Here’s How Amex’s App Split Feature Works

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If you’ve ever gone out to dinner with a group of friends, you’re aware of that awkward moment when the check arrives and everyone tries to figure out what they owe and how to pay. American Express has a feature to make splitting checks easier: Send & Split, which lets you use the Split It feature to split transactions and request payment from your friends. Like its peers, Venmo and Cash App, Split It is a peer-to-peer (also known as person-to-person, or P2P) payment system that is meant to help you accept money electronically.

Here’s what it does and how it works.

What Are P2P Payments?

Before you can use the American Express Split It feature, you need to understand the basics behind P2P payments. P2P simply means that you are paying a person (as opposed to a company) directly from your bank account or credit card. If you have ever bought an item on eBay you probably have used P2P, perhaps without realizing it.

PayPal is the largest player in the P2P marketplace, owning Venmo in addition to the namesake brand. Other popular P2P platforms include Zelle (owned by a group of large banks), Cash App (owned by Square) and Xoom, which is more popular overseas than in the United States. Apple Pay and Google Pay also have P2P features that are expected to grow larger as the companies pour more resources into them.

The rate of P2P platform users has grown rapidly and is expected to skyrocket, with the most growth by Millennials and Generation Z. College students (and their parents) now use “Venmo” as a verb, as in, “Can you Venmo me $100 for groceries?”

In some ways, American Express is late to the P2P party. The Split It feature launched in October 2019. American Express then announced further enhancements to Split It in September 2020. When they upgraded Split It, users had to re-enroll in the new version of the program according to American Express.

What You Need to Use the American Express Split It Feature

The American Express Split It is only available via the American Express App. The platform is not available on desktop or via the American Express mobile website. The American Express App is available on the Apple App Store  (supporting iOS version 15.2 or later) or the Google Play Store (supporting Android 6.0 or later).

Split It is only compatible with Venmo or PayPal, so if you use Zelle or another provider you are out of luck. That could be a deal-breaker for many people because Zelle is owned by the banks and you might prefer keeping your data in one basket.

In addition, the service only works with PayPal personal accounts, not business accounts. The app will stop you if you attempt to link a PayPal log-in attached to a business account.

And obviously, you will need an American Express Card to use the American Express Split App Feature. This card must be a personal card and not a corporate or small business account. In addition, prepaid cards are not eligible. This includes reloadable prepaid cards such as Bluebird or Serve. The account must also be based in the United States.

Forbes Advisor has ranked the best American Express cards for people in different circumstances. These include The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms Apply), the American Express® Gold Card (Terms Apply), the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (Terms Apply), and the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card* (Terms Apply). Split It will work with any of these cards.

How the American Express Split It Feature Works

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The first step in using the American Express Split It platform is to install the American Express App on your phone. In order to use it, you will need to have created an online account. You will use the same login that you use on American Express’ website.

The next step will be to link your PayPal or Venmo account to American Express by going to your Account, then Payment Tools, where you will find the Send & Split: Venmo/Paypal option. Be sure that if you use PayPal that you are using a personal account. Once they are linked you will see a prompt letting you know the link was successful.

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Once you’ve successfully linked your accounts, you can go back to the Split It prompt. When you select “Split Purchases”, your list of transactions will populate on your app. You then select the one you wish to split. Here’s an example using an iTunes purchase.

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When you select the “Split It” within the transaction, you will get a prompt to split up the transaction as you wish. You can split each transaction with up to 20 people, and each person can be charged a different amount if necessary. This would come in handy, for example, at a restaurant where part of the party shared a bottle of wine but others at the table didn’t drink. Note that you can also customize an extra percentage, which is handy if you are at a restaurant and want to include the tip.

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After you complete the request, you can track your payments within the app.

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The tracking function would be especially useful if you have a large number of payments coming in from the same transaction. It is easy to see who has and who hasn’t paid their share yet. With a large purchase, such as a vacation rental, keeping track at a glance could be very useful.

From the other side, the transaction looks exactly like any other notification from Venmo or PayPal. During our tests, the bill requests came within a minute and the payments were posted to the American Express app just as quickly. Be sure to remember that the payment is NOT going to your American Express card, but to the PayPal or Venmo account you registered with the card. You still need to pay the credit card bill yourself.

The person who is paying you does not pay a service fee if they are paying from either an existing balance or directly through their bank account. However, that definitely doesn’t fit a lot of situations where you want to split payments. A possible downside for people paying the bill is that credit card transactions on both Venmo and PayPal are charged a 3% fee.

In a case where everyone wants to use their card, you might all be better off splitting the bill at the time of payment instead of using American Express Split It or another P2P service. Splitting checks among a large party might not thrill your waiter when it’s time to pay, but it will save everyone at the table the service fee.

A Word of Caution

Electronic P2P payment systems add another outlet that is vulnerable to sharing your financial information. Venmo actually lists its social feed as a selling point, which may or may not appeal to you. You can adjust the privacy settings, but the fact that public display is the default setting is definitely concerning to anyone who wants to keep their records private.

In addition to privacy, account security can also be breached when you add another layer to your payments. One way to up the security on P2P platforms is to fund your P2P account with a second PayPal account or a Venmo account attached to a bank that is not the one you use every day.  By doing so, you can assure that your accounts aren’t wiped out if your P2P provider is hacked.

And of course there’s always a risk that you won’t get paid when you use P2P payments. If you need to split the check with folks that aren’t known for promptly taking care of their obligations, cash is king.

Bottom Line

American Express’ Split It Feature adds a layer of convenience to those who want to split bills, especially for groups where different amounts are owned by each person. The main benefit of the Split It platform is that you don’t have to do math because the app will divide up the bill for you among as many people and in as many variations as you need. On the collection side, the app will also track payments at a glance, which is something neither Venmo or PayPal do as easily.

American Express advertises within the Split It platform that you get to keep the points, which is supposed to be a selling point. However, PayPal, Venmo and Zelle basically do the same thing. The money you request is going to your PayPal or Venmo account, not to directly pay your American Express bill. When you pay the bill, you will get the points whether you use Split It or not.  With that in mind, Split It is really not a time saver.  You are just as well off skipping the extra layer and requesting money directly from your P2P provider. For now, Split It just adds another level of complexity to P2P, which defeats the purpose of keeping payments simple.