American Express Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Sarah Davis | Last updated: October 24, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Axis Intelligence Research finds that American Express card fees now pay for 58.3% of its rewards bill. In Q3 2026, Amex collected $2,969 million in net card fees against $5,090 million in Card Member rewards expense. In 2019 the same ratio was 38.7%. The Platinum refresh did not just raise a price; it moved the funding of the rewards model from merchants toward cardholders.
Quick Answer
American Express reported record revenue of $20.1 billion in Q3 2026, up 9% year over year, with net income of $3.7 billion and diluted EPS of $5.42 ($4.68 adjusted), per its October 23, 2026 Form 8-K earnings release. Amex had 155.4 million cards-in-force, processed $517.9 billion in network volume in the quarter, and wrote off 1.8% of consumer and small business balances. Axis Intelligence Research’s Membership Fee Coverage Ratio (MFCR) reached 58.3%.
Key Findings
- Axis Intelligence Research finds that American Express’s Membership Fee Coverage Ratio (MFCR), net card fees divided by Card Member rewards expense, rose to 58.3% in Q3 2026 from 38.7% in full-year 2019, a 19.6-point shift in who funds the rewards.
- Axis Intelligence Research calculates that for every $100 Card Members spent in Q3 2026, American Express earned $4.42 in revenue and paid out $1.96 in rewards, partner payments and benefits, up from $1.83 a year earlier.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds that American Express’s consumer and small business write-off rate (2.0%, Q2 2026) ran at 0.52 times the Federal Reserve’s charge-off rate on all US bank credit card loans (3.82%) in the same quarter.
- Axis Intelligence Research calculates that American Express’s 2025 worldwide billed business, $1,669.8 billion, roughly equals Mastercard’s entire US credit and charge volume of $1,666 billion for the same year.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds that Gen-Z and Millennial Card Members produced 38% of US consumer billed business in Q3 2026, and Gen-Z spending grew 35% year over year, per American Express’s Q3 2026 earnings presentation.
How Much Revenue Does American Express Make in 2026?
American Express generated $20,062 million in revenues net of interest expense in Q3 2026, up from $18,426 million a year earlier, per its Q3 2026 statistical tables. Nine-month revenue reached $58,606 million. Management reaffirmed 10% revenue growth for full-year 2026 and raised GAAP EPS guidance to $18.30–$18.60 ($17.60–$17.90 adjusted).
Full-year 2025 revenue was $72,229 million, up from $65,949 million in 2024, with net income of $10,833 million and diluted EPS of $15.38, per the Q4 2025 statistical tables.
American Express revenue by line, Q3 2026
| Revenue line | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Share of Q3 2026 revenue | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discount revenue (merchant fees) | $10,169M | $9,413M | 50.7% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Net interest income | $4,940M | $4,486M | 24.6% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Net card fees | $2,969M | $2,551M | 14.8% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Service fees and other revenue | $1,984M | $1,976M | — | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Total revenues net of interest expense | $20,062M | $18,426M | 100% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
Shares are Axis Intelligence Research calculations (line ÷ $20,062M).
Why Q3 2026 earnings per share jumped 31%
GAAP net income rose 28% to $3,712 million, but three items sit inside that number. American Express booked a $982 million pretax gain on the sale of its stake in Global Business Travel Group (GBTG), took a $336 million restructuring charge, and recorded $400 million of legal reserves, per the Q3 2026 earnings presentation. A $215 million benefit from a credit-model (CECL) update reduced the provision. Adjusted EPS of $4.68, up 13%, is the cleaner run-rate figure.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: Read the 31% as a filing artefact and the 13% as the business. The more useful line is lower down: net card fees grew 16% while discount revenue grew 8%. A company whose merchant fee line grows at the speed of spending, and whose membership fee line grows twice as fast, is repricing its customer, not its merchants. That is a choice regulators cannot cap through interchange rules.
How Many American Express Cardholders Are There?
American Express had 155.4 million cards-in-force worldwide on September 30, 2026, up from 151.2 million a year earlier. Of those, 87.5 million were proprietary cards issued by Amex itself; the rest are issued by partner banks on the Amex network. Basic cards-in-force, which exclude supplementary cards on consumer accounts, stood at 130.7 million.
“Cards-in-force” counts cards, not people. American Express does not publish a unique cardholder count; a person with a Gold card and a Delta card counts twice.
American Express cards-in-force, 2019 vs 2025 vs 2026
| Metric | FY 2019 | Q3 2025 | Q3 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total cards-in-force | 114.4M | 151.2M | 155.4M | AXP 8-K Q4 2020; AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 Q3 2026 |
| Proprietary cards-in-force | — | 86.0M | 87.5M | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Proprietary basic cards-in-force | — | 66.2M | 67.3M | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Proprietary new cards acquired (quarter) | — | 3.2M | 3.1M | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
American Express acquired 12.5 million proprietary new cards in 2025 and 9.2 million in the first nine months of 2026. In Q3 2026, 76% of new accounts (excluding corporate) were opened on fee-paying products, and 65% of global consumer new accounts came from Millennial and Gen-Z customers, per the company’s presentation.
How many cards does each American Express segment hold?
| Segment | Proprietary cards-in-force, Q3 2026 | Avg. spend per basic card, Q3 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Consumer Services (USCS) | 49.7M | $5,522 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| International Card Services (ICS) | 24.1M | $6,567 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Commercial Services (CS) | 13.7M | $9,953 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
Commercial Services cards fell from 15.4 million to 13.7 million year over year. The company attributes the drop to the sale of small business cobrand portfolios (Lowe’s, exited April 2026, and Amazon, exited August 2026). Excluding those exits, Commercial Services billed business grew 5% instead of 3%.
How Much Do American Express Card Members Spend?
The average proprietary basic Card Member spent $6,735 in Q3 2026, up 5% from $6,387 a year earlier, per the Q3 2026 statistical tables. For full-year 2025, the figure was $25,453.
Billed business, spending on cards Amex issues, totalled $454.0 billion in Q3 2026 (up 8%) and $1,669.8 billion in 2025. Network volumes, which add spending on partner-issued cards, reached $517.9 billion in the quarter and $1,897.0 billion in 2025.
Where Amex Card Members spend: travel and entertainment vs goods and services
| Category, Q3 2026 | Share of billed business | Growth (FX-adjusted) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goods & services | 71% | +7% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Travel & entertainment (total) | 29% | +10% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Restaurants | 8% | +9% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Airlines | 6% | +13% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Lodging | 6% | +6% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Other T&E | 9% | +12% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
American Express spending by generation (US consumer)
| Generation | Share of USCS billed business | Growth, Q3 2026 YoY | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gen-Z | 7% | +35% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Millennials | 31% | +11% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Gen-X | 36% | +8% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
| Baby Boomer and older | 27% | +4% | AXP Q3 2026 presentation |
Shares are company-reported and may not sum to 100% due to rounding.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: The generation table is the one investors underweight. Gen-Z is only 7% of US consumer spend, but at 35% growth it adds more spend each year than the boomer cohort’s 4% on a base nearly four times larger. Amex’s long-run discount revenue depends on whether those cardholders’ spend curves keep rising as incomes rise. Fee-paying acquisition at 76% says the company is betting they will.
What Is the Membership Fee Coverage Ratio (MFCR)?
The Membership Fee Coverage Ratio (MFCR) is an Axis Intelligence Research metric that measures how much of American Express’s rewards bill is paid for by the annual fees cardholders pay. It answers a question every Platinum and Gold cardholder eventually asks: am I paying for my own points?
MFCR = net card fees ÷ Card Member rewards expense × 100
Both inputs are reported line items in American Express’s SEC filings. Net card fees are annual membership fees, net of acquisition costs. Card Member rewards expense covers Membership Rewards points, cobrand miles and cash back.
MFCR readings, 2019–2026
| Period | Net card fees | Card Member rewards | MFCR | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2019 | $4,042M | $10,439M | 38.7% | AXP 8-K Q4 2020; Axis calculation |
| FY 2020 | $4,664M | $8,041M | 58.0% | AXP 8-K Q4 2020; Axis calculation |
| FY 2024 | $8,449M | $16,599M | 50.9% | AXP 8-K Q4 2025; Axis calculation |
| FY 2025 | $9,993M | $18,409M | 54.3% | AXP 8-K Q4 2025; Axis calculation |
| Q3 2025 | $2,551M | $4,608M | 55.4% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Axis calculation |
| Q4 2025 | $2,629M | $4,805M | 54.7% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Axis calculation |
| Q1 2026 | $2,752M | $4,891M | 56.3% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Axis calculation |
| Q2 2026 | $2,862M | $5,051M | 56.7% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Axis calculation |
| Q3 2026 | $2,969M | $5,090M | 58.3% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Axis calculation |
Worked example, Q3 2026: $2,969M ÷ $5,090M × 100 = 58.3%.
The 2020 reading is a denominator effect, not a pricing event. Travel collapsed during the pandemic, rewards expense fell 23%, and fees kept flowing. Excluding 2020, Q3 2026 is the highest reading in the series.
What is driving the MFCR higher?
Fees have simply compounded faster than rewards. Net card fees grew at 16.3% a year from 2019 to 2025; rewards expense grew at 9.9% (Axis calculations from the filings above). The average fee per proprietary card doubled, from $58 in 2019 to $117 in 2025, and reached $136 on an annualized basis in Q3 2026.
The Platinum Card is the most visible lever. Its US annual fee is now $895, per American Express’s Platinum Card page, up from $695 before the September 2025 refresh as reported by the Associated Press, a 28.8% increase. Amex says the card carries more than $3,500 a year in benefit value, including a $400 Resy dining credit and a $600 hotel credit.
The MFCR does not capture benefit costs, so here is what does
The MFCR deliberately excludes the third bucket of variable costs, Card Member services (lounges, statement credits and travel benefits), because those are what the fees are meant to fund. That line rose 36% to $2,006 million in Q3 2026, which American Express attributes primarily to the new US Platinum benefits.
Add it back, and the picture tightens. Net card fees covered 33.4% of total variable customer engagement (VCE) costs in Q3 2026, against 33.1% a year earlier (Axis calculation: $2,969M ÷ $8,891M). On the margin, every new dollar of VCE cost since Q3 2025 was matched by 35 cents of new fee revenue ($418M ÷ $1,195M).
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: The two ratios tell different stories, and both are true. Against points alone, fees are winning: 58 cents on the dollar and climbing. Against points plus the lounge and credit stack, coverage barely moved. That is the real economics of an $895 card. The fee increase pays for the new credits; it does not yet fund the rest of the rewards machine. If the MFCR keeps rising while fee coverage of total VCE stays near a third, merchants are still the main source of funding, and Amex’s discount rate remains the asset regulators would target.
What Does American Express Earn on Every $100 of Card Spending?
Axis Intelligence Research calculates that in Q3 2026 American Express earned $4.42 in revenue for every $100 of billed business, and spent $1.96 of it on rewards, partner payments and benefits. Pretax income came to $1.00 per $100.
Each line below is the reported dollar figure divided by $454.0 billion of billed business. Discount revenue and interest income are not earned exclusively on billed business, so these are unit-economics ratios, not merchant rates.
| Per $100 of billed business | Q3 2025 | Q3 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $4.38 | $4.42 | Axis calculation from AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| of which discount revenue | $2.24 | $2.24 | Axis calculation |
| of which net interest income | — | $1.09 | Axis calculation |
| of which net card fees | — | $0.65 | Axis calculation |
| Card Member rewards | $1.09 | $1.12 | Axis calculation |
| Total variable customer engagement | $1.83 | $1.96 | Axis calculation |
| Marketing | — | $0.39 | Axis calculation |
| Pretax income | — | $1.00 | Axis calculation |
Rewards consumed 50.1% of discount revenue in Q3 2026, up from 49.0% a year earlier ($5,090M ÷ $10,169M). Put simply, half of every merchant fee dollar goes back to the cardholder as points or miles before Amex pays for a single lounge.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: The discount revenue line held at $2.24 per $100 in both years. That flat number is the quiet headline. Merchant pricing did not erode, despite surcharging laws spreading state by state. What rose was engagement cost, 13 cents per $100, and revenue rose just 4 cents. Amex is running harder to stand still on unit margin, and leaning on volume, fees and lending to grow the absolute number.
Is American Express Bigger Than Visa or Mastercard?
No. American Express is the fourth-largest general-purpose card network by purchase volume, behind Visa, China UnionPay and Mastercard, according to its 2025 Form 10-K. But it plays a different game: Amex issues most of the cards on its network, so it captures the issuer, acquirer and network economics on the same transaction.
American Express vs Visa vs Mastercard, 2025
| Metric (2025) | American Express | Visa | Mastercard | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network / payments volume | $1,897.0B (network volumes) | $14.2T (payments volume, FY ended Sep 30) | $10,632B (GDV) | AXP 8-K Q4 2025; Visa FY2025 annual report; Mastercard 4Q25 release |
| Amex as % of peer volume | — | 13.4% | 17.8% | Axis calculation |
| Credit and charge volume | $1,669.8B (billed business) | — | $4,905B worldwide / $1,666B US | AXP 8-K Q4 2025; Mastercard 4Q25 release |
Definitions differ: Visa payments volume excludes cash; Mastercard gross dollar volume (GDV) includes cash and debit; Visa’s fiscal year ends September 30.
On credit and charge cards alone, the gap narrows sharply. American Express billed business equalled 34.0% of Mastercard’s worldwide credit and charge volume in 2025, and 100.2% of Mastercard’s US credit and charge volume (Axis calculations). For the US four-brand share data, see our Visa statistics and Mastercard statistics pages.
How many merchants accept American Express?
American Express says its cards were accepted at more than 190 million merchant locations worldwide as of July 2026, including an estimated 80 million in China and Brazil, much of it through digital wallets. The company says acceptance outside the US has more than doubled over the past four years. Partner banks issued 66.2 million Amex-branded cards at end-2025, with $227.2 billion of processed volume.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: The Mastercard comparison is the one to keep. A single issuer moving as much credit and charge volume worldwide as Mastercard’s entire US credit book is the cleanest illustration of the closed-loop model. The acceptance figure deserves a footnote: “locations in force” includes wallet-based and payment-facilitator acceptance, so coverage on paper and the “do you take Amex?” moment at the till are still two different numbers.
How Risky Is American Express Credit? Write-Offs vs the Industry
American Express wrote off 1.8% of its consumer and small business card balances (principal only) in Q3 2026, down from 1.9% a year earlier. 30-day delinquency held at 1.2%. Total provisions for credit losses fell to $985 million from $1,287 million, helped by a $211 million reserve release.
American Express write-off rate vs Federal Reserve industry charge-off rate
| Quarter | Amex net write-off rate (consumer + small business, principal) | Fed charge-off rate, all US bank credit cards (SA) | Amex ÷ industry | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2025 | 1.9% | 4.18% | 0.45 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Federal Reserve; Axis calculation |
| Q4 2025 | 2.1% | 4.09% | 0.51 | Same |
| Q1 2026 | 2.0% | 3.82% | 0.52 | Same |
| Q2 2026 | 2.0% | 3.82% | 0.52 | Same |
| Q3 2026 | 1.8% | not yet published | — | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
The two rates are not built identically. Amex’s figure covers consumer and small business balances and principal only; the Fed’s covers credit card loans at all US commercial banks, a population that includes Amex’s own bank. Even so, the gap is wide and stable: 1.82 percentage points in Q2 2026.
Pay-in-full charge balances, which cannot revolve, made up 28.5% of Amex card balances in Q3 2026 ($63,054M of $221,074M, Axis calculation). That share is a structural cushion most bank card books do not have.
Sarah Davis, Digital Finance: Half the industry loss rate is the payoff from charging $895 for a card. The fee filters the applicant pool before underwriting does. The risk is concentration, not quality: the Delta cobrand alone is 21% of worldwide Card Member loans per the 10-K. A downturn in premium travel would hit spend, fees and lending at once in a way a diversified bank card book would not feel as sharply.
Which American Express Segment Makes the Most Money?
U.S. Consumer Services (USCS) produced half of American Express revenue and the largest pretax profit in Q3 2026. Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS) is the smallest by revenue but the most profitable per dollar.
| Segment | Revenue Q3 2026 | Revenue Q3 2025 | Pretax income Q3 2026 | Pretax margin | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Consumer Services | $9,840M | $8,856M | $2,295M | 23.3% | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2; Axis calculation |
| Commercial Services | $4,553M | $4,281M | $1,029M | 22.6% | Same |
| International Card Services | $3,682M | $3,336M | $432M | 11.7% | Same |
| Global Merchant & Network Services | $2,082M | $1,972M | $1,082M | 52.0% | Same |
USCS pretax income rose 24% year over year, while Commercial Services slipped from $1,090M and International from $441M. International billed business has grown at double digits for 22 consecutive quarters, at 11% FX-adjusted in Q3 2026, but the segment’s margin is half that of USCS as Amex spends to build scale abroad.
How Profitable Is American Express? Returns, Capital and Employees
American Express earned a 42.4% return on average equity in Q3 2026 (38.0% year to date), held a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio of 10.9%, and returned $2.2 billion to shareholders in the quarter: $1.6 billion in buybacks and $0.6 billion in dividends. The quarterly dividend is $0.95 per share. Shares outstanding fell to 671 million.
| Balance sheet and people, latest | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | $310,275M | Sep 30, 2026 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Customer deposits | $155,019M | Sep 30, 2026 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Total card balances and other loans | $233,153M | Sep 30, 2026 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Net interest yield | 8.5% | Q3 2026 | AXP 8-K Ex. 99.2 |
| Employees (colleagues) | 76,800 (25,900 in the US) | Dec 31, 2025 | AXP 10-K 2025 |
| Revenue per employee | $940,482 | FY 2025 | Axis calculation ($72,229M ÷ 76,800) |
For how Amex’s capital return compares with other S&P 500 companies, see our stock buyback statistics and dividend statistics.
Is American Express Customer Satisfaction Really No. 1?
Yes, by the most-cited industry benchmark. American Express ranked highest among US credit card issuers in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study for a seventh consecutive year, with a score of 668 on a 1,000-point scale, ahead of Chase (635) and Bank of America (630). The Platinum Card scored 720 among bank rewards cards with an annual fee. The study drew 40,386 responses fielded from June 2025 to May 2026. American Express confirms the ranking in its Q3 2026 earnings release.
That result came during the study window in which the Platinum fee rose to $895, which suggests the premium segment absorbed the increase.
Methodology
Collection. Every figure on this page was taken from a document opened and read on October 24, 2026. American Express figures come from its SEC filings: the Q3 2026 Form 8-K earnings release and statistical tables (filed October 23, 2026), the Q4 2025 and Q4 2020 statistical tables, and the 2025 Form 10-K, plus the Q3 2026 earnings presentation and the US Platinum Card product page. Industry comparisons come from the Federal Reserve Board’s charge-off release (updated August 25, 2026), Visa’s fiscal 2025 annual report and Mastercard’s full-year 2025 earnings release. J.D. Power figures were read from the study press release text as distributed by newswire, because jdpower.com blocked automated retrieval; the ranking itself is also confirmed in American Express’s own filing. The pre-refresh $695 Platinum fee is reported by the Associated Press. All company figures are company-reported.
Formulas.
- Membership Fee Coverage Ratio (MFCR) = net card fees ÷ Card Member rewards expense × 100, per period, both in US dollars as reported.
- Fee coverage of VCE = net card fees ÷ (rewards + business development + Card Member services) × 100.
- Per-$100 economics = reported line item ÷ billed business × 100 for the same quarter.
- Credit ratio = Amex principal-only consumer and small business net write-off rate ÷ Fed all-bank credit card charge-off rate, same calendar quarter.
- Network scale ratios = Amex network volumes or billed business ÷ peer volume, nearest comparable annual period.
- CAGR = (end ÷ start)^(1/years) − 1.
All calculations were run in Python with exact rational arithmetic and rounded only at the end.
Scope notes. Beginning in Q1 2026, American Express reports loans and receivables combined as “card balances”; prior periods were restated by the company, and we use the restated figures. The 2019 figures predate the company’s 2024 segment reorganization and are used only at the consolidated level. The Fed comparison mixes an issuer-level and an all-bank measure; read it as an order of magnitude.
About This Dataset
- File:
american-express-statistics.csv, UTF-8, one observation per row, 297 rows. - Columns: metric_id, metric, value, unit, as_of_date, period, geography, segment, source_org, source_document, source_url, retrieved_date, is_primary, axis_calculated, method_note.
- Coverage: FY 2019, FY 2020, FY 2024, FY 2025 and each quarter from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026; Visa FY 2025, Mastercard FY 2025, Federal Reserve Q3 2025–Q2 2026.
- Axis metrics: every MFCR reading and every derived ratio carries
axis_calculated = yeswith its inputs inmethod_note. - Creator and license: Axis Intelligence Research, CC BY 4.0. Free to reuse with attribution: “Axis Intelligence Research, American Express Statistics 2026, 2026.”
- Mirrors: Hugging Face, Kaggle and GitHub (Axis Intelligence Research organization).
How to Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research, & Davis, S. (2026, October 24). American Express statistics 2026: Cardholders, spending, revenue and the fee math behind the $895 Platinum. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/american-express-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and Sarah Davis. “American Express Statistics 2026: Cardholders, Spending, Revenue and the Fee Math Behind the $895 Platinum.” Axis Intelligence, 24 Oct. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/american-express-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research and Sarah Davis. “American Express Statistics 2026: Cardholders, Spending, Revenue and the Fee Math Behind the $895 Platinum.” Axis Intelligence, October 24, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/american-express-statistics/.
FAQ: American Express Cards, Fees and Numbers
Do American Express annual fees cover the cost of the rewards?
Not fully, but more than ever. In Q3 2026, net card fees of $2,969 million covered 58.3% of the $5,090 million rewards bill, the Axis Intelligence Research Membership Fee Coverage Ratio (MFCR). In 2019 they covered 38.7%. Merchants still fund the rest through discount revenue.
Why is the Amex Platinum Card $895 a year?
American Express raised the US Platinum fee from $695 to $895 at its September 2025 refresh and says the card now carries more than $3,500 in annual benefits, including a $400 Resy credit and a $600 hotel credit. Card Member services costs rose 36% in Q3 2026 on those benefits, per the company.
How much does the average American Express cardholder spend a year?
The average proprietary basic Card Member spent $25,453 in 2025 and $6,735 in Q3 2026, per American Express’s filings. Commercial cards average much more: $9,953 per card in Q3 2026, against $5,522 for US consumer cards.
Is American Express a bank?
Yes. American Express Company is a bank holding company supervised by the Federal Reserve, and its US bank, American Express National Bank, held $155.0 billion in customer deposits on September 30, 2026. It is also a card network and a merchant acquirer.
Do American Express cardholders default less than other card users?
Yes, by a wide margin. Amex wrote off 2.0% of consumer and small business balances in Q2 2026, while the Federal Reserve’s charge-off rate on all US bank credit card loans was 3.82%, a ratio of 0.52 (Axis calculation). The measures differ in scope, so treat the gap as directional.
Why do some stores not accept American Express?
Historically because Amex charged merchants more than Visa or Mastercard. Amex now reports acceptance at more than 190 million merchant locations worldwide (July 2026), but that count includes digital-wallet and payment-facilitator acceptance, so acceptance at a specific till can still vary.
Is Gen Z really using American Express?
Yes, and fast. Gen-Z Card Members’ US consumer spending grew 35% year over year in Q3 2026, and Millennials and Gen-Z together made up 65% of new global consumer accounts and 38% of US consumer billed business, per the Q3 2026 earnings presentation.
How big is the Delta partnership for American Express?
Large enough to be a named risk. The Delta cobrand portfolio represented about 13% of worldwide billed business and 21% of worldwide Card Member loans at end-2025, and the current agreement runs through 2029, per American Express’s 2025 Form 10-K.