Shuttle-Bored

Six months after my global transfer to the Everyday Preferred card, just applied and got approved for the Plat charge card - instantly online.

Smiley90

Are the transfer rates somewhere online?

Moving to the US soon from Canada, ready to lose some value there transferring my MR... Maybe I should empty out my account first.

mia

No, the points transfer process is largely undocumented, slow, appears to be entirely manual, and conversion rates fluctuate with currency exchange.

Smiley90

Well... that sucks.

I'll just ask then - would it make sense to liquidate all my MR before moving to the US since I'm likely to use ~25% value and I think the MR-to-program ratios aren't very different?

mia

This is only true if you plan to transfer to AC, BA, or Marriott. All other partners have more favorable transfer ratios in the USA program.

Smiley90

... dangit. Now I have to actually think about this, too! Not like moving is complicated enough. Thanks for the info.

edit: huh, interestingly the marriott ratio is actually not just the same but BETTER in Canada.

5 MR to 6 Bonvoy CAN
1000 MR to 1000 Bonvoy USA

and that's in addition to the 1:0.75 conversion that'd happen from Canada to the US. whacky.

ChocolateFactory

Just switch to the cheapest Canadian card that would allow you to keep your Canadian MR alive - assuming that doesn't have any other negative consequences for you (taxes etc.).
Amex doesn't care if you have credit cards from multiple countries.

Smiley90

Oh I assumed it'd FORCE you to transfer the account over. So I can have both a US AND a Canadian MR account? With balances tracked separately? I don't think there's a free CAD card that lets you keep MR, but I might still want to keep the Gold anyway to keep the balance and for CAD purchases.

On a similar note - do global transfer applications get sign-up bonuses? (e.g. if I use global transfer to get a US Gold or Hilton card, do I get the sign-up bonus?)

ChocolateFactory

Yes, you will even have to create a separate login (different username). At least that’s how it works with other countries, I’m not sure about Canada.

Yes, you will get the signup bonus. If you get referred by someone, that person can also get the referral bonus (you can send a me a PM, for example, hint hint ).
You just apply online as usual, your application won’t be approved automatically. Then you call and give them your existing card details from the other country and they’ll approve the application. But you can only do that once. All subsequent cards must be approved the usual way (=you’ll need to wait a few months before you can get your second card).

mia

Yes, Global Transfers shares your Amex Canada credit history with Amex USA, it does not transfer the account. Read here:

https://www.americanexpress.com/glob...ed-states.html

thereisnoaddress

Hi guys, looking for advice. I'm a Canadian citizen and I started getting my first Amex in 2019 February through a global transfer by providing a US PO box / mail forwarding address and gave them TD US bank statement as my proof of address, which they accepted. Since then, I've gotten my ITIN (applied with the intention of selling things on US Amazon using my real Canadian address and everything) and applied for 4 more cards as well as a Chase card. It wasn't until recently that I started considering moving to the US for future work (maybe 3-4 years later), and I was worried that because I have US credit cards, it might impact my status of getting a work (TN) visa. The main problem isn't that I have the card (since I went through T&C and nowhere does it say I have to be a US resident) but rather the bonus, which is supposed to be only for US residents.

I called and spoke with three immigration attorneys, who said that "it's not a problem at all", "not that [they] could see a problem but that [I] should cancel [my] cards" (they said that in the US, fraud is more regarding people using fake identities / names, or obtaining cards to do fraud activities), and that "[they] didn't see a problem, but [I] should cancel [my] cards if I'm concerned". The first attorney said that since I'm paying for my PO box, it's similar to as if I was renting a place in the US but not living in it. I've been paying off my bills on time, no MS, no NLL, spending within my given limit / < 10% of income, added my Canadian address as secondary addresses for all my cards, etc.

I'm okay with cancelling my US cards, but I don't know how much good that would do, since 1. if they want to track down, cancelling my cards wouldn't put me in the clear, and 2. when I move to the US and "upgrade" my ITIN to SSN, I'll have a worse credit report (and Amex / Chase might think I'm gaming them). So now I'm at a point where IRS thinks I'm a non-resident alien (true) but Amex / Chase thinks I'm a US resident (not true).

My questions: 1. will keeping my US cards impact my chances of getting TN visa? 2. Would cancelling my cards now be a better idea than keeping them and paying the balance and AFs? 3.What's the worst that could happen to me? If Amex / Chase were to crack down, wouldn't be a hard process for them? They'd have to first find a reason to look into my account (which could be hard since I pay my bills, no churning, etc) and prove that I wasn't a US resident at the time of application (with a loose definition of US resident since it's not specified in T&Cs) (which could also be hard since they'd have to cross-reference with DHS), and then sue me internationally (which is, again, lots of time and money), with no real benefit to them (exiting a fee-paying, no-churning customer). Theoretically, I guess I could pay a big fine and / or go to jail (assuming that the three attorneys I spoke to fail to defend me) for committing fraud, but in practice, I believe it'd be a lot easier for them to just shut me down and move on. I'm okay with that as long as it won't impact my chances of getting a work visa in the US. Thanks.

krazykanuck

1) No

You're really overthinking this. DHS doesn't give a .... about anything credit card wise. I've had an alphabet soup of US visas as a Canadian (check my username!) and have 20+ active US credit cards.
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This actually reminds me. Earlier this month, I tried to GT my way into the Canadian Marriott Bonvoy Biz card and was told by two different reps that the biz card was ineligible for GT, only the personal card was.

thereisnoaddress

Hmm, thanks. I think maybe I am overthinking this a bit, but just wanted to understand what's the worst case scenario.

You're Canadian and trying to GT your US card to Canada? Biz cards don't work for GT here indeed, you'd have to GT to a personal card.

krazykanuck

I don't have a Canadian credit history, unfortunately.

olivedel

Good evening OPs,

Hope you are all OK during the pandemic.
I recently moved from France to the UK, with a 13-year history at Amex (From France and US, always used Global Transfer as a charm).
However, this time, my Member Since date was not take into account on my Platinum charge card, and I have been fighting for 2 months now in updating that Member Since date (which has a great influence on the credit history imported in the UK), but I must say I failed for now.

When I called to apply for my card, I was confirmed that it was possible, but after providing the supporting documentation, it appears that the "Member Since" date could only be updated for previous cards hold in the UK, which clearly does not match the purpose of Global Transfer...

Does any one know who I should contact, what team at AMEX UK ?

Take care,
olivedel