American Express Membership Rewards - Credit card partners in Denmark?

Aloha,

Are there any airline credit card partners available in Denmark?

I only know about a EuroBonus (SAS)/Diner's Club card, but it's next to useless since you doesn't earn any points using the card in Denmark.

When we lived in Thailand we could get a very nice Royal Orchid Plus (Thai Airways)/Amex card. Something like that would be perfect, but I have yet to find one that is available for Danish residents.

Any ideas?

Thank you, phix

I'm not aware of any option to use a charge card or credit card within Denmark and earn points. I believe there is a legal reason for this, but I don't know exactly what it is.

You can get an AmEx in Denmark now (regular, gold, platinum) but AFAIK they don't offer membership rewards.

Susan

The EuroBonus/Diner's Club card exist, so I guess it might be possible for credit card/charge card companies to avoid the legal issues (unless these issues are the reason we don't earn points using the EuroBonus/Diner's Club card in Denmark).

You can get a charge/credit card in Denmark. You can use it outside of Denmark and earn points on purchases for foreign transactions (as with the Diner's Club). You cannot earn points for purchases made within Denmark on any Danish-issued card, billed in Danish kroner, of which I'm aware.

If you want to earn points on purchases within Denmark, you will have to use a card issued abroad, for example, an International Dollar or Euro card from AmEx. But then you'll have the exchange rate issues to deal with.

Susan

How can you, as a Danish resident, get a card issues abroad?

I have already tried to look at a few options, but all of them seems to require that I live in USA og Australia :(

http://www.americanexpress.com/idc

I don't see how a Euro or Dollar card will benefit in this circumstance. American Express charges a fee (2.73% if I recall acurately) to convert the transactions from any other currency into Euros or Dollars. Unless you have income in those currencies I expect it would also cost you something to convert Kroner to Euros or Dollars to pay American Express. It seems all but certain that the currency conversion costs will exceed the value of the Membership Rewards points.

I already cautioned the OP about having to deal with exchange rate issues, but he/she still insisted on being given any option to get a card that could be used to earn points in Denmark.

Would I do it? No. But the OP will not find a Danish kroner card that earns points.

I only use my AmEx for travel or online (USD-based) purchases.

I'm glad you were more specific about the costs associated with currency conversions, mia, so the OP can make the right decision.

Susan

I already cautioned the OP about having to deal with exchange rate issues,

Susan

Sorry if my message sounded critical of providing the link, I meant only to amplify your point that the cost would probably outweigh any benefit. (It puzzles me that the International Currency Cards charge 2.5% while the USA based cards charge only 2%.)

Poking around online it appears that in Denmark transaction fees are regulated. Are reward cards actually illegal, or just impractical because the fees will not support such?

I also read that Danish cards require a PIN, but I didn't read carefully enough to understand if visitors would have difficulty using chipless cards. What is your experience?

dennis

No problem, Dennis, it was good that you clarified just how costly it could be to go this route.

I think there are some regulations that prohibit points earnings. There may have been something mentioned at one time on the SK forum about the EB Diner's Card, which is where I have it in my head from. But I can't really cite anything specific.

All POS terminals in Denmark require a PIN, but shops have the ability to run the card the old fashioned way, with a paper imprint.

Visitors wouldn't have a problem using a VISA/MC/AmEx without a PIN in normal stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. Most can run the card and get a printed receipt that has to be signed.

I never use a credit/charge card here, though, and just use my VISA/Dankort debit card for every day spending (even larger purchases). The only foreign currency transaction I've ever put on my AmEx dollar card is airline tickets, billed in kroner, and that was just to be covered by the insurance (so I pretended to ignore the currency fee).

Susan

Thanks for explaining the costs of currency conversions, etc.

I should probably mention that my income is in dollars and most of my business expenses are in dollars, so I guess I can more or less ignore the currency conversion costs.

...my income is in dollars and most of my business expenses are in dollars,

Ah, then you are squarely in the target market for an International Dollar Card ^ .

But can I get one of those as a Danish resident?

I have looked at quite a few online sign-up forms and they always seems to require that you are a US resident :(

Have you looked at the link provided by Susan? The International Dollar Card is specifically designed for someone in your circumstance.

But can I get one of those as a Danish resident?

I have looked at quite a few online sign-up forms and they always seems to require that you are a US resident :(

Are you sure you are looking the correct forms and not the US forms in the US website?

IDC (and IEC) cards are available for people living in for example Europe and wanting to have a card charged in USD or EUR. Just go to the www.americanexpress.com/idc and click Apply, it will then let you choose the card and click apply again. It will open a PDF for you to print and fill. Then fax it to the Amex IDC/IEC (in UK) with the proper attachments mentioned in the application form.