Current US Credit Card offers

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drsmithy

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Not entirely on-topic for an Oz forum but I know there are a bunch of people here who keep an eye on this sort of thing, so...

I have a sizeable chunk of money still in the USA from when I used to live there, and some significant upcoming expenses (replace current car, house renovations) which I intend to use it for over the next 3-6 months.

It has occurred to me that a potentially advantageous way to bring that money back to Australia is by charging it to a US-based credit card, which may also come along with the fringe benefits of a) signup bonuses and b) earning points and/or %age cashback on transactions (I remember these as being fairly common when I was living there - are they still ?).

So can anyone recommend any US-based cards that I might be able to use for this ? Must-have is obviously no charges for foreign transactions, should-have area either "cashback" or points earning (preferably in a way I can consume the points from Australia) and nice-to-have is a decent signon bonus.

(I still have a Chase BA Visa from when I was living there, which will obviously earn Avios, and from memory it doesn't have any international transaction fees.)

EDIT: I should probably be clear that I don't anticipate major problems in applying for the card itself - I've done it before since coming home and I have an excellent (US) credit rating, SSN and US-based address and phone number I can use. What I'm after are specific card recommendations.
 
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The US has heaps of good offers with sign ups - just a matter of whether you can access them from Australia. Good place to start researching is this thread:

I like the cards that honour bonus spend categories internationally as many of the bonus categories only apply in the US which isn't very helpful for spend in Australia. There's also plenty of premium card with no FX fees. Chase is the most famous. Amex has some good offers too. I've also found Citi honours their bonus categories (eg for Travel and Restaurants) in Australia. Choice will depend on what types of spend you do the most. Bonus points help offset the poor exchange rate.

Common strategy is to earn points (like Amex MR) which can be redeemed for travel (eg FF Points).
 
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