Choose How You Pay
with Pay Over Time1
With this easy-to-use feature, Card Members can choose if and when to carry a balance with interest, rather than paying in full each month—all while earning rewards.** It’s another way American Express gives Card Members flexibility to support their everyday life.
How Pay Over Time Works
1
Find the Card that best
fits your lifestyle
Pay Over Time is an easy-to-use feature built into select American Express Cards, so Card Members can use it when they want—all while earning rewards.
2
Make purchases
with your Card
Eligible charges will be added to your Pay Over Time balance, up to your Pay Over Time Limit. The Pay Over Time Limit is the maximum amount you can carry as a balance with interest on your Card or put into a plan, using Plan It® 2, by splitting up large purchases into monthly payments with a fixed fee. It is not a spending limit. Using Pay Over Time has no impact on how Card Members earn and redeem Membership Rewards® points.**
3
Choose how you pay
Each month, you can decide to pay your balance in full, the minimum due, or any amount in between. Any amount not paid in full will incur interest.
Understanding Pay Over Time Limit and Spending Capacity
SPENDING CAPACITY*
These Cards have no preset spending limit, a unique feature that gives you the ability to unlock more purchase power as you use your Card. This means the spending limit is flexible. In fact, unlike a traditional credit card with a set limit, the amount you can spend adapts based on factors such as your purchase, payment, and credit history.
*In a small number of cases, we may assign a specific spending limit to a Card Member’s account. This can be due to a variety of factors such as credit score, past due payments with us or other creditors, or high balances on revolving credit accounts. If a preset spending limit is placed on your account, we will notify you, tell you why, and explain how it impacts how much you can spend.
PAY OVER TIME LIMIT
The Pay Over Time Limit is the maximum amount you can carry as a balance with interest on your Card or put into a plan, using Plan It®, by splitting up large purchases into monthly payments with a fixed fee. It is not a spending limit. The Pay Over Time Limit includes your Pay Over Time balance, as well as Cash Advance and Plan It® balances. Any charges you make above the Pay Over Time Limit will be due in full each month.
Which Card is right for you?
Select a Card to learn more.
Pay Over Time – Frequently Asked Questions
Pay Over Time is easy to use. When activated, just make purchases like you normally do and eligible charges will be automatically added to your Pay Over Time balance, up to your Pay Over Time Limit. Then, you can choose whether you want to pay your balance in full or carry a balance with interest.
You won’t be charged interest on purchases added to your Pay Over Time balance when you pay your Account Total New Balance (or your Adjusted Balance, if you have any active plans) each month by the Payment Due Date.
When you activate Pay Over Time, we’ll automatically add eligible charges to your Pay Over Time balance. Activating Pay Over Time gives you the option to pay eligible charges over time, with interest. If you pay your Account Total New Balance in full by the Payment Due Date each month, you will not be charged interest on these charges. However, if at the time you activate Pay Over Time, you’re already carrying a Pay Over Time balance from your last billing period, you’ll be charged interest on new eligible charges starting from the transaction date.
You can manage your Pay Over Time setting by visiting Account Services in your online account. If your Pay Over Time feature is suspended, eligible charges will not be automatically added to your Pay Over Time balance regardless of setting.
With Pay Over Time, you have the option to pay eligible charges over time with interest. You can choose to pay your Account Total New Balance in full each month, the Minimum Payment Due, or any amount in between.
Your Pay Over Time Limit can be found in "Balance Details" on your account home page. The 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 limit applies to the total of your Pay Over Time, Cash Advance, and Plan balances. This is not a spending limit. 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.
While you may be able to spend beyond your Pay Over Time Limit, keep in mind charges that are not added to a Pay Over Time, Cash Advance, or Plan balance must be paid in full by your Payment Due Date. In the event that a charge would cause your Pay Over Time balance to exceed your Pay Over Time Limit, that charge will not be added to your Pay Over Time balance. For example, if you have a $1,000 Pay Over Time available limit and you make a $1,500 purchase on your Card, that purchase will not be added to your Pay Over Time balance. Instead, it will be due in full on your Payment Due Date.
If you have previously been notified that you have a spending limit and it is less than your Pay Over Time Limit, you may not be able to use all of your Pay Over Time Limit.
Terms and Conditions
**Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards® program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice.
The value of Membership Rewards points varies according to how you choose to use them. To learn more, go to www.membershiprewards.com/pointsinfo.
1 Pay Over Time
Eligible charges
Purchases (along with 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 balance 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.
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.