Strategy to obtain US Amex

Is Cap1 particularly overzealous with account shutdowns for fraud ?

New account, new card. Activated via their phone IVR service.

Should I wait until the physical card is sent over and do some in person transactions with the physical card before trying to connect it with Apple Pay or using it for web purchases with Australian merchants ?

I think I was pretty lucky getting it approved so I really don’t want to have it shut down…
 
Is Cap1 particularly overzealous with account shutdowns for fraud ?

New account, new card. Activated via their phone IVR service.

Should I wait until the physical card is sent over and do some in person transactions with the physical card before trying to connect it with Apple Pay or using it for web purchases with Australian merchants ?

I think I was pretty lucky getting it approved so I really don’t want to have it shut down…
giving yourself best chance would seem using card in person and maybe doing a US transaction - I only have experience with Amex so far and they seem to not care one bit but others suggest Chase/C1/Citi are more stringent
 
Is Cap1 particularly overzealous with account shutdowns for fraud ?

New account, new card. Activated via their phone IVR service.

Should I wait until the physical card is sent over and do some in person transactions with the physical card before trying to connect it with Apple Pay or using it for web purchases with Australian merchants ?

I think I was pretty lucky getting it approved so I really don’t want to have it shut down…
Congrats on getting approved for a C1 card. Which one did you get approved for? Did they ask for US-government issued ID or did they accept you AU passport?

I found they shut down my checking account not long after it was opened - they didn't give any reason but I'm assuming they didn't like my address being CMRA. I've made a further application for the Venture Card. They wouldn't budge on the US-govt issued ID requirement for me no matter how many times I HUACA.

My experience with Chase is they don't like the use of ApplePay, in a foreign country, with a foreign currency. Probably applies to C1 too. I think you are on safer ground waiting for the physical card like you've said. I can't otherwise speak from experience with C1 but from seeing Chase's reaction, I think you're right.

YMMV.
 
Is Cap1 particularly overzealous with account shutdowns for fraud ?

It doesn’t even need to be actual fraud. Their ‘fraud’ matrix has closed many accounts according to google searches/ reviews. There are no warnings, just account closure. I’m a recipient. 🤣
 
Congrats on getting approved for a C1 card. Which one did you get approved for? Did they ask for US-government issued ID or did they accept you AU passport?
Thanks but it's actually not exciting at all - they have given me a $500 credit limit as it's the VentureOne ('for good credit' = no credit) ! Makes sense as their approval letter stated that they couldn't find a credit file for me with any of the 3 agencies.

This also makes sense as my ITIN is new (2 months old), and my first GT (Green) was only about 5 months ago.

Interestingly they accepted my Aus passport, and my ATO NoA + aus bank statements as proof of income. I think this might have been a glitch in the matrix rather than a proper DP - hence my concern about not being shutdown for irregular use !

The $500 limit is a bummer (but understandable from their end). I presume from a credit file perspective it's better for me to just spend close to $500/month and auto-pay it off monthly, rather than pay it off repeatedly during the month in order to use more than the $500 limit ?
 
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Thanks but it's actually not exciting at all - they have given me a $500 credit limit as it's the VentureOne ('for good credit' = no credit) ! Makes sense as their approval letter stated that they couldn't find a credit file for me with any of the 3 agencies.

This also makes sense as my ITIN is new (1 month), and my first GT (Green) was only about 4 months ago.

Interestingly they accepted my Aus passport, and my ATO NoA + aus bank statements as proof of income. I think this might have been a glitch in the matrix rather than a proper DP - hence my concern about not being shutdown for irregular use !

The $500 limit is a bummer (but understandable from their end). I presume from a credit file perspective it's better for me to just spend close to $500/month and auto-pay it off monthly, rather than pay it off repeatedly during the month in order to use more than the $500 limit ?
I got given $500 initially too and got increased to $1.5K now - after almost 10 months 😂
 
It doesn’t even need to be actual fraud. Their ‘fraud’ matrix has closed many accounts according to google searches/ reviews
One interesting DP - I had used a US VPN when signing up for the card and then when getting online access with the C1 app.

However it wouldn’t let me activate the card when the VPN was active (asked me to call a number ‘for my security’), and I noticed that it sent a 2FA code every time I logged in.

After using their IVR to activate the card instead, I ditched the VPN and noticed that the app no longer asks me for 2FA.

So they are clearly sensitive to VPNs - but don’t mind me logging in via an Australian IP address !
 
Did you have to ask, or did they offer ?

Did you credit cycle or just spend $500/month ?
First 3 or 4 months I hardly used it, and didnt get approved when I initiated the increase credit. Got rejected because low spending
I had to put extra spending for 2 months close to $500 then auto approved for increase limit.

Yes I never used VPN with Cap1
 

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