Strategy to obtain US Amex

Had the exact thing happen to me - was new to chase and they closed all my accounts when I was in Bora Bora. Who cares what the letter says. Call 1800 290 1316 this is the Fraud team and explain that you're accounts were closed and want to be transferred to the reinstatement team.

This was my experience:
- I called and explained my situation (new to the US but leveraged my Oz Amex card to get US amex card and that all my recent credit pulls were just for Chase)
- explained how Chase was the best bank and wanted to build history with them
- explained all the charges (DO NOT try and say that the payments were for a friend, but think of how it could be your spend through paying 12 months in advance, etc)
- they said they weren't going to approve my account, but encouraged me to pay off the outstanding balance and not apply for anymore personal card and then call back in 30 days
- did the above and called back. Explained the same story and was approved again with everyone re opened (personal and biz card)

DM me as required
Thanks for your detailed and helpful response .
 
It is - assuming no one else is getting this now - I'm hoping its not the new normal and maybe when I activate cards it might go away?

I normally get this when I connect to VPN or some locations overseas. Are you connected to some different kind of network?
 
With HSBC giving me the run around for their Premier CC, is there much point persevering given I already have a checking account with them with my US address and have successfully used the account/statement to get the Amex approved. The card is ok but nothing special (and given it now has an AF I’m wondering whether to bother)
Your choice in my opinion.

HSBC customer service has been amazing strangely. Even better if you speak Chinese and ask to be routed to a Chinese speaker, then you will 80% get someone in HK who can and will solve your problem.

Bur I K agree the card itself is average and if you have another card you like just use it and skip HSBC.
 
Your choice in my opinion.

HSBC customer service has been amazing strangely. Even better if you speak Chinese and ask to be routed to a Chinese speaker, then you will 80% get someone in HK who can and will solve your problem.

Bur I K agree the card itself is average and if you have another card you like just use it and skip HSBC.
Your choice in my opinion.

HSBC customer service has been amazing strangely. Even better if you speak Chinese and ask to be routed to a Chinese speaker, then you will 80% get someone in HK who can and will solve your problem.

Bur I K agree the card itself is average and if you have another card you like just use it and skip HSBC.
If I didn’t have many other PP options I’d be keen on the Elite. I will use HSBC checking as main US account at least but if they make me jump through any more hoops on the card o think I’m gonna concede!
 
It is - assuming no one else is getting this now - I'm hoping its not the new normal and maybe when I activate cards it might go away?
Happened to me after getting the checking account as well.
Note that it only happens the first time you login on a browser. You can choose to remember the device and it will not ask for the 2fa code again.


1726127520573.png
 
If I didn’t have many other PP options I’d be keen on the Elite. I will use HSBC checking as main US account at least but if they make me jump through any more hoops on the card o think I’m gonna concede!
My experience with HSBC has been completely different. As I said, I just gave them some payslips and bam card sent to Australia in 24 hrs via DHL.

I'm honestly still trying to math out a way to make the Elite work out because I always get so close every time but never quite get there.

495 AF, 10/m "rideshare" credit (not just uber, but also traditional taxis, etc). I can easily use this, so AF for me is 375.

5x on almost any type of transport imaginable, myki, opal, Wish gift cards on QF marketplace, etc. I'm sure I could spend 10k USD on "travel" every year without trying too hard, so that is 50k points.

You can just redeem 37.5k points to offset the annual fee.

Every time I get to this point, I'm like "great, the Elite Card is an obvious choice! I should look to apply for it soon."

Then I remember that HSBC US's transfer partners are honestly aggressively mediocre and I'm not sure how useful 12.5k points or even 50k points are. 4 avios flavours, 2 poor value hotels, QF, EK and then the rest are 1.25:1 and honestly, I don't think they are all that great in Australia. AF, EVA and TK.

So I'm basically giving up 2-3 SUB worth of spending per year for an unlimited priority pass. Which is nice, I guess, but then again there is always the risk of QF marketplace not coding as Airfare, just like how Coles Hawthorn LTD doesn't code as Groceries despite coding as groceries.
 
Probably this will be cheaper and faster than mail from Aust:

I will look into this.
May I ask, was this an email offer from Equifax ? And can you access your Equifax account now?
Yes, Offer was from Email.. I could access Equifax account and saw all details including HPs/Inquiries, Scores from other agencies Plus personal information which agency has about me. Old Address, New Address v.v.
You might be able to do this

1. Mail your own US global mail address
2. Use US global mail to post a USPS letter to Transunion

I haven't actually received a US global mail dispatched USPS mail so I don't know what it looks like.


Edit: the docupost idea above sounds much better
Will look into this option
Got an email today and signed up. All are showing the scores fine but under profile there is no name, ssn/itin, date of birth showing for EX. Are they showing for you?

Name and date of birth are correct for TU but my ITIN showing xx_x0000. I heard before that EX and possibly TU didn't record ITIN. I didn't have any issue with Cap1 apps though and Cap1 pulled all 3.

Chase mostly pulled EX & TU for my address and they had some issues with my Ex file every time. Quite interesting to see that Chase pulled EX and TU when I submitted the app then they pulled EX again each time I called them. Got 4 hard pulls from Ink Unlimited app, 3x Ex and 1x TU lol
Under TU, I had last 4 strange digit that they confirmed that didnt match with my ITIN. EX had a not- recognized inquiry back in April - I need to dispute that - but Ex did have 0000 as record for my SSN.
Please expand to read my comments

I had quite a good look on my credit profile. Logged in and out the whole morning. Just when it passed midnight US Eastern Standard Time I could not log in to Equifax and got the usual message "Please give us a call" which I will, but for $1 it worths it to me to found out what was wrong.
 
My experience with HSBC has been completely different. As I said, I just gave them some payslips and bam card sent to Australia in 24 hrs via DHL.

I'm honestly still trying to math out a way to make the Elite work out because I always get so close every time but never quite get there.

495 AF, 10/m "rideshare" credit (not just uber, but also traditional taxis, etc). I can easily use this, so AF for me is 375.

5x on almost any type of transport imaginable, myki, opal, Wish gift cards on QF marketplace, etc. I'm sure I could spend 10k USD on "travel" every year without trying too hard, so that is 50k points.

You can just redeem 37.5k points to offset the annual fee.

Every time I get to this point, I'm like "great, the Elite Card is an obvious choice! I should look to apply for it soon."

Then I remember that HSBC US's transfer partners are honestly aggressively mediocre and I'm not sure how useful 12.5k points or even 50k points are. 4 avios flavours, 2 poor value hotels, QF, EK and then the rest are 1.25:1 and honestly, I don't think they are all that great in Australia. AF, EVA and TK.

So I'm basically giving up 2-3 SUB worth of spending per year for an unlimited priority pass. Which is nice, I guess, but then again there is always the risk of QF marketplace not coding as Airfare, just like how Coles Hawthorn LTD doesn't code as Groceries despite coding as groceries.

My experience with HSBC has been completely different. As I said, I just gave them some payslips and bam card sent to Australia in 24 hrs via DHL.

I'm honestly still trying to math out a way to make the Elite work out because I always get so close every time but never quite get there.

495 AF, 10/m "rideshare" credit (not just uber, but also traditional taxis, etc). I can easily use this, so AF for me is 375.

5x on almost any type of transport imaginable, myki, opal, Wish gift cards on QF marketplace, etc. I'm sure I could spend 10k USD on "travel" every year without trying too hard, so that is 50k points.

You can just redeem 37.5k points to offset the annual fee.

Every time I get to this point, I'm like "great, the Elite Card is an obvious choice! I should look to apply for it soon."

Then I remember that HSBC US's transfer partners are honestly aggressively mediocre and I'm not sure how useful 12.5k points or even 50k points are. 4 avios flavours, 2 poor value hotels, QF, EK and then the rest are 1.25:1 and honestly, I don't think they are all that great in Australia. AF, EVA and TK.

So I'm basically giving up 2-3 SUB worth of spending per year for an unlimited priority pass. Which is nice, I guess, but then again there is always the risk of QF marketplace not coding as Airfare, just like how Coles Hawthorn LTD doesn't code as Groceries despite coding as groceries.
Yep - I have the unlimited PP with Citi Prestige here and that pays for itself 5 times over with PayAll - so have no interest in any Lounge/Priority Pass memberships elsewhere
 
Was on the phone to Chase earlier about an issue with my card and they tried to send me a verification SMS but it didn't work. Is Chase no longer compatible with TextNow?
 
So, I figured out the mysterious "We cant identify you with TransUnion" issue. TransUnion somehow got my ITIN number wrong. Going thru dispute, managed to talk to actual person. Got advised I need to MAIL in my ITIN and proof of Address to correct it. No other way. Dead end until I can get to US land. Is there a solution for this when we need to mail something to US?

Yes - all 3 credit Bureau - not sure if link allowed here. Through this email, get Equifax Complete™ Premier for $1 for your first 30 days, then $19.95 per month thereafter. Cancel at any time, no partial month refunds.1
.


Get your 3-Bureau credit report and VantageScore credit scores from Equifax​


Getting credit reports sometimes can cause a credit file to split. You can read my experiences with Equifax earlier last year on this thread.

tldr: I waited 1-2 months for my existing credit cards to report again and it seemed to have fixed itself.

VX instantly approved. Any DPs with getting it sent to a different address?
 
Last edited:
Was on the phone to Chase earlier about an issue with my card and they tried to send me a verification SMS but it didn't work. Is Chase no longer compatible with TextNow?
It is very inconsistent. Sometimes Chase is able to send an SMS, sometimes they aren't. It appears the fraud department is more likely to be able to send an SMS than the regular customer service reps, but it isn't 100% consistent.
 
This is getting stupid :

Hello Andrew,



Please provide most current utility to review your US permanent address.



Thanks and regards



Retail Credit Risk

HSBC Bank, USA
I applied as an international applicant. I am sure that the person earlier who said to say you are calling from the US was good intentioned, but in my perso al experience, the instant the agent realised I was not a US resident the application went a lot easier.

If you still want to get the card, maybe find someway to set your address to AU and explain you are not a resident, see if they give you the correct form.
 
I applied as an international applicant. I am sure that the person earlier who said to say you are calling from the US was good intentioned, but in my perso al experience, the instant the agent realised I was not a US resident the application went a lot easier.

If you still want to get the card, maybe find someway to set your address to AU and explain you are not a resident, see if they give you the correct form.
I did the same. I wonder whether switching address to US to get the statement is what’s caused the problem. I will have one last stab at it by changing address back to AU and if not I’m giving up!
 
Yes you can. I know someone who got their Chase accounts recently reopened after closure in similar circumstances.

Seems like Chase are getting a bit more sensitive on the fraud/risk front. P2's latest Ink led to Internet banking being suspended because I got them to post the new card to Australia. Was unblocked after a call to the 'customer protection group'. Fairly straightforward, but first time that's happened.
Hi Mate. Was this your P2's first chase card pls?
 
For people who are doing with P2 - what was the way you started (or suggest)
Additional card via my current Amex to build up profile or get a proper Amex via GT for P2 and then build credit that way

Cheers
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top