American Express Is the Most Trusted Credit Card Issuer. Here's Why

Trust is an important factor when choosing a credit card issuer. You want one that you can count on for customer service, to have your back if you need to dispute a transaction, and to provide all the benefits it advertises.

American Express is the most trusted card issuer, according to a recent credit card study by The Ascent. An impressive 86% of Americans said they found American Express to be trustworthy. Next on the list, in terms of trustworthiness, were Capital One (84%), Chase (82%), and Discover (81%).

This doesn't come as a surprise, as American Express has a great reputation among consumers. If you're considering applying for any American Express cards, here's what makes this card issuer special.

It consistently ranks No. 1 in customer satisfaction

American Express was the top card issuer in the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. It scored 848 on a 1,000-point scale, 34 points above the average for national card issuers.

What's most impressive is how American Express has consistently provided excellent customer service. J.D. Power has been doing its credit card satisfaction surveys for 16 years. American Express has been first in 12 of them.

No one wants to contact their credit card's customer service department, but if you need to, you hope for the experience to go as smoothly as possible. That's one of the benefits of having an American Express card. There are multiple ways to get in touch with customer service, including by phone and live chat. Wait times are usually short, and representatives are good at resolving your issue so you don't need to keep calling back.

American Express offers its own purchase and travel protections

Many American Express cards offer complimentary protections on eligible purchases. Examples include:

• Purchase protection
• Return protection
• Extended warranty
• Travel insurance

At first, this might seem like no big deal. Lots of credit cards from other card issuers offer these kinds of protections, too. But there's one huge advantage to getting these protections through American Express.

American Express provides these benefits and handles claims itself. Other card issuers provide these benefits through third-party companies.

The result is that the claims process tends to be a lot easier with American Express. Many consumers have reported online that they've had much better experiences filing claims with American Express. Specifically, they say that there's less back and forth required, and that American Express is more likely to approve claims.

American Express handles disputes itself

Another notable difference between American Express and most other card issuers is that it's also a payment network. Chase and Capital One, for example, are strictly card issuers. Their cards are on the Visa and Mastercard payment networks. American Express, on the other hand, issues cards and processes payments.

This can be helpful if you need to dispute a credit card transaction. If you have a Chase Visa card, you'd need to file a dispute with Chase. Chase then passes that information on to Visa, the payment network, which handles the dispute and decides whether to side with you or the merchant.

If you have an American Express card, it's much different. You file your dispute with American Express, and American Express decides whether to side with you or the merchant. You get to provide your evidence directly to the payment network, instead of providing it to the card issuer. This doesn't necessarily mean you're more likely to win a dispute with American Express, but it doesn't hurt.

In addition to being the most trusted card issuer, American Express also has one of the best credit card lineups. It offers excellent rewards credit cards, and plenty of travel cards, including several with popular airlines and hotels. You have plenty of card options with American Express, and if you get one, you can expect a high level of service.