Strategy to obtain US Amex

[blacksultan]

Yes, well a saving of $US20 is good. Funny that the intermediary USA bank didn’t take the $20 cut. XE shouldn’t take a cut.

You are using your bank account funds transfer, rather than through BPay to xe, aren’t you? Only asking as BPay to xe takes longer

Anyone else had any further luck with the $20 cut not being taken ?

Post automatically merged: Mar 11, 2020

I found this Canadian blog which details how to get a US Amex card as a Canadian, while not everything is applicable for Australians, but I think it's worth a read and it helps to explain a few things such as why the myUS address works. (“Commercial Mail Receiving Agency” = N)

Getting US Credit Cards for Canadians [2021] | Prince of Travel

Getting your very first US-issued credit card can be quite a complicated but worthwhile undertaking. Here’s the step-by-step process for how Canadians can get US credit cards and gain access to an even wider array of travel rewards points.

princeoftravel.com

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with the blog.

Has anyone applied for an ITIN using the method (Amazon ) described in the blog ?

 

[DC3]

Anyone else had any further luck with the $20 cut not being taken ...

That was probably an anomaly. There has only been one post with no further update (although that was less than 2 weeks ago, so quite recent).

My 3 x payments have each had the expected $20 taken out.

Edited

 

[MikeeB]

Has anyone applied for an ITIN using the method (Amazon ) described in the blog ?

Sort of. I signed up for the direct publishing thing as described in the blog. But hit a road block when requesting the letter from Amazon to go along with the ITIN application for the IRS as I haven’t published any content and made any sales. I would say quite a lot of people jumped on this and Amazon were wondering why so many people wanted letters for a tax number

 

[blacksultan]

Sort of. I signed up for the direct publishing thing as described in the blog. But hit a road block when requesting the letter from Amazon to go along with the ITIN application for the IRS as I haven’t published any content and made any sales. I would say quite a lot of people jumped on this and Amazon were wondering why so many people wanted letters for a tax number

So did they refuse ? Isn’t there An option to self generate the letter ?

 

[MikeeB]

So did they refuse ? Isn’t there An option to self generate the letter ?

You can download the template, but the recommendation is to get a bonafide one sent to you with an email chain detailing how it came about for extra proof of necessity of an ITIN. Just sending the template letter with your name added in may not quite get it over the line.
so yes, long story short, until I had published and sold any content they were refusing to provide said letter.

 

[blacksultan]

You can download the template, but the recommendation is to get a bonafide one sent to you with an email chain detailing how it came about for extra proof of necessity of an ITIN. Just sending the template letter with your name added in may not quite get it over the line.
so yes, long story short, until I had published and sold any content they were refusing to provide said letter.

Is it easy to publish some ‘content ‘and then purchase it yourself (or a friend ) ?

 

[MikeeB]

Is it easy to publish some ‘content ‘and then purchase it yourself (or a friend ) ?

I would imagine so. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet. Definitely something I am curious about though.
I have been watching this thread for a long time now. Finally took the plunge recently and managed to get a US Amex card approved via the Nova credit reporting method. Just waiting for it to show up in myus Suite now.

 

[DC3]

I received a pleasant surprise when I checked my Hilton Honors account today. The 150,000 points has just posted for the Aspire spend requirement, which was only met within the past 10 days. The big spend statement is due to be issued next week, so haven’t even paid for that yet.

Edit: I seem to remember some chat over on FT that points crediting to Hilton were going to take quite some time?

 

[albyd]

Finale thanks for mentioning Premier. I got started with Premier st my local branch yesterday. I told HSBC's International Business Centre (1300131623). I was only after the account for personal purposes and it would be funded by savings. They told me I could only open a US account through them if I was Premier. Not sure if that means they can help you without setting up Premier if you're a 'business'.

This is a little OT but my RM didn't promote anything special about Premier so interested if anyone else has gleaned any specific information. $35/month is a small price to pay not to have to go to the US specifically to open an account. Keen to hear how the strategy outlined by glasszon works.

I was surprised they said it would take 4 weeks to open the US account. It apparently also takes 4 weeks to open a non-personal account (eg SMSF or Family Trust) and it can't be an operating business.

Further to my post also applied for a US HSBC Premier MC and appear to have been approved - showing in online banking. Appears to have been approved without SSN or FICO check. Application was pretty straight forward and did it remotely. The US checking account was open in less than a day and the Australian account for my family trust was open within a few days. Quite impressed particularly as they’d set my expectations for 4 weeks. If you have the resources to meet the Premier requirements (probably wouldn’t make sense to get a US Amex otherwise), this is the best way to get all your banking ‘infrastructure’ set up without having. To go to the US first. Can also get a non Amex card for those places that won’t take Amex if it suits your personal circumstances. No annual fee is a good place to start.

 

[albyd]

Wondering if any Aussie service stations qualify as ‘transport’ for US cards? I haven’t had any luck with Shell Coles Express or BP so far.

 

[Batterytraveller]

Wondering if any Aussie service stations qualify as ‘transport’ for US cards? I haven’t had any luck with Shell Coles Express or BP so far.

Chase is pretty liberal in this regard, although it is a bit hit and miss. Some servos do and some don’t. I do get a bonus when I top up my myki or tap on in Sydney (or top up my Suica for that matter). I used to live in the states so getting cards is easy with Chase being easiest by far.

feeling a bit caught out by the collapse in the dollarydoo, just after I made a couple of big purchases but I guess that’s the game we play.

btw I use Transferwise to move my money around. It has the advantage that I can have accounts with a US/Aussie/UK/polish/NZ/Euro identity which makes collecting my rent in London a breeze. Can’t currently pay a credit card bill direct in the US but you can do a direct debit on your Euro or UK account if you need that. Use my Referral Link if you like the idea.

 

[albyd]

Thanks for sharing Batterytraveller. I figured the Shell Coles Express might be classified as a supermarket. But was surprised about BP. Assuming Caltex will be similar to Shell if it’s a Woolies branded one. Will try Mobil for kicks. Guess the point of all this is not to pay too much for the fuel in order to chase marginal points gain with the dollar falling so much.

 

[desafinado74]

I would imagine so. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet. Definitely something I am curious about though.
I have been watching this thread for a long time now. Finally took the plunge recently and managed to get a US Amex card approved via the Nova credit reporting method. Just waiting for it to show up in myus Suite now.

Hi MikeeB,
Sorry to bother you.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you find the Nova credit reporting method ?
Was it pretty straightforward ?
Which method are you going to use, to pay for the card annual fee and bills ?
And have you received your card via MyUS ? (I also have a MyUS address, and was curious to know, since some posters earlier mentioned that they had problems receiving their cards via MyUS )
And finally, which card did you apply for ? (I am looking at the Hilton Aspire or Surpass card)

 

[MikeeB]

Hi des,

Sorry about the extremely belated reply.

the Nova Credit reporting method was a breeze. Interesting as well because during the process you are provided with the full credit report that AMEX US gets to see.

So once I had done the application using my drivers licence and Medicare card of all things! plus a US phone number generated with text+ I got a message requesting I call AMEX US. To clarify some details. Long story short they just wanted to verify my US address..... Good old Express Lane no problems there!

During the phone call the lovely operator asked If I could provide a bank statement showing proof of my address ......... ROAD BLOCK! I made an excuse and got the fax number and said I would fax one through.

At this point I had no idea what to do. So I slept on it and the following day it occurred to me that I could probably change my address for one of my Australian bank accounts and use a statement from them. Citibank was the likely choice seeing as though they are a global bank. Anyway the process to change my address on the Citibank website was relatively easy and a few days later I got the texts/email from Citibank telling me my address was updatEd. Luckily it was just before my credit card statement was due to be generated and VOILA! One Citibank credit card statement with my Express Lane address on it.

Faxed it off to the number the operator had provided and followed it up with a phone call the following day. I should probably note at this point that I had my phone number on private during all of these conversations to not raise any eyebrows regarding the Australian number. The operator checked the document was received, then confirmed that it was accepted as sufficient supporting documentation and progressed the application for approval. About eight hours later I received a call (via Text+ on my US number) congratulating me on my approval and that I would receive my card in about a week.

Queue the slew of American Express emails for new card members.

Unfortunately to this day I STILL do not have my card. It never ever arrived in myUS.com suite after about three weeks (I let it go for so long because of the corona virus drama going on at the moment) . I called the AMEX US customer service and requested a new card be sent over night to me because the other one never arrived. I asked the customer service rep to check if my suite number had been added to the address and apparently it had not! Just as some people experienced waaaay back at the start of this thread. So mystery solved.

Since then I am just waiting for FedEx to get it to me from MyUS.com. ETA currently at next Tuesday. Not surprisingly once the suite number was added it showed up the next day.

The card I got was the basic no annual fee Hilton Honors card. It’s pretty no frills, but when this Corona Virus fiasco started it was pretty clear I wouldn’t be doing much travelling for a while, so why pay massive annual fees in the meantime? It was also a bit of a strategic choice too. One of the measures of a credit score in the US is the length of your relationships with credit providers. I will never close this credit card. And with no annual fee even if I never use it there‘s no love lost, but it will be my longest established line of credit. FOR FREE I am not sure if they are still running the promotion but I also signed up during a ‘100,000 HH points for new card members after $1000 spend’ which I think is a fair bit higher than their normal signup bonus. And $1000 spend even with the coughpy current exchange rate should be fairly easy to achieve.

I have not had to pay a bill yet obviously, but I imagine I will use the same methods already discussed up thread. I am hanging out for transferwise to sort out Direct Debits on their US accounts then I will be set.

Apologies for the novel, just wanted to be thorough.

Happy Easter all and stay safe!

 

[desafinado74]

Hi des,

Sorry about the extremely belated reply.

the Nova Credit reporting method was a breeze. Interesting as well because during the process you are provided with the full credit report that AMEX US gets to see.

So once I had done the application using my drivers licence and Medicare card of all things! plus a US phone number generated with text+ I got a message requesting I call AMEX US. To clarify some details. Long story short they just wanted to verify my US address..... Good old Express Lane no problems there!

During the phone call the lovely operator asked If I could provide a bank statement showing proof of my address ......... ROAD BLOCK! I made an excuse and got the fax number and said I would fax one through.

At this point I had no idea what to do. So I slept on it and the following day it occurred to me that I could probably change my address for one of my Australian bank accounts and use a statement from them. Citibank was the likely choice seeing as though they are a global bank. Anyway the process to change my address on the Citibank website was relatively easy and a few days later I got the texts/email from Citibank telling me my address was updatEd. Luckily it was just before my credit card statement was due to be generated and VOILA! One Citibank credit card statement with my Express Lane address on it.

Faxed it off to the number the operator had provided and followed it up with a phone call the following day. I should probably note at this point that I had my phone number on private during all of these conversations to not raise any eyebrows regarding the Australian number. The operator checked the document was received, then confirmed that it was accepted as sufficient supporting documentation and progressed the application for approval. About eight hours later I received a call (via Text+ on my US number) congratulating me on my approval and that I would receive my card in about a week.

Queue the slew of American Express emails for new card members.

Unfortunately to this day I STILL do not have my card. It never ever arrived in myUS.com suite after about three weeks (I let it go for so long because of the corona virus drama going on at the moment) . I called the AMEX US customer service and requested a new card be sent over night to me because the other one never arrived. I asked the customer service rep to check if my suite number had been added to the address and apparently it had not! Just as some people experienced waaaay back at the start of this thread. So mystery solved.

Since then I am just waiting for FedEx to get it to me from MyUS.com. ETA currently at next Tuesday. Not surprisingly once the suite number was added it showed up the next day.

The card I got was the basic no annual fee Hilton Honors card. It’s pretty no frills, but when this Corona Virus fiasco started it was pretty clear I wouldn’t be doing much travelling for a while, so why pay massive annual fees in the meantime? It was also a bit of a strategic choice too. One of the measures of a credit score in the US is the length of your relationships with credit providers. I will never close this credit card. And with no annual fee even if I never use it there‘s no love lost, but it will be my longest established line of credit. FOR FREE I am not sure if they are still running the promotion but I also signed up during a ‘100,000 HH points for new card members after $1000 spend’ which I think is a fair bit higher than their normal signup bonus. And $1000 spend even with the coughpy current exchange rate should be fairly easy to achieve.

I have not had to pay a bill yet obviously, but I imagine I will use the same methods already discussed up thread. I am hanging out for transferwise to sort out Direct Debits on their US accounts then I will be set.

Apologies for the novel, just wanted to be thorough.

Happy Easter all and stay safe!

Hi MikeeB,

Many thanks for the comprehensive reply.
I really hope you will get your card next week.

Just two questions:
- For the second mailout. did you ask AMEX to write APT instead of Suite on the MyUS address ?
(I am worried about this actually)

- Did you ask AMEX to give you their banking details , so that you can pay them via wire transfer ?

I would be interested to see if you can activate your card via the AMEX US App or website too : )

Once again, thank you for your very helpful reply and have a lovely Easter holiday too.

 

[glasszon]

Given the recent promotion in Australia and Canada where the MR points are worth double when redeemed, is anyone thinking about signing up for a Canadian Amex card to utilise this promotion? Unlike Australian Amex cards, Canadian Amex cards never got devalued so each MR point is still worth 1 cent per point, so we can sign up for a card in Canada, transfer our points to the Canadian card, effectively doubling the value, then pay off the bill utilising the current promotion, effectively quadrupling the value of our points in Australia, thoughts?

 

[blacksultan]

Bank payment details can be requested via chat

Hi MikeeB,

Many thanks for the comprehensive reply.
I really hope you will get your card next week.

Just two questions:
- For the second mailout. did you ask AMEX to write APT instead of Suite on the MyUS address ?
(I am worried about this actually)

- Did you ask AMEX to give you their banking details , so that you can pay them via wire transfer ?

I would be interested to see if you can activate your card via the AMEX US App or website too : )

Once again, thank you for your very helpful reply and have a lovely Easter holiday too.

 

[desafinado74]

Bank payment details can be requested via chat

Thanks Black Sultan : )

 

[tlam]

Given the recent promotion in Australia and Canada where the MR points are worth double when redeemed, is anyone thinking about signing up for a Canadian Amex card to utilise this promotion? Unlike Australian Amex cards, Canadian Amex cards never got devalued so each MR point is still worth 1 cent per point, so we can sign up for a card in Canada, transfer our points to the Canadian card, effectively doubling the value, then pay off the bill utilising the current promotion, effectively quadrupling the value of our points in Australia, thoughts?

But you will have to pay fx fee if you use the card in Australia. The US version doesn’t charge any foreign fee.

 

[desafinado74]

Does anyone here know if the Australian credit scores are very similar to the US ones?
At the moment, my credit score is very good.
So i was wondering if it is good enough to obtain the Hilton Aspire card.