Surprise! You Can Use Your Amex Uber Credits In Other Countries
Yes, you can use your Amex Uber credits in other countries. It came as a complete shock to me, also. These credits are supposed to be available in the US only, but Uber asked me if I wanted to pay with my credits, allowed me to use it, and it still shows correctly in the app. Here’s what I figured out by sheer dumb luck, as well as some theories about how you can use the credits outside the US.
Using My Amex Uber Credits In Ecuador
Ecuador, for those who don’t know, actually uses the US Dollar as its money. This is my main theory on why I was able to use my Amex Uber credits here. While the terms of these credits say “in the US”, Uber allowed me to use them the other day in Ecuador. And it worked on more than one ride, as well. It also worked on my wife’s account. It wasn’t a one-time fluke.
I’ve never had the option to use these credits in a foreign country before, and we were able to max out our Uber benefits. My theory is that the filter for using these is set to not work if the local currency isn’t US Dollars. Since Ecuador’s currency is US Dollars, it worked! I haven’t tried it in other countries that use the US Dollar as their currency, to be clear, so this is a limited sample. However, if you’ve got a trip to El Salvador, it might work there. (There are multiple other countries that use the US Dollar but don’t have Uber, so no luck there)
Final Thoughts
I had chalked up our Amex Uber Credits as a loss for January, so being able to use them in other countries was a nice surprise. My theory is that it only works when US Dollar is the currency for your ride in the Uber app. Thus, there’s limited use. However, any chance to use and redeem a credit, rather than letting it go to waste while being outside of the US, is a nice surprise. I hope this helps someone!
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Disappointed in significantly misleading click-bait headline.
It’s not misleading, because it’s a true statement.
what does El Salvador has to do with Ecuador (per your post)??
As mentioned, it’s another country where this may work.
On a somewhat related matter, can the value of Uber gift cards that are purchased and redeemed be used for international travel/other currencies? I would assume so b/c it’s treaded like any other payment info linked to your account but just wanted to make sure. Thanks
Matthew-Uber gift cards are restricted to where you bought them. Probably a similar “must be same currency” setting, so US-based gift cards could work in countries using US Dollars.
I don’t think that works in all countries. I was recently in Mexico and couldn’t use my Uber or Uber Eats credit at all.
Mike – as stated in the article, the credits can’t be used when the local currency isn’t dollars.
Ah sorry Ryan. I skimmed over it too quickly. Ecuador sounds like the rare case. What other countries use the US Dollar?
It’s included in the article 🙂