Originally Posted by knobs5
I have a Starwood Amex card, and a Blue Amex Card. I will be going overseas for a while to Europe for work, and since I will have a residence there I wanted to know if there are 'euro' based versions of these cards. I assume I pay a percentage fee for using my cards in Europe now when I travel (mostly to Brussels), for the exchange rate, and ideally I should get cards that are based on the euro and not the dollar. Anyone have experience here?
I have the same question for my American Airlines Citibank Mastercard (although I realise there is a separate forum for mastercard).
Thanks.
You can apply for charge card products that will bill you in Euro's as a base currency and all non-euro transactions will be onverted to the base currency. The bill will hence require settlement in Euro's as well. I am based in London, UK, so am not sure how the application process would work for you, but here in London, I have a Euro card issued based on my membership to the Uk Charge Card program. I believe that your only difficulty in a striaght forward application maybe related to the fact that you do not hold a charge card product, but instead a Starwood AmEx credit card.
I would speak to the charge card department in the US and see what they say. The other point you will have to consider is what colour (and therefore amount of benefits) you need from your product as this will effect your membership fee for the Euro Card. I dont believe AmEx issue credit cards in Euro's unless you reside in a country that has Euro's as its base currency, but the charge card program is different.
Best
KVU