AMEX Split-It Pilot

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

For those that don't see the point, you obviously don't eat out in large groups for special occasions much. Most restaurants will not split a check if the party is large enough or you have to push it hard. On top of that. Trying to get everyone to pay their bill so we can leave is a task. I pay for the bill, we settle up later. This will allow me to just invoice them. And just because they're invoiced, doesn't mean they have to pay right away. They can take a month to pay it if they needed to.

[wasCB14]

@Remedios "Do you ever eat out with other people? Most use cash or debit cards. Last time I checked, no Amex M&Ms on cash or debit. "

Would those people need PayPal or Venmo accounts to participate in this feature?

The few cash users I know favor cash for its simplicity...and/or the lack of a paper trail. I have a hard time seeing them willing to bother with an invoice.

[iced]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

For those that don't see the point, you obviously don't eat out in large groups for special occasions much. Most restaurants will not split a check if the party is large enough or you have to push it hard. On top of that. Trying to get everyone to pay their bill so we can leave is a task. I pay for the bill, we settle up later. This will allow me to just invoice them. And just because they're invoiced, doesn't mean they have to pay right away. They can take a month to pay it if they needed to.

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Not quite. I do eat out white a bit, including with large groups and the wait staff don't split the check. It's quite typical for us to "split" a check evenly across party members where one person pays for everyone and the rest toss in cash, or we rotate who buys dinner next time so we all eventually work out even in the end. And, since I have math skills greater than or equal to a third-grade education, I don't need an app to tell me how much each person owes me.

I will say the ability to directly charge someone can be useful for no other reason than to automate their ability to submit payment electronically back to me without me having to manually request it, but I suspect with this I'm still punching in information like that person's email address and such so AmEx knows where to send the invoices, so that automation is largely undermined. In the time it takes me to do that, I can have collected a few Jacksons each from person A and C, and a free dinner at a later time from person B and D. Heck, I've often done this as a replacement for hitting the ATM.

Mildly interesting additional feature that might get the very occasional use? Sure. It doesn't add any value, but it doesn't take any away, either.

[wasCB14]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

For those that don't see the point, you obviously don't eat out in large groups for special occasions much. Most restaurants will not split a check if the party is large enough or you have to push it hard. On top of that. Trying to get everyone to pay their bill so we can leave is a task. I pay for the bill, we settle up later. This will allow me to just invoice them. And just because they're invoiced, doesn't mean they have to pay right away. They can take a month to pay it if they needed to.

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Though you may need to deal with people's faulty memories, arguments over who had how much of a shared appetizer, whether an item was received or billed in error, etc.

[Remedios]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

@Remedios"Do you ever eat out with other people? Most use cash or debit cards. Last time I checked, no Amex M&Ms on cash or debit. "

Would those people need PayPal or Venmo accounts to participate in this feature?

The few cash users I know favor cash for its simplicity...and/or the lack of a paper trail. I have a hard time seeing them willing to bother with an invoice.

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I dont like Amex, so no amex cards for me, but I certainly have PayPay account. So, should we happen to have a dinner, this feature would be to your benefit, not mine  

[NRB525]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

For those that don't see the point, you obviously don't eat out in large groups for special occasions much. Most restaurants will not split a check if the party is large enough or you have to push it hard. On top of that. Trying to get everyone to pay their bill so we can leave is a task. I pay for the bill, we settle up later. This will allow me to just invoice them. And just because they're invoiced, doesn't mean they have to pay right away. They can take a month to pay it if they needed to.

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This.  I was able to look at other charges, and not just dining, to Split-It for what looks like anything. 

I get that many here won't see the feature as useful, but that's not necessary for the technology to be notable. By adding this feature, AMEX takes another step in being just a little more innovative than other banks.  Fact is, there are quite a few users of Venmo and PayPal for this sort of cost splitting already.  Those users are just exchanging cash in the current methods. They won't be perturbed by having the group member with an AMEX initiating the request. Heck, the group doesn't have to know the other users' payment method at all.  

Congrats to all those who won't ever use Split-It.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@NRB525 wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

For those that don't see the point, you obviously don't eat out in large groups for special occasions much. Most restaurants will not split a check if the party is large enough or you have to push it hard. On top of that. Trying to get everyone to pay their bill so we can leave is a task. I pay for the bill, we settle up later. This will allow me to just invoice them. And just because they're invoiced, doesn't mean they have to pay right away. They can take a month to pay it if they needed to.

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This.  I was able to look at other charges, and not just dining, to Split-It for what looks like anything. 

I get that many here won't see the feature as useful, but that's not necessary for the technology to be notable. By adding this feature, AMEX takes another step in being just a little more innovative than other banks.  Fact is, there are quite a few users of Venmo and PayPal for this sort of cost splitting already.  Those users are just exchanging cash in the current methods. They won't be perturbed by having the group member with an AMEX initiating the request. Heck, the group doesn't have to know the other users' payment method at all.  

Congrats to all those who won't ever use Split-It.

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Indeed. Hate to break it to everyone, but this is a feature people want. If I go somewhere with people that are tech savvy or younger, it's extremely common to venmo someone else. Almost nobody carries cash anymore so it's an easy way to split the tab and I don't have to go into the PayPal or venmo app. I just simply do it whenever I log into Amex while I do my normal stuff.

[randomguy1]

^^ same.

All my friends have cc’s with rewards and if a restaurant is being fussy about splitting the check, we put it on one card and Venmo each other. It’s very rare I find a friend without Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle.