Life is unpredictable. Whether you’re creating a home office space or stocking up on essentials, find out how Pay It®1, Plan It®2, and Pay Over Time3 give you flexibility you need when it comes to paying your bill – all while earning rewards.
Which Card is right for you? Select a Card to learn more.
Explore Your Payment Options
Split up large purchases into monthly payments with a fixed fee, up to your Pay Over Time Limit. Plus, you’ll always know upfront exactly how much you’ll pay each month.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
Choose up to 10 purchases of $100 or more to combine into a plan in your online account, or select one purchase if using the American Express® App.‡
Select the length of your plan. There are up to three plan duration options to choose from.*
Make monthly payments. Your monthly plan payment will automatically be included in your Minimum Payment Due each month.
Manage your everyday expenses by quickly paying small purchase amounts and still earn rewards.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
• Pay It lets you make small payments under $100 throughout the month in the American Express App.‡ Plus, still earn points on your Card.
You can carry a balance with interest, up to your Pay Over Time Limit.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
Make purchases like you normally do. When you use your Card, eligible charges are automatically placed into your Pay Over Time balance, up to your Pay Over Time Limit.
Choose how you pay. When it’s time to pay your bill, you can pay your balance in full, the minimum due, or any amount in between.
Whether you’re looking to...
Choose a payment option that backs you and your lifestyle.
Pay Over Time Limit
There is a limit to the total amount that you can carry as a balance or put in a plan with Plan It. This is called your Pay Over Time Limit. But, it is not a spending limit. So, you may be able to spend beyond your limit while still earning rewards - you’ll just need to pay for any new purchases in full when your bill is due.
Watch This Video to Explore These Options
Frequently Asked Questions
These payment options are available on all Consumer Green, Gold and Platinum Card Accounts.
Your Pay Over Time Limit is the total amount that you can carry as a balance with interest or move into a Plan with a fixed monthly fee. This is not a spending limit.
No. Unlike the Credit Limit on a traditional credit card, the Pay Over Time Limit is not a spending limit, but is the limit on the total amount that you can carry as a balance with interest or move into a Plan with a fixed monthly fee. You may be able to keep spending beyond your Pay Over Time Limit – you’ll just need to pay for any new purchases in full when your bill is due.
Pay Over Time and Plan It both provide added payment flexibility by allowing you to pay for eligible purchases over time, up to your Pay Over Time Limit. You can choose to use Pay Over Time, Plan It, or both depending on which option works best for you and your budget.
• With Pay Over Time you’ll pay for eligible purchases over time with interest. You might consider using this option when you need payment flexibility, without a predetermined timeframe to fully repay your balance.
• With Plan It you can split up large purchases into monthly payments with a fixed fee. This option may be best when you want the added structure of knowing upfront exactly when you’ll pay off large purchase amounts and how much it will cost.
• With both options, you’ll need to pay at least your Minimum Due each month when your bill is due.
You can plan purchases of $100 or more except for purchases of cash or cash equivalents, purchases subject to foreign transaction fees, or any fee owed to us including Annual Membership Fees. Qualifying purchases include recent purchases posted to your account and purchases shown on your most recent billing statement.
Purchases (including any associated foreign transaction fees) and Annual Membership Fees are eligible.
The plan fee is a fixed fee you’ll pay each month when you have an outstanding balance in a plan. The monthly plan fee is part of your monthly plan payment which is automatically included in the Minimum Payment Due each month.
* You will be offered 1–3 plan duration options. The plan duration options can vary based on a variety of factors such as the purchase amount, your account history, and your creditworthiness. If you are enrolled in an intro or promotional APR, you may see limited plan duration options during the intro or promotional period when you use Plan It on your account.
1 Pay It
Pay It® is only available in the American Express App® for your eligible Account. With the Pay It feature, you can make a payment equal to the amount of a billed purchase less than $100. Payments made with Pay It are not applied to that billed purchase but to your outstanding balance in accordance with how we apply payments.
Your Account is eligible for Pay It if you are a Basic Card Member or Additional Card Member of a Card account issued by a U.S. banking subsidiary of American Express that is not canceled, excluding Accounts that do not have either a Credit Limit or the Pay Over Time feature. 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.
2 Plan It
With Plan It®, you can create up to 10 active payment plans, each subject to a plan fee. The plan fee is a fixed finance charge that will be charged each month that the corresponding plan is active. You will be offered 1-3 plan duration options for the qualifying purchase. The plan duration options can vary based on a variety of factors such as the purchase amount, your Account history and your creditworthiness. If you are enrolled in an intro or promotional APR, you may see limited plan duration options during the intro or promotional period when you use Plan It on your Account. If you create a plan during an introductory or promotional APR period, your plan fee will be based on the introductory or promotional APR as long as the plan is created before 11:59pm MST on the last day of the introductory or promotional period.
To create a plan, select qualifying purchases of $100 or more and a plan duration. If you have a Card with a Credit Limit, you may also be able to select a qualifying amount of $100 or more and a plan duration. When creating a plan for purchases, you may select up to 10 qualifying purchases for each plan that you create in your American Express online Account. However, you may select only one qualifying purchase for each plan that you create in the American Express App. Qualifying purchases will be identified in your American Express online Account and American Express App. Qualifying purchases (or a qualifying amount, if you have a Card with a Credit Limit) do not include purchases of cash or cash equivalents, balance transfers (if offered), purchases subject to Foreign Transaction Fees, or any fee owed to us, including Annual Membership fees. Unless you are creating a plan at checkout, please allow 2-3 days for your purchase to post to your Account. Once your purchase posts and is no longer pending, you can create a plan for that purchase.
Your ability to create plans will be based on a variety of factors such as your creditworthiness, and your Credit Limit or Pay Over Time Limit, as applicable. The Pay Over Time Limit applies to the total of your Pay Over Time, Cash Advance, and Plan balances. You may not be able to create a plan if it would cause you to exceed your Pay Over Time Limit or cause your Plan balance to exceed 95% of your Account Total New Balance on your last billing statement. You will not be able to create plans if your Pay Over Time feature is suspended or your Account is canceled. You will also not be able to create plans if one or more of your American Express Accounts is enrolled in a payment program, has a payment that is returned unpaid, or is past due. The number and length of plan duration options offered to you, the number of active plans you can have at a time, and your ability to include multiple qualifying purchases in a single plan, will be at our discretion and will be based on a variety of factors such as your creditworthiness, the purchase amount(s), and your Account history. After a plan is paid in full, it will be removed from your Account in the next billing period.
Plan It is available on Card Accounts issued by a U.S. banking subsidiary of American Express, excluding Accounts that do not have either a Credit Limit or the Pay Over Time feature. Only the Basic Card Member or Authorized Account Managers on the Account can create a plan. 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.
3 Pay Over Time
Purchases (including any associated foreign transaction fees) and Annual Membership Fees are eligible. The following types of charges are ineligible for Pay Over Time: Cash Advances, including cash and other cash equivalents, certain insurance premiums, and any other fees owed to American Express.
Pay Over Time
The Pay Over Time feature on your account has two settings: Active and Inactive. At Account opening, the Pay Over Time feature on your Account is set to Active. This means all eligible charges made on your account will automatically be added to your Pay Over Time balance. If the Pay Over Time feature is active at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on the transaction date provided by the merchant or on the date when an eligible Annual Membership Fee is charged to your Account, then we will automatically add the charge to your Pay Over Time balance. The transaction date provided by the merchant may differ from the date you made the purchase if, for example, there is a delay in the merchant submitting the transaction to us or if the merchant uses the shipping date as the transaction date. If the Pay Over Time feature is inactive at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, no new charges will be automatically added to your Pay Over Time balance. To view or change your Pay Over Time setting, visit your online account or call the number on the back of your Card.
Pay Over Time Limit
We assign a Pay Over Time Limit to your Account. The Pay Over Time Limit applies to the total of your Pay Over Time, Cash Advance, and Plan balances. Your Pay Over Time balance cannot exceed your Pay Over Time Limit. When there is a delay in posting cash advances or plans to your Account, the total of your Pay Over Time, Cash Advance, and Plan balances may exceed your Pay Over Time Limit. We may approve or decline a charge regardless of whether your card account balance exceeds or does not exceed your Pay Over Time Limit. This is not a spending limit. You must pay at least the Minimum Payment Due by the Payment Due Date each month. The Minimum Payment Due includes all charges that were not added to a Pay Over Time and/or Cash Advance or Plan balance plus a portion of your Pay Over Time and/or Cash Advance balance, any interest accrued, and any Plan Payment Due.
Interest on Your Pay Over Time Balance(s)
For charges added automatically to a Pay Over Time balance, we will charge interest beginning on the date of each charge. We will not charge interest on charges automatically added to your Pay Over Time balances if you pay the Account Total New Balance by the Payment Due Date each month. You must pay in full, by the Payment Due Date, all charges that are not added to a Pay Over Time, Cash Advance, or Plan balance. We will begin charging interest on cash advances on the transaction date.
‡ American Express App
The American Express® App and app features are available only for eligible Card accounts in the United States. American Express® prepaid Cards and Cards issued by non-American Express issuers are not eligible. To log in, Card Members must have an American Express user ID and password or create one in the app.iOS and Android only. See app store listings for operating system info. Apple, the Apple logo, and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used under license. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Android, Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.