honu

I alerted a friend about this offer, and she decided to apply. This is what she found out: if your last name is Asian or non-Anglo sounding, you'll be asked to provide proof of citizenship! If you're a permanent resident with an Anglo- or Irish-sounding last name, most likely you won't be questioned, but officially only US citizens are allowed to have credit cards with this bank. Not sure if any other of their financial products is available to permanent residents... At first I thought my friend might have misunderstood the CS rep she spoke with, but an online search shows a series of complaints, including some about these rejection criteria.

Unusual practice indeed, and it makes me wonder if it runs afoul of some anti-discrimination law (national origin?). Anyhoo, this Barclays outfit sounds very odd indeed: after reading some of the complaints here, and having my friend send me a link to some more horror stories from non FTers, we've decided to use the card for the bonus miles and for 1 entry into Grand Slam, if it's offered again this year, and for the rest of time, let it sit in a drawer. Pity because I wouldn't have minded having a primary card for building up our US balances to have access to some nice *A awards... I guess the Starwood Amex will do the trick here, and the earning ratio is overall better too...