Strategy to obtain US Amex

[ForestZ]

Nice one getting ITIN and should open up options with Citi and Chase down the road but they seem to want 1 year with FICO. Based on what you said another AMEX card would be my suggestion and add the new ITIN on application. My second card was the Green card but had to call in and confirm details doing a 3 way call with Capital One checking. Having said that maybe waiting for FICO to generate before the next card could make it easier. What card are you thinking of? Hilton Surpass could fill out the Hilton lineup nicely with great signup bonus right now. After multiple Amex cards with FICO and ITIN working fill out Chase for 5/24.

Thanks. I am thinking Hilton Surpass or Amex (Rose) Gold but as others pointed out Sarasota may no longer accept USPS. I am thinking to move to California. When did you move to CA and whether this will flag with Amex for address change? I assume you have no issue of getting the Green via Postscanmail.

 

[PointsLife1]

Thanks. I am thinking Hilton Surpass or Amex (Rose) Gold but as others pointed out Sarasota may no longer accept USPS. I am thinking to move to California. When did you move to CA and whether this will flag with Amex for address change? I assume you have no issue of getting the Green via Postscanmail.

If Amex paid 4 x points on overseas supermarkets and you could use Uber credits here I would love the Gold card, such a shame Citi and Chase do but not Amex. I moved to California approx. 11 months after my first card just as I started thinking of my next one but didn’t see how I would get it at MyUS unless it was a premium card. Got the Green card in December no problems from PostScanMail and just last week got the Chase IHG card and that has just landed in Sydney yesterday after leaving US Thursday. The postage was very expensive for both cards $100USD but may be due to COVID.

 

[Sapz]

Mostly, not wanting to raise any flags at Amex should I apply for another card

Ever thought of going down the PostScan road?

 

[DC3]

... I called the GT line and the operator identified the US address which I obtained through Postscan mail was a mail forwarding service. So I called again the next day and offered a myus address and was on hold for a few minutes before the operator said that this address was also appearing on their system as a mail forwarding address ...

Ever thought of going down the PostScan road?

I’ll look into PostScanMail, although it seems that nj12 has had some back luck with Amex regarding them (as well as MyUS)

 

[Sapz]

I’ll look into PostScanMail, although it seems that nj12 has had some back luck with Amex regarding them as well as MyUS.

my bad

 

[nj12]

Response from My US: “.. Thank you for contacting us. We do apologize, however we no longer offer Premium +Mail Membership. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me ..”

I contacted MYus regarding mail forwarding a few days ago and was fully expecting the same response as DC3 however they replied earlier today and have upgraded my membership to include mail.

Myus reply "...I have switched your account to the Premium + Mail Membership. Once the mail arrives it will be logged into your account and since your account is set to hold, the package will be placed into storage." DC3 you might want to send another email regarding the mail membership because my account has been updated clearly showing Premium + Mail now.

The issue I have now is that according to Amex tracking my card reached Sarasota some hours before I received this email and MYus is not showing any held packages/mail. It might have been just too late but I will follow that up with myus also. Now I have to complete the 1583 form and have it notarised before receiving anything. I'll provide an update regarding how this turns out.

 

[ForestZ]

I contacted MYus regarding mail forwarding a few days ago and was fully expecting the same response as DC3 however they replied earlier today and have upgraded my membership to include mail.

Myus reply "...I have switched your account to the Premium + Mail Membership. Once the mail arrives it will be logged into your account and since your account is set to hold, the package will be placed into storage." DC3 you might want to send another email regarding the mail membership because my account has been updated clearly showing Premium + Mail now.

The issue I have now is that according to Amex tracking my card reached Sarasota some hours before I received this email and MYus is not showing any held packages/mail. It might have been just too late but I will follow that up with myus also. Now I have to complete the 1583 form and have it notarised before receiving anything. I'll provide an update regarding how this turns out.

Thanks for the DP. I can only see the option of Premium membership ($60 pa) not “+ Mail”. Is this the one you upgraded to and the cost?

 

[glasszon]

I contacted MYus regarding mail forwarding a few days ago and was fully expecting the same response as DC3 however they replied earlier today and have upgraded my membership to include mail.

Myus reply "...I have switched your account to the Premium + Mail Membership. Once the mail arrives it will be logged into your account and since your account is set to hold, the package will be placed into storage." DC3 you might want to send another email regarding the mail membership because my account has been updated clearly showing Premium + Mail now.

The issue I have now is that according to Amex tracking my card reached Sarasota some hours before I received this email and MYus is not showing any held packages/mail. It might have been just too late but I will follow that up with myus also. Now I have to complete the 1583 form and have it notarised before receiving anything. I'll provide an update regarding how this turns out.

Interesting, I got the same reply as DC3, they said MyUS no longer offers the +Mail membership as they no longer send or receive letters. Maybe I will email them and see whether it will give me a different response, well worth it to get the Hilton Surpass card.

 

[glasszon]

Another datapoint for HSBC US bank account, I told them straight up that I want to open the bank account so I can pay my Amex US credit card, and they opened the account for me without a problem.

The agent did say it is possible the new accounts team could request a credit card statement as proof, but they never requested it before opening the account.

YMMV, but feel free to tell them the actual reason as HSBC don't seems to mind.

 

[PointsLife1]

Congrats! The next one should be easier now I will be down to 3/24 next month and will grab 2 more cards from them before starting on Amex again.

Card has finally arrived and registered with Chase online plus iPlum works for receiving Chase text messages so all looking good. Now probably paranoid but what should my first transaction be? Thinking USD first up to break it in.

What cards are you thinking of next and why? I will probably start my Sapphire Journey and then Boundless 24 months after my Brilliant which will be November roughly.

 

[Finale]

Card has finally arrived and registered with Chase online plus iPlum works for receiving Chase text messages so all looking good. Now probably paranoid but what should my first transaction be? Thinking USD first up to break it in.

What cards are you thinking of next and why? I will probably start my Sapphire Journey and then Boundless 24 months after my Brilliant which will be November roughly.

AUD transactions are fine, just not too large. Mine was blocked after trying to charge over $2k. Maybe I get Hyatt next since we won't be flying soon and already have millions of points sitting here. Chase cards are quite disappointing. I'm not sure if I will even upgrade CSP to CSR esp the fee is now $550. I thought I was excited about them as I was running out of cards to apply. Sapphire cards are overrated I think. Thinking about getting Brilliant after getting 2 more Chase cards then Boundless after 2 years.

 

[DC3]

... according to Amex tracking my card reached Sarasota some hours before I received this email and MYus is not showing any held packages/mail ..

There will be a delay between Amex tracking indicating delivery to Express Lane and when MyUS actually allocates the item to your suite. This could take anywhere from 24 hours to several days. From memory, it was three days in my case (pre-COVID). In any case, MyUS signs for items in bulk from couriers, and not individually, perhaps dozens/hundreds in the batches. At that stage, the items are not yet allocated to Suites.

No idea why it took so long in my case, considering that Amex had included the full address, with Suite number included.

 

[mrsquare]

Card has finally arrived and registered with Chase online plus iPlum works for receiving Chase text messages so all looking good. Now probably paranoid but what should my first transaction be? Thinking USD first up to break it in.

What cards are you thinking of next and why? I will probably start my Sapphire Journey and then Boundless 24 months after my Brilliant which will be November roughly.

Are you using iPlum for Amex as well or still using TextNow? Also, what’s the rationale behind waiting 24 months between your Brilliant and Boundless? Or is that more for the Chase requirements.

Is it common for the Amex parcels to come opened from MyUS? I’ve just received my Brilliant Bonvoy parcel and it was taken out of its FedEx packaging which is fine, but the Brilliant Bonvoy parcel itself was cut open as well. Wondering if I should be reporting a lost card and asking Amex to send another to an Oz address or just use the card and see how it goes.

 

[DC3]

... Is it common for the Amex parcels to come opened from MyUS? ...

MyUS will open all articles (to check the contents?).

 

[mrsquare]

MyUS will open all articles (to check the contents?).

Thanks mate, the last time I used a forwarding service, that didn’t happen. Granted it wasn’t via MyUS. Thought I’d check to make sure.

 

[DC3]

Thanks mate, the last time I used a forwarding service, that didn’t happen. Granted it wasn’t via MyUS. Thought I’d check to make sure.

Package Receiving & Storage | faqs

www.myus.com

“Will MyUS open my package? Yes. MyUS opens every package when it arrives at our facility. Our trained login agents carefully review your purchases to ensure they were not broken during shipping and are legal for export from the USA”

 

[mrsquare]

Package Receiving & Storage | faqs

www.myus.com

“Will MyUS open my package? Yes. MyUS opens every package when it arrives at our facility. Our trained login agents carefully review your purchases to ensure they were not broken during shipping and are legal for export from the USA”

Thanks, should have checked there first. But I swear you guys are more knowledgeable, hence my first port of call.

Interestingly when trying to add my card to Apple Pay, the number verification didn’t work. Was fine as I could verify via email, but this was the first time TextNow didn’t work for me for an Amex verification.

 

[timmy1234]

Are you using iPlum for Amex as well or still using TextNow? Also, what’s the rationale behind waiting 24 months between your Brilliant and Boundless? Or is that more for the Chase requirements.

Is it common for the Amex parcels to come opened from MyUS? I’ve just received my Brilliant Bonvoy parcel and it was taken out of its FedEx packaging which is fine, but the Brilliant Bonvoy parcel itself was cut open as well. Wondering if I should be reporting a lost card and asking Amex to send another to an Oz address or just use the card and see how it goes.

Textnow works fine with Amex.

 

[timmy1234]

FYI - My US Citibank checking account online access got blocked because of an alleged Fraud activity. The CS could not give an answer. Spoke to the fraud team and I got a response that a letter was mailed on the 5 Feb by regular post (Mates place). The next steps is detailed in the letter. The only way is to expedite this by visiting a branch.
This was triggered mostl likely because I did 2 Amex payments around USD 750 each from Amex i.e Amex pulling the funds from my Citi. Now it is wait and watch. Luckily my bill is not been issued so I have ample time. I will start working on HSBC US account that I recently opened as a backup to my citibank. The payment from Citi to Amex takes 3 days.

 

[PointsLife1]

Are you using iPlum for Amex as well or still using TextNow? Also, what’s the rationale behind waiting 24 months between your Brilliant and Boundless? Or is that more for the Chase requirements.

Is it common for the Amex parcels to come opened from MyUS? I’ve just received my Brilliant Bonvoy parcel and it was taken out of its FedEx packaging which is fine, but the Brilliant Bonvoy parcel itself was cut open as well. Wondering if I should be reporting a lost card and asking Amex to send another to an Oz address or just use the card and see how it goes.

Yes iPlum now for everything Amex, Capital One and Chase. Works for all of them so really happy with the results plus the area code number matches the address nicely. Added bonus it has 2 in the number 5 X out of the 9 didgets.