What Is Amex Pay Over Time, And Should You Enroll?

Amexs Pay over Time feature is not something I recommend, but it could still be worth signing-up for. Let me explain.What is Amex Pay Over time?Credit card companies generally make money by charging people to finance charges. Avoid financing charges as much as possible. You'll often pay a very high interest rate.American Express's cards are not all credit cards. Some are hybrid cards. They used to be called charge cards. These cards require that you pay your entire balance each month.This is unless you sign up for Amexs Pay Over Time. You have the option to take longer time to pay your purchases. You can place purchases into a Pay Over Time account. The balance can then be paid off over a longer period of time. This means that you don't have to pay the entire balance at the end. You will pay interest.What Amex cards can be used to pay over time?American Express credit card purchases are automatically eligible to finance, so you don't need the Pay Over Time feature. Pay Over Time is available for select hybrid American Express cards.Amex Pay over Time: Why you shouldn'tAvoid Amexs Pay over Time feature if you can.Rewards cards will be most valuable if you pay the balance in full each billing cycle. This is because you are not financing any charges. The interest rate that you pay will usually outweigh any rewards you receive.There are cards that offer 0% intro APR if you absolutely have to finance card charges.Amex Pay Over Time: Why you might want to enrollAmerican Express offers incentives to enroll in the Pay Over Time program. You may find an incentive to sign-up for Pay Over Time by keeping an eye on American Express's mail and email. Yesterday, I got one of these mails. It offered 20,000 Membership Rewards points as a bonus for signing up. (I value Amex points at just 1.7 cents per, so that's about $340 in value).This is an amazing deal. There's no cost to activate Pay Over Time and you don't have to actually use it to get the 20,000 points. You can continue to pay your bill each billing cycle, as you probably did before.These offers are worth looking out for. These offers may sound too good to true. However, it is not. Who doesn't want 20,000 points for nothing?These offers will be sent to you directly. However, you can check this link to find out if you are eligible. To see if you qualify for enrollment bonuses, switch to each hybrid Amex card profile.Bottom lineThe Amexs Pay over Time feature lets you finance hybrid cards' charges for a longer period of time. This is a great option for those who have not been approved for financing in the past. Avoid financing cards because the interest rates on these cards can be very high, with the exception of some 0% intro APR deals.If you are eligible for a promotion, it might be worth signing up in Amex Pay Over Time. Enrollment offers for Membership Rewards points as high as 20,000 are not uncommon. This is a lot to get for free. You don't need to use Pay Over Time. If you pay your charges in full you won't be charged any.Are you familiar with Amexs Pay Over Time?