What''s up w/ London and credit cards?

[Shoopy]

I like to use my AMEX when I''m traveling because that''s my corporate card and its easier to do expense reports that way (don''t have to calculate exchange myself). But no one accepts credit cards! I can understand not accepting dollars but credit cards?? Why is that?

P.S. LOVING it here

 

[arjunajane]

Fiery, are you sure its all CC''s or just Amex? I haven''t been to UK, but I know in Aust very few places except AMEX or Diners, mostly just Visa and Mastercard are accepted..
perhaps this is it..?

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 10/21/2008 6:08:43 AM
Author: arjunajane
Fiery, are you sure its all CC''s or just Amex? I haven''t been to UK, but I know in Aust very few places except AMEX or Diners, mostly just Visa and Mastercard are accepted..
perhaps this is it..?

Thats what I was wondering.....Visa / MC are widely accepted to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Deia]

hmm...

I live in London and use my AMEX quite regularly here (its not a UK AMEX - its a french one - from where I lived before London). You need to let them know you have to swipe it (for some weird reason all UK Amex cards have a pin thing just like a regular debit card)

Some places don''t accept them but its not that common... or so I thought

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 10/21/2008 11:20:27 AM
Author: Deia
hmm...

I live in London and use my AMEX quite regularly here (its not a UK AMEX - its a french one - from where I lived before London). You need to let them know you have to swipe it (for some weird reason all UK Amex cards have a pin thing just like a regular debit card)

Some places don't accept them but its not that common... or so I thought

yes, and some chip that the US cards don't have; that is what we encountered traveling out in Europe this spring.

eta: yay, I am glad you are having a great time, posts pics when you get back please.

 

[Deia]

ah ha! Chip and Pin that''s what I was looking for hehe

...

If your AMEX is like mine and doesnt have a chip and pin, as I said it should be fine for them to swipe it (as long as they actually take AMEX cards of course

)

 

[neatfreak]

That''s weird, I''ve never had a problem before with them accepting CC''s?

 

[bee*]

I''ve always had them accept MC and Visa over there. They''re like us though in that they use chip and pin. You''ll have to get them to swipe. Although I know in my workplace, our machine doesn''t take American Express, so their machine might be something similar.

 

[Haven]

My AMEX card isn''t accepted in many places in both the US and the UK. I have AMEX and hubby has a Discover card, both of which are useless in many stores.

When I was in London I never had a problem with my Visa, though.

Do you have a Visa? I''d try that.

 

[Shoopy]

Hey everyone. I think its that maybe they don''t accept AMEX. We went to one place by the London Eye that did accept ccs but not AMEX. The funny thing is that we walked all over central london asking if they accepted cards or dollars and the only place that accepted dollars was this tiny mom and pop buffet place LOL. We did get permission to take out money from our bank accountin pounds but a lot of the ATMs weren''t working (it may be our banks). We still had a "lovely" time. Everyone was so kind and you felt at home walking in the streets.

I''m in Spain now and didn''t even bother with the whole "do you accept..." and just took out money LOL. We don''t typically like to do that since its so unfavorable to us (not to mention filling out the expense report and calculating the exchange rate for that day you incurred the expense). But it is equally beautiful here and much warmer (I was freezing!!)

I''ll post pics when I can. I forgot my cord for the computer doh!

 

[TravelingGal]

Yup, AMEX is not widely accepted abroard. I saw more places accepting diners club than AMEX.

I laughed when I saw your title...I thought, ha, of course London accepts credit cards...she must be using AMEX!

 

[meresal]

Does it have something to do with the usage rates?

I know in the US AMEX wasn't widely accepted for a while (when I was growing up I remember my mom always mumbling under her breath about not being able to use her corporate card), because they charge merchants a higher rate to run their credit cards, whereas Visa is very cheap.


ETA: Here's an example. The usage you choose when you buy your CC running machine gives you rates based on what CC is swiped. I guess many companies choose not to use the higher ones, and maybe it's more expensive to use overseas credit cards.

Our rates for keyed transactions are 2.15% on Visa/MC (personal or business) w/ no trans fee, 1.69% on Discover w/ $0.10 transaction fee & 2.95% on AMEX. No fees for annual use, statements, applications, reprogramming, or no minimum processing. Rates will not change for three years. Free terminal."
– HVAC service and sales, Highland, Indiana

 

[Rhea]

Glad you figured it out! We have a chip and pin system and AMEX isn''t typically used. In any other European county we just take money out of the cash point unless we''re having a dinner out when we know that we''ll meet any minimums to use a credit card.