Originally Posted by ThirtyOne

I've just had some of the most fruitless and frustrating exchanges with Amex via email and on the phone regarding why Canadians are specifically excluded from any of the IDC programmes.

Basically, what I wanted to know is how I, as a Canadian citizen and resident, could go about obtaining a US-dollar Amex card. Everyone else in the world is able to, so why can't Canadians?

No one at Amex seemed to know. I was told I could apply through the Latin America programme, but when I called them up, they stated I needed a US dollar bank account in Panama or the US and an address in one of the qualifying Latin American or Caribbean countries. I was then told I could just apply through Amex in the US through the Global Card Transfer, but there I was told I needed a Social Security Number and a residential address in the United States.

So how is it that given the close geographic and economic relationship between the US and Canada, American Express does not offer a US-dollar card for Canadians? Like many of my kind, given how favourable the exchange rate is these days, I intend to do a significant amount of my Christmas shopping in the United States. A US-dollar card would be extremely welcome (to avoid the 2.2% Forex conversion tax.)

Does anyone know how a Canadian could legitimately obtain a US-dollar American Express card? I have spent three days in emails and phone calls to Amex Canada, Amex in the US, and Amex IDC for Latin-America and nobody seems to be able to answer my question. I figured the knowledge base here might know what Amex customer service employees do not.

(The second question is this: if the answer is "no, a Canadian can't get a US-dollar card," then does anybody know why on Earth not?)