Strategy to obtain US Amex

[Finale]

You are spot on Chase Sapphire and Citi Premier are the one to get cards. The other one I like is the Capital One Venture cards. However, you will need a bit of credit history to get approved for both. Furthermore, both have their own restrictions eg. Chase has the no more than 5 cards applied in 24 months and Citi has no more than 2 hard enquiries in 6 months.
The Amex cards are good to build credit rating especially the non-Charge cards. I am in sought of a similar boat i.e. I just restarted on the US cards (I cancelled my last card in Sep 2019 after I left the US) and I also have a SSN. Still I got rejected. I am going to focus on the Amex for 12 months and then target the other cards keeping in mind my oldest card was 14yrs and 3 months. Amex has a restriction of 2 cards in 90 days. You can hold 4 non charge cards (hotel, airline) and 10 Charge cards.

Citi used to be cool with 6/6. Now I heard even 2/6 is difficult. Doesn't help when Chase just did 4 pulls on me lol Thankfully I don't want any Citi card for now.

Got an Email from Cap1 asking me to check for pre-approved offers. Got a letter today saying they can't pre approve any card because of

Too many new revolving accounts.

I applied for 4 cards past one year, one of which was a business card. Might need to slow down. Maybe 4/24 was true.

 

[jbmemories]

Citi used to be cool with 6/6. Now I heard even 2/6 is difficult. Doesn't help when Chase just did 4 pulls on me lol Thankfully I don't want any Citi card for now

What are your chase cards that you have currently?
Do you like plan your strategy of spend and track on a spreadsheet or an app (like maxrewards)?

 

[timmy1234]

i plan to get hyatt card but there are very limited hyatt hotels in australia especially i am not in syd/mel.

Melbourne has 3 (4th on the way), Brisbane 1 (newly opened), Syd (2), Perth 1, canberra. I agree it is a challenge earning them, but their program is one of the best such as the Guest of Honor etc. I am aiming for the Hyatt card too before the CSP since you get 5 stays included. You just missed on the Amex Marriott. sign up offer of being a Platinum member for a month (13 Jan). Listening to stories, the Hilton Aspire is a better option as you become a Diamond member by having the card.

 

[steveyyf]

Melbourne has 3 (4th on the way), Brisbane 1 (newly opened), Syd (2), Perth 1, canberra. I agree it is a challenge earning them, but their program is one of the best such as the Guest of Honor etc. I am aiming for the Hyatt card too before the CSP since you get 5 stays included. You just missed on the Amex Marriott. sign up offer of being a Platinum member for a month (13 Jan). Listening to stories, the Hilton Aspire is a better option as you become a Diamond member by having the card.

brisbane new hyatt - i just had stay there. it is change of brands and i don't really like it. there is also no lounge at the property.

 

[timmy1234]

brisbane new hyatt - i just had stay there. it is change of brands and i don't really like it. there is also no lounge at the property.

Its a Hyatt Place...Category 2 or 1 so wont have a lounge. The Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt brand usually have a lounge. Park Hyatt Melbourne removed their lounge recently.

 

[steveyyf]

Citi used to be cool with 6/6. Now I heard even 2/6 is difficult. Doesn't help when Chase just did 4 pulls on me lol Thankfully I don't want any Citi card for now.

Got an Email from Cap1 asking me to check for pre-approved offers. Got a letter today saying they can't pre approve any card because of

Too many new revolving accounts.

I applied for 4 cards past one year, one of which was a business card. Might need to slow down. Maybe 4/24 was true.

business card is not accounted towards 5/24?

Post automatically merged: Feb 18, 2021

Its a Hyatt Place...Category 2 or 1 so wont have a lounge. The Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt brand usually have a lounge. Park Hyatt Melbourne removed their lounge recently.

not really, the newly opened one is a hyatt regency cat 3 - i think it should be changed to cat 1 hyatt place.

 

[Finale]

What are your chase cards that you have currently?
Do you like plan your strategy of spend and track on a spreadsheet or an app (like maxrewards)?

I have CSP and IHG. CSP is quite useless in my opinion. I don't use any app. I only take notes of the opening, closing dates, retention offer dates and use spreadsheet only when trying to work out the minimum spend. Chase is the only bank showing you how much you need to spend to get a bonus in their app.

It's quite easy for me.

- Amex Plat - Airlines
- Citi Prestige - Restaurants, cafes, bars, airlines if amex not accepted, travel agencies, hotels
- Citi Premier - Grocery, hotels. Maybe cancel next year.
- Citi AA - useless. Cancelling soon
- Chase CSP - other travel ie uber.
- Chase IHG - IHG
- Amex Aspire - Hilton
- Amex Bonvoy - Bonvoy
- Amex Bonvoy Biz - Business expenses in USD
- Amex Explorer - The rest

Whatever left that Amex doesn't accept will be charged to one of those Visa/MC either US or AU ones.

 

[Finale]

business card is not accounted towards 5/24?

Post automatically merged: Feb 18, 2021

not really, the newly opened one is a hyatt regency cat 3 - i think it should be changed to cat 1 hyatt place.

There are 3 banks as far as I remember reporting business card to your personal credit report. Capital One, Discover and TD Bank. Not sure if the list has changed.

The rest are good and not counted.

 

[steveyyf]

There are 3 banks as far as I remember reporting business card to your personal credit report. Capital One, Discover and TD Bank. Not sure if the list has changed.

The rest are good and not counted.

that is good as long as amex business not accounted towards the 5/24.

 

[steveyyf]

I have CSP and IHG. CSP is quite useless in my opinion. I don't use any app. I only take notes of the opening, closing dates, retention offer dates and use spreadsheet only when trying to work out the minimum spend. Chase is the only bank showing you how much you need to spend to get a bonus in their app.

It's quite easy for me.

- Amex Plat - Airlines
- Chase Prestige - Restaurants, cafes, bars, airlines if amex not accepted, travel agencies, hotels
- Chase Premier - Grocery, hotels. Maybe cancel next year.
- Citi AA - useless. Cancelling soon
- Chase CSP - other travel ie uber.
- Chase IHG - IHG
- Amex Aspire - Hilton
- Amex Bonvoy - Bonvoy
- Amex Bonvoy Biz - Business expenses in USD
- Amex Explorer - The rest

Whatever left that Amex doesn't accept will be charged to one of those Visa/MC either US or AU ones.

what business expense we can put on marriott business card? any credit or amex offers?

 

[PointsLife1]

I have CSP and IHG. CSP is quite useless in my opinion. I don't use any app. I only take notes of the opening, closing dates, retention offer dates and use spreadsheet only when trying to work out the minimum spend. Chase is the only bank showing you how much you need to spend to get a bonus in their app.

It's quite easy for me.

- Amex Plat - Airlines
- Chase Prestige - Restaurants, cafes, bars, airlines if amex not accepted, travel agencies, hotels
- Chase Premier - Grocery, hotels. Maybe cancel next year.
- Citi AA - useless. Cancelling soon
- Chase CSP - other travel ie uber.
- Chase IHG - IHG
- Amex Aspire - Hilton
- Amex Bonvoy - Bonvoy
- Amex Bonvoy Biz - Business expenses in USD
- Amex Explorer - The rest

Whatever left that Amex doesn't accept will be charged to one of those Visa/MC either US or AU ones.

Perfect set up and covers all bases. So hotel status Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Bonvoy Platinum (are you close to lifetime?)
5 x points on airlines would be handy!

Post automatically merged: Feb 18, 2021

Perfect set up and covers all bases. So hotel status Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Bonvoy Platinum (are you close to lifetime?)
5 x points on airlines would be handy!

What does everyone else do?

 

[Finale]

what business expense we can put on marriott business card? any credit or amex offers?

The only offer now is $15 wireless credit which I used for t mobile. Since I work with a lot of US people, I claim tax on these and also annual fee. I also claim on getting ITIN and bank account. I have hosting in the US but switched that to Platinum for now for paypal credits.

Perfect set up and covers all bases. So hotel status Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Bonvoy Platinum (are you close to lifetime?)
5 x points on airlines would be handy!

Post automatically merged: Feb 18, 2021

What does everyone else do?

Will be a while for Bonvoy lifetime plat. Gold is close. After covid, Bonvoy will give only 30 nights. Got a lot of points from Platinum cards in the past buying lifemiles and AA points. Keep both Plat and Prestige as I make use of FHR a lot and virgin lounge.

 

[jbmemories]

I have CSP and IHG. CSP is quite useless in my opinion. I don't use any app. I only take notes of the opening, closing dates, retention offer dates and use spreadsheet only when trying to work out the minimum spend. Chase is the only bank showing you how much you need to spend to get a bonus in their app.

It's quite easy for me.

- Amex Plat - Airlines
- Citi Prestige - Restaurants, cafes, bars, airlines if amex not accepted, travel agencies, hotels
- Citi Premier - Grocery, hotels. Maybe cancel next year.
- Citi AA - useless. Cancelling soon
- Chase CSP - other travel ie uber.
- Chase IHG - IHG
- Amex Aspire - Hilton
- Amex Bonvoy - Bonvoy
- Amex Bonvoy Biz - Business expenses in USD
- Amex Explorer - The rest

Whatever left that Amex doesn't accept will be charged to one of those Visa/MC either US or AU ones.

oh wow that's alot of cards and you have covered all the different bases !

May I ask why you prefer the Citi over the Chase in terms of credit card (with the exception of IHG)?

Aside from the annual fee, Citi premier/prestige and Chase sapphire preferred/reserve gives roughly same rate (maybe CSP less in some categories). Is it due to the ease of redemption for Non-US items like flight partners and hotels?

 

[timmy1234]

I used my US Amex Bonvoy Business to pay a business using Yakpay and I was charged a Cash advance fee. So not only I got hit with Yakpay fees but also Amex fees. Whats your experience has been with this. Yakpay told me it is not an issue for Australian issued card. In addition to nearly 10% fees, The expense was not included in my minimum spend for my sign up bonus.

 

[glasszon]

I used my US Amex Bonvoy Business to pay a business using Yakpay and I was charged a Cash advance fee. So not only I got hit with Yakpay fees but also Amex fees. Whats your experience has been with this. Yakpay told me it is not an issue for Australian issued card. In addition to nearly 10% fees, The expense was not included in my minimum spend for my sign up bonus.

It's a tough one, manufactured spending is much more of a thing in US so all card issuers drill into them in much more detail than Australia. For example, they will claw back sign up bonuses if you go to Walmart in US and buy a bunch of gift cards, and they will demand to see your Walmart receipt if you say you didn't buy gift cards for those transactions.

On the other hand, providers such as Yakpay do exist in US, but Amex and other card issuer give strict rules to those providers in US about what services can be paid that way.

Your best bet would be to contact Amex to get the cash advance charges reversed on a one-off basis, I don't think it would be possible for you to include that transaction as a minimum spend for the sign up bonus given what happened.

 

[mrsquare]

I used my US Amex Bonvoy Business to pay a business using Yakpay and I was charged a Cash advance fee. So not only I got hit with Yakpay fees but also Amex fees. Whats your experience has been with this. Yakpay told me it is not an issue for Australian issued card. In addition to nearly 10% fees, The expense was not included in my minimum spend for my sign up bonus.

Is Yakpay’s Amex surcharge 2.15%? Have you looked at Sniip? Amex surcharge is 1.5%. Don’t have a business so don’t know what you can or can’t pay with Sniip, but if it’s bills etc. that can be paid via bpay, Sniip seems to be able to do it. I’ve used it once with my Oz Amex, haven’t tried it with my Bonvoy Amex though so unfortunately can’t comment if it comes across as a cash advance too.

 

[timmy1234]

Is Yakpay’s Amex surcharge 2.15%? Have you looked at Sniip? Amex surcharge is 1.5%. Don’t have a business so don’t know what you can or can’t pay with Sniip, but if it’s bills etc. that can be paid via bpay, Sniip seems to be able to do it. I’ve used it once with my Oz Amex, haven’t tried it with my Bonvoy Amex though so unfortunately can’t comment if it comes across as a cash advance too.

You cannot use Sniip to pay your contractor bills who does not have BPAY details and only provides you with bank details.

 

[Finale]

oh wow that's alot of cards and you have covered all the different bases !

May I ask why you prefer the Citi over the Chase in terms of credit card (with the exception of IHG)?

Aside from the annual fee, Citi premier/prestige and Chase sapphire preferred/reserve gives roughly same rate (maybe CSP less in some categories). Is it due to the ease of redemption for Non-US items like flight partners and hotels?

I don't think they give the same earn rates.

CSP gives 2x travel and dining. (more travel categories)
Citi Premier gives 3x airlines, hotels, dining, grocery, gas.

CSR gives 3x travel and dining. (more travel categories)
Citi Prestige gives 5x dining, airlines and travel agencies. 3x hotels and cruise.

It depends on your lifestyle I think. I eat out and drink a lot so 5x dining is something I value. Prestige also gives 2x 4th night free. Even though it's not as good as in the past, I still make use of it.

Moreover, I like Mastercard. The exchange is normally at the time of the transaction and it's almost always better than Visa from my experience.

People might find transfer partners at Chase better but I mostly transfer to SQ so no issue for me. For hotels, you can transfer Chase points to Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt. None with Citi. For airlines, as far as I remember Chase has BA and United while Citi doesn't. However, Citi has Qantas, Lifemiles, Cathay, EVA, Thai etc. which are more useful for me.

And one last thing, you can only have one Sapphire card at a time and you can only get a signup bonus once every 48 months (should add a few more months depending on when you get the bonus). Say if you have CSR, then 4 years later you want a bonus from CSP, you will need to downgrade CSR to something like freedom first but that's not convenient if CSR is your main card.

With Citi, as long as you don't open or close any thankyou card in 24 months (holding one is fine), you are eligible for the bonus. You can hold both Premier and Prestige. I will cancel Premier and sign up again in 24 months. Use it for a year and then repeat the process (if they don't change the rules).

 

[mrsquare]

You cannot use Sniip to pay your contractor bills who does not have BPAY details and only provides you with bank details.

Yeah fair enough. Sorry that’s wasn’t helpful.

Assume you’ve looked at the other payment aggregators that work like Yakpay already (i.e. creditrewards, bluechain, b2bpay etc. per this link https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads/rewardpay-alternatives.85954/)?

 

[PointsLife1]

I don't think they give the same earn rates.

CSP gives 2x travel and dining. (more travel categories)
Citi Premier gives 3x airlines, hotels, dining, grocery, gas.

CSR gives 3x travel and dining. (more travel categories)
Citi Prestige gives 5x dining, airlines and travel agencies. 3x hotels and cruise.

It depends on your lifestyle I think. I eat out and drink a lot so 5x dining is something I value. Prestige also gives 2x 4th night free. Even though it's not as good as in the past, I still make use of it.

Moreover, I like Mastercard. The exchange is normally at the time of the transaction and it's almost always better than Visa from my experience.

People might find transfer partners at Chase better but I mostly transfer to SQ so no issue for me. For hotels, you can transfer Chase points to Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt. None with Citi. For airlines, as far as I remember Chase has BA and United while Citi doesn't. However, Citi has Qantas, Lifemiles, Cathay, EVA, Thai etc. which are more useful for me.

And one last thing, you can only have one Sapphire card at a time and you can only get a signup bonus once every 48 months (should add a few more months depending on when you get the bonus). Say if you have CSR, then 4 years later you want a bonus from CSP, you will need to downgrade CSR to something like freedom first but that's not convenient if CSR is your main card.

With Citi, as long as you don't open or close any thankyou card in 24 months (holding one is fine), you are eligible for the bonus. You can hold both Premier and Prestige. I will cancel Premier and sign up again in 24 months. Use it for a year and then repeat the process (if they don't change the rules).

Another avenue for Citi if you want hotel points is transfer to Virgin Atlantic and then you can transfer to Hilton or IHG. Airlines normally better value but each to their own and when I did it a few years ago the IHG points went over as qualifying points and such hit Spire Elite and keep it every year by renewing Ambassador.

I do hope I can keep my IHG Chase card

Post automatically merged: Feb 19, 2021

Another avenue for Citi if you want hotel points is transfer to Virgin Atlantic and then you can transfer to Hilton or IHG. Airlines normally better value but each to their own and when I did it a few years ago the IHG points went over as qualifying points and such hit Spire Elite and keep it every year by renewing Ambassador.

I do hope I can keep my IHG Chase card

Please note Virgin to IHG doesn't qualify anymore but I believe Chase to IHG does.