American Express late payment fees: 5%, minimum 20 €

Late payment on a Belgian American Express card costs 5% of the amount due, with a minimum of 20 €. The fee schedule says so plainly. It does not say that the law first requires a free reminder and fourteen days' notice. Before that period ends, the penalty is not owed, and that is where a dispute is won.

How much does American Express charge for a late payment?

Five percent of the amount due. The American Express « Liste des cotisations et autres frais » (list of fees and other charges), version FFE_CONS_CH_V13, valid from 1 February 2026, sets a minimum of 20 € and a maximum of 2,000 €. It adds that « these fees are calculated in accordance with the legal provisions in force ».

Two other lines matter when a statement stays unpaid. A direct debit rejected by your bank costs 25 €. And from 90 days, American Express reserves the right to transfer the file to an external debt collection provider.

The 400 € threshold is the hidden figure in this schedule. Below it, 5% gives less than 20 €, so the minimum applies. An unpaid statement of 90 € therefore costs 20 €, more than a fifth of the amount.

The brochure does not highlight this: the same schedule calls itself « indicative (16 December 2024) » and open to change « without notice ». Read the dated version that came with your own contract.

Tariff read at the issuer on 27 October 2026, from the schedule valid from 1 February 2026. Express Cash costs 3.5% with a minimum of 4.50 €, hence 4.50 € for 100 €.

Why does the American Express card have no APR?

Because it lends nothing. Article 3.1 of the card's general terms (version GTC_AX_CONS_CH_V7) requires you to settle « the full debit balance » every month, at the latest on the due date. There is no carried balance, no borrowing rate and no minimum payment.

The legal consequence is rarely explained. Book VII of the Code of Economic Law is the Belgian consumer credit code. Its late payment regime, in article VII.106, with reminder fees of 7.50 € and a capped default interest, was written for a credit line. A card that opens none falls outside that frame. As I read it, the delay then falls under Book XIX, « Consumer debts », in force since 1 September 2023, which applies to « any late payment of a debt owed by a consumer to a business » (article XIX.1). Both books can be read in the consolidated text of the Code of Economic Law published by the Belgian Official Gazette (French-language page).

The issuer itself has changed. The current schedule is signed by American Express Europe S.A., Belgian branch, a payment institution authorised by the Bank of Spain. The older terms, still online, were those of Alpha Card SCRL, authorised by the National Bank of Belgium. How the card works in general is covered in the article on American Express in Belgium.

Does the 5% penalty comply with Belgian law?

On the amount, yes, in every case I calculated. Article XIX.4 caps the flat-rate indemnity in three bands: 20 € up to 150 € owed; 30 € plus 10% of the part between 150.01 € and 500 €; 65 € plus 5% of the part above 500 €, never exceeding 2,000 €. A clause that goes beyond these amounts is deemed unwritten.

Author's calculations, 27 October 2026, based on the V13 schedule and the text of article XIX.4 as reproduced in the commentary by lawyer David Blondeel listed in the sources.

Above 500 €, the Amex penalty stays 40 € below the ceiling, whatever the amount. Up to 150 €, it hits the ceiling exactly. The schedule has been set against the law, and that is new: the earlier version, published under the Alpha Card name, set 2.5% with a minimum of 15 €, « due cumulatively » each month for three months, and « applicable without notice ».

One point remains open. Article XIX.4 limits what the creditor can claim to default interest and a flat-rate indemnity, and states that it may claim « no other payment ». The 25 € for a rejected direct debit, added to the penalty on the same debt, therefore deserves a written question. I found no ruling that settles this combination.

When can the penalty actually be charged?

Not on the due date, despite what the schedule suggests. Article XIX.2 imposes a sequence, and the indemnity clause applies only at its end.

• A first reminder, free of charge, on paper or by email.
• That reminder states the amount owed, the amount of the future penalty, the creditor's name and company number, the origin of the debt and its due date.
• A period of at least 14 calendar days follows. It starts the day after an electronic reminder, or on the third working day after a paper reminder is sent.
• Proof that these steps were followed lies with the business, and any clause exempting it from them is void.

A sample timeline. The due date falls on a Friday, and the reminder arrives by email the following Monday. The period starts on the Tuesday. The penalty only becomes claimable on the Tuesday two weeks later: fifteen days after the reminder and eighteen days after the due date.

The sanction sits in article XIX.15. If the business does not comply with article XIX.2 or article XIX.4, the consumer is automatically released from paying the indemnity clause. The text of the reform can be read in the bill tabled in the Chamber of Representatives (French and Dutch).

In the files I handled, the date of the first reminder was the document missing most often. The cardholder disputed the amount when they should have disputed the timeline. In a late payment file, the issuer looks first at whether it can produce that reminder with its sending date.

Does the same delay cost less on a credit card?

Often, yes, and the gap is surprising. Take a 1,200 € statement that you do not pay at all for a month, on two cards.

Tariffs read at the issuer on 27 October 2026 for American Express and on 26 October 2026 for Beobank, whose APR applies to a credit line of 2,150 € with a borrowing rate of 13.98%, rate in force on 9 May 2025.

The Beobank calculation, mine and rounded, assumes a minimum payment of one eighteenth, so 66.67 € due and unpaid. Normal interest runs on the 1,200 € balance, about 14 € over a month. Default interest, at the borrowing rate plus 10%, runs only on the 66.67 €. The rules for that kind of delay are in the article on a late credit card payment.

Over twelve months, the picture is different. The credit card charges interest every month, while the American Express card charges nothing as long as the statement is paid on time. A single slip is still enough to cost more than a month of carried balance.

What happens after 90 days unpaid?

The file can leave American Express. The V13 schedule announces this without pricing any extra charge. The old Alpha Card schedule, on the other hand, set a penalty of 8% of the outstanding amount at the debt collector and collection fees of 10%, with a minimum of 100 €.

Those amounts no longer stand. Article XIX.13 forbids the debt collector from claiming any indemnity or fee from the consumer for its work. It must also check, before writing, that the sums claimed comply with article XIX.4. A letter that still adds 10% in collection fees can be disputed on that ground alone.

The rest of the procedure follows the general rules on amicable debt collection: a detailed formal notice, a 14-day period, a ban on calls and visits outside the legal frame. It is described in the article on the debt collection agency.

How do I dispute an Amex late payment penalty?

In writing, asking for the documents before arguing about the amount. Article XIX.3 obliges the business to provide without delay, on a durable medium, all the supporting documents for the debt.

1. Write to complaints.be@aexp.com, or to the American Express complaints department, 100 boulevard du Souverain, 1170 Brussels, the address given in article 24 of the general terms.
2. Ask for the date the first reminder was sent, its channel and its content.
3. Ask for the calculation of the penalty and the version of the schedule applied.
4. If the reminder is missing or the penalty fell before the 14 days ran out, rely on article XIX.15 and ask for it to be reversed.
5. If the answer does not satisfy you, go to Ombudsfin, the Belgian financial ombudsman named in the general terms (French-language page), or to the Directorate-General for Inspection and Mediation of the FPS Economy (SPF Économie).

Ombudsfin is free, and its opinion does not bind the issuer. The terms also mention the complaints service of the Bank of Spain, the supervisor of American Express Europe.

Keep one reflex in mind while the dispute runs. Article 12 of the terms applies your payments first to the transactions on the statement, then to late payment fees. A partial payment therefore leaves the penalty in place, even if you are disputing it.

In the files I handled, penalties that got reversed were almost always reversed on a question of date, rarely on a question of amount.

The full process is in the article on debt mediation.

Three points I could not verify

I do not know whether American Express systematically sends a free first reminder that complies with article XIX.2: the schedule does not say so, and no template letter is published. The schedule does not state either whether the 5% penalty repeats every month on a statement that stays unpaid; article XIX.4 speaks of a flat-rate indemnity in the singular. Finally, I could not establish whether an arrear on a card without credit is recorded at the Central Individual Credit Register (Centrale des Crédits aux Particuliers), the National Bank of Belgium's credit file.

To compare cards on what they cost, the ranking of Belgian credit cards, the comparison tool and the selection guide set out annual fee, APR and cash withdrawal side by side.

Sources, consulted on 27 October 2026. Schedule « Liste des cotisations et autres frais », FFE_CONS_CH_V13, valid from 1 February 2026: American Express. General terms, GTC_AX_CONS_CH_V7, articles 3.1, 12, 13 and 24: American Express. Older version GTC_AX_CONS_CH_V5 (Alpha Card): American Express. Books VII and XIX of the Code of Economic Law: consolidated text, Belgian Official Gazette; law of 4 May 2023, bill, Chamber of Representatives; commentary on articles XIX.2 to XIX.15 by lawyer David Blondeel, Forum for the Future. Beobank Visa Classic, annual fee, APR and withdrawal read on 26 October 2026: Beobank. Redress: Ombudsfin and the debt mediation support centre. Penalty and interest calculations: author, 27 October 2026. No link in this article is paid for.