AmEx partners free to steer customers to other pay systems

Wilmington, Delaware

ANY American Express Co customer can leave home without it now that a judge has said the credit card company can't ban partners who offer co-branded cards, such as retailers and airlines, from steering customers to different forms of payment.

After AmEx was ordered in February to stop barring merchants from pushing shoppers to other cards and payment methods, the New York-based company argued that the decision shouldn't apply to one group of merchants: co-brand partners. A judge on Tuesday shot down that theory, ruling that partners have as much right as other merchants to encourage consumers to pick another card or other form of payment.