What are the options to pay indirectly via Amex when Amex is not accepted?

[nikhilk21]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to know what do you guys generally do when Amex is not accepted for a particular payment? I have been using MRCC & Plat Travel since last 3 months. Although my monthly expenses are ~ 60-70k, I am able to only do 20-25k through direct Amex/GVs. To avoid the stress of hitting 20k every month, and the 4L annual milestone I started loading MobiKwik @3% charges and using that

Is this wise? Would I be getting net +ve returns on my MR earned? Is there any other way you guys pay via Amex indirectly?

 

[drsel]

American express charges 3% MDR from every merchant, hence most merchants don't want to accept them
even most swipe machines in India don't accept them.

Mobikwik is simply passing on the 3% charges to you.
It is not wise to lose 3% every time.
You need to buy 1500 x 4 Amazon pay from Amex Gyftr portal every month. Or 5000 x 4

 

[nikhilk21]

American express charges 3% MDR from every merchant, hence most merchants don't want to accept them
even most swipe machines in India don't accept them.

Mobikwik is simply passing on the 3% charges to you.
It is not wise to lose 3% every time.
You need to buy 1500 x 4 Amazon pay from Amex Gyftr portal every month. Or 5000 x 4

Thanks for the response. I do use the GV wherever I can. But still there are a lot of payments that cannot be done using Apay Wallet, specifically the UPI payments to small vendors. So, my Amazon GVs are just getting piled up in my APay wallet.

 

[tarangs20]

Gosats prepaid card allows loading upto 25K without any charge

 

[livinginalounge]

Gosats prepaid card allows loading upto 25K without any charge

Heard a lot about gosats, does it work on all UPI payments and does Amex work there for loading up?

 

[siddiqsd24]

American express charges 3% MDR from every merchant, hence most merchants don't want to accept them
even most swipe machines in India don't accept them.

Mobikwik is simply passing on the 3% charges to you.
It is not wise to lose 3% every time.
You need to buy 1500 x 4 Amazon pay from Amex Gyftr portal every month. Or 5000 x 4

Kindly provide link for AMEX Gftr

 

[nikhilk21]

Kindly provide link for AMEX Gftr

Here you go

E-Gift Cards & Vouchers | Earn Upto 10x Points | American Express

Earn Upto 10x points on 200+ Brands eGift Cards & Vouchers with American Express Reward Multiplier. Exclusive for American Express Customers.

www.gyftr.com

 

[sousnake]

Heard a lot about gosats, does it work on all UPI payments and does Amex work there for loading up?

No gosats is a visa prepaid card so it will not work on UPI but will work on most pos machine and online.

 

[nikhilk21]

Gosats prepaid card allows loading upto 25K without any charge

I don't think you can load using credit card and it is not for UPI payments

 

[tarangs20]

I don't think you can load using credit card and it is not for UPI payments

We can load gosat using cc, new account need to wait 15 days and 5 card load transaction

Post that there maybe multiple options:
1. Use gosat prepaud card off-line/online
2. Use it via snapay for utilities payment/ cc payment (neft)
3. Use on superpe for upi payment

 

[chinnodu]

The following spend options for Smex:

HPCL fuel stations
GCs of Swiggy money, BB, KFC, Ola etc
Offline branded show rooms, shopping malls
NPS Subscription

 

[jk51]

Go through this once

Post in thread 'AMEX PLATINUM TRAVEL CARD BEST WAYS TO SPEND'
https://www.technofino.in/community...vel-card-best-ways-to-spend.10632/post-408480

 

[nikhilk21]

Go through this once

Post in thread 'AMEX PLATINUM TRAVEL CARD BEST WAYS TO SPEND'
https://www.technofino.in/community...vel-card-best-ways-to-spend.10632/post-408480

Thanks for sharing. I did see this post earlier, but it seems to be more about where to spend.
Actually I know where all I can spend using Amex, haha - branded malls, MNC restaurants, loading GVs but I don't have so many expenses in these areas naturally. I'm trying to know how I can use for the spends I actually do.

About 20k monthly is UPI payments to small vendors like press wala, milk vendor, maid, cabs who demand cash etc. Also, I have large less frequent expenses like jewellery. And the shops where I want to buy, don't accept Amex. I'm only left with MobiKwik loading in this case (3% charge). So trying to understand if there is a cheaper way than doing this.

 

[jk51]

Thanks for sharing. I did see this post earlier, but it seems to be more about where to spend.
Actually I know where all I can spend using Amex, haha - branded malls, MNC restaurants, loading GVs but I don't have so many expenses in these areas naturally. I'm trying to know how I can use for the spends I actually do.

About 20k monthly is UPI payments to small vendors like press wala, milk vendor, maid, cabs who demand cash etc. Also, I have large less frequent expenses like jewellery. And the shops where I want to buy, don't accept Amex. I'm only left with MobiKwik loading in this case (3% charge). So trying to understand if there is a cheaper way than doing this.

For UPI with MobiKwik loading with century coupon code is the best bet as of now which reduces the fee from 3% to 2.61%. I would suggest to trim down at least one of the Amex cards considering your spend types are not matching with it. Maintaining the cards would require you to spend min 46,000/- on an avg monthly basis online for most of the part as offline grocery and fuel are the only routine categories to spend through Amex.

 

[plastikman]

Won't amex consider Mobikwik as manufactured spends and cancel the cards?

PS: Although using mobikwik makes it possible to spend using amex where amex is not usually welcome.

Did anyone gave any issues? It can it be used safely?

 

[nikhilk21]

Won't amex consider Mobikwik as manufactured spends and cancel the cards?

PS: Although using mobikwik makes it possible to spend using amex where amex is not usually welcome.

Did anyone gave any issues? It can it be used safely?

I have been using since last 2 months, loading ~15k every month and haven't faced any issue so far. I never do wallet to bank. Maybe doing that would cause issues

 

[nikhilk21]

For UPI with MobiKwik loading with century coupon code is the best bet as of now which reduces the fee from 3% to 2.61%. I would suggest to trim down at least one of the Amex cards considering your spend types are not matching with it. Maintaining the cards would require you to spend min 46,000/- on an avg monthly basis online for most of the part as offline grocery and fuel are the only routine categories to spend through Amex.

You're right. I see 3 options
1) Splurge where Amex is accepted, load GVs to meet targets even if there is no immediate use
Or
2) Use MobiKwik @3% for real, routine expenses
Or
3) Let go of 1 card

 

[jk51]

Won't amex consider Mobikwik as manufactured spends and cancel the cards?

PS: Although using mobikwik makes it possible to spend using amex where amex is not usually welcome.

Did anyone gave any issues? It can it be used safely?

You're right. I see 3 options
1) Splurge where Amex is accepted, load GVs to meet targets even if there is no immediate use
Or
2) Use MobiKwik @3% for real, routine expenses
Or
3) Let go of 1 card

Option 3 lets on peace of mind without compromising on benefits significantly

 

[jk51]

Won't amex consider Mobikwik as manufactured spends and cancel the cards?

PS: Although using mobikwik makes it possible to spend using amex where amex is not usually welcome.

Did anyone gave any issues? It can it be used safely?

Till the amount is within range no issues. If it’s more vis a vis limit sanctioned, frequently and no variety of spends are there on card then chances of financial review getting triggered is there. Have one peer who had his card blocked for two months till his review concluded successfully.