MS Overseas
 

Any suggestions, ideas or tips on MS overseas?

planning a trip to Asia

I've long suspected that one could do something with Migros Turkey's prepaid products, especially the Paypal Turkey "Nakit" debit card or the ING Taze Kart, but have never bothered to try...

I did hit Loyal3 pretty hard and maxed out the online Serve loads when I was based in Istanbul, but those routes are both dead. There might be some opportunities to manufacture a little spend online via fantasy football leagues, online gaming sites (obviously dangerous, and not likely to endear you to your card issuer), Kiva, or stockbrokers that take credit cards (have heard that there are some overseas brokers that are credit card friendly, but you'd obviously have to worry about FACTA). Aside from Kiva, you would probably have to figure out those options on your own - if anyone here knows of such a golden goose, they're not divulging it in public! Remember to use a VPN for anything intended for US residents, and good luck.

Thx for reply Lonelycrowd. I think it is ok to use local CC for local prepaid and spending. worst case is just that the CC will cancel ur card or flag for laundering.

totally understand the golden goose logic. Gotta do more research and digging ;)

I've wondered about MS options while traveling, too. I recall last time in Japan, the convenience stores had a dazzling array of things that looked like they had the option to store value - all completely new and unfamiliar, so tempting! Potentially very risky, though - if things go sideways, getting it fixed once you return to the US could be a real adventure. Of course, not being able to read Japanese also increases the risk more than a little! :D

Thanks.. well may be there ways to do MS with Local Cards and accounts?!

Some of the convenience stores carry Vanilla Prepaids here but it looks like the registers are hard-coded to only accept cash for these. Besides, the fees are also higher than in the US.

Even if one were to find a way to purchase these on credit, next step would obviously be to figure out how to unload.

Some info on prepaids here: http://blog.gaijinpot.com/online-sho...d-card-primer/

Although not MS, one thing you can do is pay your utilities by credit card. But in some cases if you pay directly from your bank account there is a small discount. So you have to be aware whether the reward from paying by cc exceeds the discount or not.

Similarly, you can have your train fare card (Pasmo/Suica) linked to a credit card so that it autocharges via cc, there might be some potential here.

Pure MS seems hard and yeah of course there's the language barrier to deal with when reading the fine print.

Since when did taking a vacation now involve doing MS runs while overseas? Even if it is a business trip if I had free time I would be sightseeing.

Sheesh...isn't the point of doing MS is to collect enough points to take a trip overseas without not having to deal with MS for a few weeks?

Don't get me wrong that is for a short trip. You never know how other ppl do in overseas... may be they have a better way or easier way. It could be using least amount of time and get the points easily... e.g. buy and sell iphones

Resurrecting an old thread. I actually wanted to start this topic. I've been living in Bali for 2 years now and have been missing MS a lot. I tried some local options which seemed promising - Load dokuwallet through local Alfamart shops using CCs and withdraw from bank. There are fees but less than 3%. However, while the register is not hardcoded to reject CCs, the employees insisted on cash only for loading it.
There are about 12 to 13 ewallet options in Indonesia and there might be ways to load them with CCs and withdraw at ATM. Needs a lot of field work.
I've now restarted applying for CCs in US again, doing min spend using plastiq to pay my mortgage and property taxes with 2.5% to 3%. I use a virtual mail box to get the mail.
Apart from that, there's kiva.
Does anyone know anything else? I'd actually be happy with 1.5 to 2.5% fees so I could meet the min spend.

Meh-some of my best MS was done overseas ordering coins from the mint for delivery when I arrived back home. Rust never sleeps.:p

Hey business was how I found Redcard back when it wasn't in CA. I got a nice few extra months that way.