex card, and there is no guarantee it will be accepted either, since the merchant or bank is declining to work with Amex. I believe it all goes through the same clearing house for international transactions.

Ill get a Dutch express then

Whatever. Maybe just get a VISA or Mastercard. It might be simpler.

Maybe I’m wrong. But I was always told when you use an Amex for car rental it’s secondary coverage. Unless you pay a small fee. This is why I have the Chase reserve. It is the primary insurance coverage at no extra cost. I have both Amex Platinum and Chase sapphire Reserve. Pricey but if you pay attention and “work” the cards you get all your fees back and then some.

Kim, the Platinum AE has a rental car policy that is very good but it does cost you $25 (I think) per rental. You have to sign up for the car insurance program online and when you rent with the card it automatically covers you, beyond what most other cards typically do. There are some countries that it is not valid like Italy if I remember correctly, but on SXM you are covered. The Platinum is expensive, and as you said if you take advantage of what it offers you can get most if not all your cost back.

My United Explorer MC has primary auto insurance coverage and is $99/year plus they pay for Global Entry

boucharda--sounds like a good deal.

One correction..United Explorer.card fee went up to $150/year but I think it's still worth it