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American Express offers two payment plans, Pay Over Time and Pay It Plan It. If you have a former charge card, you can use Pay Over Time to carry a balance over time while it accrues interest. Pay It Plan It lets you pay off a purchase over time while it accrues no interest by making set monthly payments. Pay It applies to purchases less than $100 and Plan It is for purchases of $100 or more.
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American Express offers its cardmembers two programs that provide different ways to pay your Amex bill: Pay Over Time and Pay It Plan It.
These plans are available for select Amex cards, and each one will incur interest charges.
First, let’s break down the difference in the cards Amex offers so you know which ones may be eligible for each program. The main difference between Amex’s former charge cards and credit cards is how much you have to pay off each billing cycle compared to how much you owe:
Learn more about the differences between a charge card and a credit card here.
This feature basically turns your former charge card into a typical credit card, letting you carry a purchase balance from month to month while accruing interest. Some key things to note about the Pay Over Time program include:
Most purchases are eligible. However, the American Express terms and conditions call out a few stipulations, including:
You can set your Pay Over Time status to either active or inactive:
If you have one of these Amex cards, you may be able to use this program:
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You can log in to the Amex site or mobile app to see if your cards are eligible and what your limits and balances are:
Yes, as long as you are enrolled in the American Express Membership Rewards program (which is typically automatic), you earn points on eligible charges including those that you pay over time.
We encourage anyone using credit cards to pay off his or her balance every month to avoid paying more, so unless you’re just enrolling to get bonus points you probably shouldn’t worry about Pay Over Time.
However, if you are stretched financially one month because of an emergency, it may be worth it to avoid going into credit card debt since this may cost you less.
Pay It and Plan It are separate features that you’ll typically find together. They allow you to pay off small or large purchases over time at no interest, with a fixed monthly payment. Here are some key things to note about the program:
Amex may offer you one, two, or three plan duration options for each qualifying purchase. The payment plan duration options vary based on factors such as the purchase amount, your account history, and your creditworthiness. The Plan It program is similar to an installment plan because you pay a set amount every month over a fixed amount of time.
Here’s how you can set up Plan It:
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Amex also has a Plan It calculator on its website which allows you to plan your Plan It purchase(s), showing how much you’d pay in different situations.
Here’s an example of the calculator, and the cost of using this program for paying off a purchase.
Here’s how the plan plays out with three different options for a $500 purchase:
6-Month Plan | 12-Month Plan | 18-Month Plan | |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly payment | $87.49 | $45.85 | $31.94 |
Monthly plan fee | $4.15 | $4.18 | $4.16 |
Total plan fee | $24.90 | $50.16 | $74.88 |
Total amount paid | $524.90 | $550.16 | $574.88 |
Essentially, the longer the period of time you select to pay off the purchase, the more it will cost you in fees.
Most big purchases are eligible for the Plan It feature, as long as they cost $100 or more. You can have up to 10 active plans at once, and each plan can consist of up to 10 purchases.
You can’t use Plan It for cash advances, cash equivalents, purchases subject to foreign transaction fees, or any fee including annual membership fees.
Pay It allows you to pay off items under $100 immediately via the American Express mobile app (you must use the app, it’s not available through the Amex website).
Most American Express consumer credit cards (including co-branded credit cards) are eligible for Pay It Plan It.
Here are some of our favorite Amex credit cards:
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Prepaid cards and products, American Express corporate cards, American Express small business cards, and American Express-branded cards or account numbers issued by other financial institutions are not eligible for Pay It Plan It. Also, additional cardholders are not eligible for Pay It Plan It.
Yes, you’ll earn American Express Membership Rewards points or cash back on purchases in these plans, just like any other purchases.
Yes, you’re able to pay any amount you’d like, but you won’t be able to direct your payments to a specific plan. Any amount you pay over your card balance will automatically be directed toward your Amex plan.
If you find yourself in a bind, with some larger purchases all happening at once that you can’t pay for immediately, this could be a helpful way to finance them because the Pay It Plan It program will likely cost you less than the typical interest charges would.
Though there’s no interest, be aware of the monthly plan fee and total plan fee. Compare this to what you’d pay if you carried the balance, and go for the cheaper option.
However, it’s always best to pay off your credit card every month to avoid paying for anything more than the purchases themselves (i.e., interest).
Pay It offers an easy way to help your creditworthiness, because you’ll report a lower statement balance by immediately paying off small charges. Since one major factor impacting your credit scores is your credit usage, or credit utilization, a lower balance is pretty much always a good thing.
Make sure you pay attention to when your monthly plan payments are due so you don’t risk missing them. Set up automatic payments to ensure you’re always on time.
Some other card issuers have similar programs, including:
Check out each credit card company’s website for more information on their programs. Or, if you have a card from one of these issuers, you can log in to your online account or call the number on the back of your card to find out more.
Looking to learn more about credit and credit cards? Find more topics in the Insider Academy.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, please click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, please click here.
Ellen Sirull is a writer with over 15 years of experience, covering topics from personal finance to identity protection to credit and credit cards. Her work has been featured on CNBC, New York Daily News, Fox News, Yahoo! Finance, AOL Finance, Experian and the Identity Theft Resource Center. She enjoys spending time with her family and traveling as much as possible and is always thinking about how best to invest her own money for retirement and her family’s well-being.
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