Overseas credit cards

[ffhound]

Hi all

One small frustration for me with Australian credit card offers is the limited options to accrue points in, or transfer points to various overseas FF programs, especially re sign on bonuses. For example if you wanted to accrue a large sign on bonus on Alaska airlines you would find it difficult to find an Australian credit card that would give you a bonus that you could ultimately move to Alaska's FF program.

However I have seen many overseas credit card offers open to US residents. have Australians had any success applying for overseas credit cards and if so which ones (preferably ones with big sign on bonuses)?

cheers Peter

 

[Hammando]

The only Australian credit cards with sign on bonuses that can be transferred to Alaska would be Amex (via SPG)
Diners and the accompanying MasterCard can accrue Spg points but the card doesn't come with any sign on bonus.
The Amex Explorer Card is a great one at the moment 110,000 Amex points if you use a referral (mine is in that thread somewhere).
The card is great for earning SPG points as it earns 1 SPG per $ spent.
It is possible to get a Bank of America Alaska Airlines credit card without a SSN. At least it was two years ago when I was traveling in the states for 6 months. I applied at a branch and used my cousins address in the us. It came with 25,000 points for a $70US annual fee at the time.

 

[RooFlyer]

Well done on the BoA Alaska cc. I applied twice (directly to Alaska, using the forms they give out on board) but got knocked back both times (about 3 years ago). IIRC it was because of citizenship.

Same as applying for a cc in Canada. I had a residential address, a local bank account but the most I could get was a debit card.

 

[Hammando]

Yeah I did in a branch and had a few thousand in a bank account with them. Only gave me a $1,500 limit but the card didn't have a minimum spend to get the points which was nice.
Have barely used the card as it has forex fees.
I also got a Citi Prestige while I was over there, which is a much better card for ongoing use.

 

[tonygads]

I've heard that you can get an AU Amex card and then later apply to change it to a US card. Worth a try.

 

[albyd]

I think you have to have move to the US and be able to prove it with a recent utility bill to prove your address before Amex will migrate your Aussie card to the US.
As Hammando mentioned, it is possible to get a Citi US CC as an Aussie non US resident without a SSN. With Citi, you have to go into a branch to set up a transaction account. Once it's been active for 6 months, you can then apply for an 'international' card. Most of Citi's cards (including ones with good sign on bonuses) are available but not all - e.g. Hilton cards.
I did my CC application from Australia after my 6 months was up and I dealt with the same Banker in the branch to facilitate.
I tried to get a Limit increase to do bigger payments but was rejected due to not having a credit file (as I don't have an SSN, I can't get a FICO score - equivalent of Veda score in Australia). It's still fine and worth the effort depending on what you want to do.
Best of all, many Citi cards don't have the 3% foreign transaction fee and the exchange rates are fair too.

 

[koconder]

I think you have to have move to the US and be able to prove it with a recent utility bill to prove your address before Amex will migrate your Aussie card to the US.
As Hammando mentioned, it is possible to get a Citi US CC as an Aussie non US resident without a SSN. With Citi, you have to go into a branch to set up a transaction account. Once it's been active for 6 months, you can then apply for an 'international' card. Most of Citi's cards (including ones with good sign on bonuses) are available but not all - e.g. Hilton cards.
I did my CC application from Australia after my 6 months was up and I dealt with the same Banker in the branch to facilitate.
I tried to get a Limit increase to do bigger payments but was rejected due to not having a credit file (as I don't have an SSN, I can't get a FICO score - equivalent of Veda score in Australia). It's still fine and worth the effort depending on what you want to do.
Best of all, many Citi cards don't have the 3% foreign transaction fee and the exchange rates are fair too.

Citi is usually the only best bet but FX rates are bad, you can transfer MR with Amex to another region if you have a work contract/visa, my bank in the UK has still allowed me to keep mine open for transferring points to European airlines which is super good to have open.