Strategy to obtain US Amex

VS frequent flyer program? It's a lot more useful not it's joined SkyTeam; I've got around 14,000 points that have gradually accumulated over years, one day I'll use them. I used to dump them into Hilton every 10k when it was 1:2, and even that wasn't a great use, but it's now 2:3 which is awful value.

I did recently purchase a £5 Virgin Train ticket for the 1,000 points/£5 discount on trains (took the 1,000 points of course), because that's a pretty good purchase price.
I did the same. Dump to Hilton. In fact MR AU to VS to Hilton is better than MR AU to Hilton
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Seems Chase is picking up the Apple Card from Goldman Sachs. I wonder if the benefits will change
Has anyone signed up with MAZA recently ?
I’ve tried just now (US iTunes account, Maza app), US location VPN, and after tapping ‘New Account’, it asks for my US phone number.

After inputting this, it says (in Spanish) ‘we are not accepting new subscriptions at this time’

From
Strategy to obtain US Amex I assumed this was not the distinct part that requires GPS spoofing so I haven’t set that up yet (most of the apps appear a bit dodgy !)

Have they perhaps been Ozbargained/AFFed ?!
rhats interesting. They’ve also stopped their savings account part
 
Seems I got a second $5 charge from Maza on 15/9. But have now cancelled subscription. If I get my ITIN for $10 I will be pretty happy!
 
So not worth pursuing ?
No, I’m not saying that. There’s plenty of their card users that do okay. I’m just a bit peeved over account closure for no obvious, or explained, reason. Along the lines of ‘unusual account activity’. That was about it. Nothing out the ordinary as far as I could see. Also, this was a checking account, by the way, as I never got the chance to apply for a credit card.
 
Cap 1 is iffy even with US citizens with the fraud alerts and approval criteria. I would feel more comfortable if I could walk into a branch and apply in person but cranches are few on the ground. Their cafes seem more like glorified Starbucks, no real banking service.



I decided to put them at the end of the list after all the Chase cards I still need and maybe some Citi AA and TYP cards. Really all I was targeting was TK because I go there often but it's cheaper to use UA or AC to book their flights. Same with AA, they are cheap for QR and EY and I like that they don't have cancellation/change fees.
 
In my experience no
I just called on my 10th day and they said it hadn’t been10 days elapsed (he said it may simply be a matter of an hour ) I called next day and all sorted
This was on the weekend just passed so info is 3 days old
 
Received my chase card the other day and the card is already blocked upon activation for a fraud review.
They say need to wait for them to call me in 24-48hrs for the security review.

Does anyone have experience with this?
 
In my experience no
I just called on my 10th day and they said it hadn’t been10 days elapsed (he said it may simply be a matter of an hour ) I called next day and all sorted
This was on the weekend just passed so info is 3 days old
Although 10 days is often quoted, it seems that it’s actually 11 days before they will send the card out, as reported by a few AFFers upthread. 🤷‍♂️
 
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Is it possible to get second AMEX (Non GT) sent to Australia without waiting the 10 days? thanks
I don’t have first-hand experience with this. But maybe possible, I guess, if you managed to talk to the right person immediately on card approval. Although I don’t recall seeing any posts that support under 10 (or 11) days.

My guess is that once the application has been approved and the card is queued for printing it’s too late, even if it was possible.
 
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Cap 1 is iffy even with US citizens with the fraud alerts and approval criteria
What is a good non-Amex alternative ?

Amex is great, but there is a chunk of spend that won’t take Amex, and I’d like it to end up with Star Alliance…

The HSBC card was fine for the first year, but doesn’t really stack up for me given the limits on points earning once the AF kicks in…
 
Received my chase card the other day and the card is already blocked upon activation for a fraud review.
Was any spend attempted, or just red flag on activation only? Not tried to add to Apple Wallet by any chance? Just asking as I have no first-hand experience with this sort of thing.
 
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Someone on Facebook telling me if you start with Aspire or Surpass, you can’t get the SUB on any lower Hilton cards. Is that true?
 

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