moe8555

This is not true, that language is boilerplate. I personally know multiple individuals that have nothing more than a U.S. bank account (e.g. no ITIN, no SS#, no U.S. source income/employment, no U.S. home/address, etc.).

They did not deceive Amex about residency and told the truth when calling in to apply (since no SS/ITIN). Amex approved them and all is well.

ChocolateFactory

LOL! The callcenter agents live off commissions. Of course they’re not going to stop you.
When I opened my BofA account and explained that I’m self-employed, the bank employee suggested to write that I’m employed by my most important client because that would increase my chances of being approved for a credit card (I still wasn’t). They care about their commissions. They’re not responsible if you lie on your application.
And you can’t even apply without a US address.

And calling contract terms “boilerplate”... “Your honor, I know I signed this. But I thought we all agreed that my signature would only apply to the parts I liked!”

I don’t have a problem with that, as long as you all pay your bills on time. But it surely isn’t intended this way by any US bank.

mgo72

I did not lie. They need just an address in the USA. They know I live in Europe, have my passport and sent even all things to Europe.

You need indeed assets in the USA ( BOFA needed to confirm I had an account and my address) and then they take the credit history with you.

ChocolateFactory

They don’t need any address in the US. It’s the address where you are supposed to live.
I know that what you described works. But it also violates Amex’ T&C.
Try emailing them: “I just gave you my friend’s address. I don’t actually live at that address. I live in Europe. But I can keep my card, right?”
See how far that gets you. Since they’re fine with that, right? ;-)

moe8555

Like I said, I know people (non-U.S. persons) who literally called in to apply and candidly explained their situation. They obviously have a U.S. bank account to pay the bill, but that is it. They live and work abroad. They were approved and the cards were even sent to the foreign address.

I don't know what the laws dictate, but I would imagine that, if Amex wishes to expand its client base and assume the inherent risk in dealing with such non-U.S. clients, they have probably done their homework.

ChocolateFactory

Again, the agents get paid a commission. They know that if they just enter a US address and the customer uploads a bank statement as proof of residency, it’ll go through. The callcenter agents don’t approve the applications. And for the system (or people) approving the applications, they can’t see what the customer told the callcenter agent.
But as a customer, you receive the T&C, which clearly state you must be a US resident.

Anyway, I don’t think this debate is adding a lot of value to the thread. ;-)
We both agree it is possible to get US cards in practice, which is what matters. ;-)

mia

This offer is available to US Residents does not mean that the card is only available to residents of the USA. The card product is not the "offer", and there is other language in the terms which explicitly acknowledges that some cardholds are not US residents.

paag

Trying to wrap my head around this.
1 AUD is approximately 53 INR. Does that mean 1 AU MR gets me 53 MR points in India? Will be too good to be true. The AU and and Indian cards are different but based on the MR points.

Pseudo Nim

https://www.americanexpress.com/in/c...rewards-cards/

1 membership reward point per 50 INR spent. They would convert points at approximately the prevailing exchange rate between AUD and INR.

ChocolateFactory

And then they would probably transfer to airline miles at a 50:1 ratio.
So you’ll want to check that first.

paag

Sorry, but not sure if I understand this correctly. How would say 10000 AU MR points be converted to Indian MR points?

paag

Lol, I hope that's not the case. The card I hold converts 2:1
Tried getting in touch and a couple of agents seem to be unaware of this. Waiting to hear back from them

ChocolateFactory

Wow, if that worked, it would be amazing.

Pseudo Nim

10,000 AU MR was earned with $10,000, right? Let's say the exchange rate today is 1 AU$ to 40 INR, but you only earn 1 MR for each 50 INR. What they would do is say OK, $10K spend in INR = 400,000 INR, but that's only 8,000 MR in India, so you will get 8,000 MR.

Generally speaking, Global Transfer MR rates are fairly well linked, and their earning is fairly close to $1 USD = 1 MR (converted to local currency), so absent any radical currency devaluations / forex movements, the MR points will, within ~10%, be worth about the same everywhere. Where your advantage would be is in finding award programs that are either absent elsewhere, or have poor ratios. For example, Japan does not have great MR-Avios transfers, so converting a Japanese Amex to a US / Canadian one would give one a better transfer rate to those points (I'm leaving aside the card eligibility criteria etc, obviously).

[edit] if you have a 2-for-1 earning card, I'm not sure how that works, but I think they still consider it as $1:1 MR in that case.

Waddle

The best position would be transfer from MR points earned in a currency that is worth more than USD. For example UK MR points are 1 per £ but when transferred over to the US your get an extra 26ish percent based on recent exchange rate. So in the UK 1000 MR points gets 1000 BA Avios but when transferred to the US you'd get ~1257 MR points and 1257 BA Avios. The only downside is you lose value when transfering to US then Marriott. UK MR points transfer 2:3 to Marriott Bonvoy vs 1:1 in the US. Win some lose some.