Strategy to obtain US Amex

[desafinado74]

What is the upside of getting a Remitly Passbook debit card? I thought it didn't help your fico score...

I got it as a backup checking account, as it was easy to apply for it. Anyway, Remitly has decided to close their Passbook accounts.

 

[desafinado74]

Update - I managed to open a BoA Cheque and Secured Credit Account.

1. Address - I used MyUS address however they have declined to forward bank cards. So, I spoke to a mate who lives in San Jose, CA and is okay with me using her address for BoA and later for AMEX. Does anyone see any problem with this?

2. Phone - I used OpenPhone and paid their annual USD$120 only to find out I can't receive Bank OTPs, arrgghhh - I have read about T-mobile E-Sim is that something we can legally obtain from Australia? Any other recommendations?

3. AMEX - had to cancel my application as they requested for a Form 4506-T, the lady did say Platinum is their most prestigious card. So, have i blown my chances of a US AMEX card? or can i apply for another one?

I suspect the reason for form 4506-T request is perhaps because I applied for it whilst overseas and i closed my AU AMEX before US AMEX being issued.

Hi TheAccountant,

If you don't mind me asking, which BoA branch in LA did you go to ?
Did you also book an appointment prior to your visit to the branch ?

 

[_TheTraveller_]

No one knows what causes a person to enter pop-up jail, but my guess is the cancellation wasn't the big issue. It is the drop off in spend on the other cards. When you are meeting the minimum spend on an Amex card, you are putting $2-5K per month of spending on the card for 3-6 months. When that suddenly drops to 0, Amex knows you have shifted your spend to other card issuers, deem you a 'churner' and then deny you further sign-up bonuses.

If you are determined to get out of jail, I'd put regular spend on one or two Amex cards for a couple of months and try again.



Did you try calling them? For one of them, I couldn't verify my ID online and had to call. After answering a bunch of ID questions, they set up an account for me.

Post automatically merged: Mar 20, 2023

Not necessarily. Call back and say the majority of your income is international, and ask if you can send them your Australian pay slips instead. May work.

I believe you can't receive reports via TU or EX if you only have an ITIN. You can only use a SSN hence why I asked whether you had access to the via an ITIN. Even on EX's website they say that if you want your credit report and you only have an ITIN, you'll have to mail a copy of your passport and other details in which is a bit annoying.

Someone mentioned credit.com but I haven't been identified but I'll give them a call this evening to see if there's anything I can do.

I tried applying for C1 CX and lo and behold I was rejected for having an insufficient income. I'm pretty sure that's a lie but I'll see in a couple months. I gave it a go since I've read a few DPs where people have been approved with only 1 year credit history but I'll keep monitoring it.

Does anyone know where I should go from here onwards? My main priorities are VX, SV1 and WOH.

I'm currently approved for SV1 without the SUB but I'm not sure if there is a point in apply for that if I can't get VX but again I most likely need a card to report my ITIN with my credit file.

Thoughts?

 

[Igreen]

They don’t. I was told if machine ever asks for one to use the last 4 digits of the card number.

You need to type in the 4 digit CVV number as your pin code. Worked for me in Oz and Europe especially at automatic gas stations

 

[TheAccountant]

Hi TheAccountant,

If you don't mind me asking, which BoA branch in LA did you go to ?
Did you also book an appointment prior to your visit to the branch ?

I booked an appointment in Bev Hills, opening an account was a really easy process actually.

 

[desafinado74]

I booked an appointment in Bev Hills, opening an account was a really easy process actually.

Thanks for the info. I am planning to visit LA next year. Will check out that branch and Citi too.

 

[Igreen]

I'm doing it via IBKR. I convert my AUD to USD at spot and then wire that money to my HSBC US account which is then linked to my Amex US. IBKR has couple of options to send money to your account with one free transaction/month and after that depending on the option you use it is either $10 or $1 for any subsequent transaction that month.

What IBKR product allows u to convert AUD to USD at spot. How do you load ur AUD into IBKR account. I have used Wise and Revolut.

 

[albyd]

I've used IBKR before - their bog standard brokerage account - this was the US one as they didn't yet have a license in Australia. I haven't used them in years but the FX at the time was great - no spread and $US1 fee regardless of how much you did.

To get funds into it, would need to use the funds transfer functionality to load it into account management - it's a little fiddly but works well.

 

[maverick1]

What IBKR product allows u to convert AUD to USD at spot. How do you load ur AUD into IBKR account. I have used Wise and Revolut.

Not sure if there is a specific IBKR prod but I basically chose an option to trade both AU & US markets. You can transfer AUD from your local Aus bank account to IBKR.
Once AUD is in your account the currency can be exchanged into USD, CAD, CHF SGD and few more currencies and vice versa.

 

[levelnine]

Not sure if there is a specific IBKR prod but I basically chose an option to trade both AU & US markets. You can transfer AUD from your local Aus bank account to IBKR.
Once AUD is in your account the currency can be exchanged into USD, CAD, CHF SGD and few more currencies and vice versa.

Is this basically a fee-free way to convert AUD to USD?!

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Has anyone had experiences where their credit report has bugged out and shown no revolving credits?

Last night I had all my Amex GTs on my EQ credit report but this morning I refreshed my credit report to see whether a recent hard pull was reported and both my GT cards originally on it had disappeared.

 

[Finale]

I just had a rather unpleasant experience applying for Chase business card.

I applied and was approved for Chase Ink Unlimited back in Nov and then applied for Ink cash early this month. I was asked to call to confirm my infortmation and was told it was denied pretty much due to recent inquries. I have Venture X and I tried to apply for Venture 2 times in Jan and Mar and was denied both times.

I was then transfered to the recon line and I asked if they could approve me by moving a credit line from another business card. I got a rejection letter the next day. I called again for another review which I think was too early since the first rejection letter mightn't be for the moving credit line request. My app then went to the fraud department and they asked me to upload documents, proof of residential address, business address, SSN, ITIN, DOB. I only had ITIN, Passport, and bank statement which they did not accept and would not process my app. Got 2 HPs from them as usual.

Now I have 4 useless HPs on my file (past 3 months) lol It was quite a mistake with Cap1 apps. I only got 1 Chase business card last one year and was at 2/24 so these inquiries really hurt. Maybe holding 12 cards with some balance makes it more difficult as well.

 

[levelnine]

which they did not accept and would not process my app.

Occasionally you get a bad recon experience with Chase, especially if you're going for a lot of Inks. It depends a lot on the person you get, just like with all customer service reps. Some are easy going, some aren't.

I would call back again and play innocent, saying you asked to provide ID documents and you've done that. I've seen plenty of people take 6-8 attempts before getting it. I wouldn't waste the HPs.

 

[dein_gesicht]

Not sure if there is a specific IBKR prod but I basically chose an option to trade both AU & US markets. You can transfer AUD from your local Aus bank account to IBKR.
Once AUD is in your account the currency can be exchanged into USD, CAD, CHF SGD and few more currencies and vice versa.

I just use Wise to transfer funds to my US HSBC account

 

[Finale]

Occasionally you get a bad recon experience with Chase, especially if you're going for a lot of Inks. It depends a lot on the person you get, just like with all customer service reps. Some are easy going, some aren't.

I would call back again and play innocent, saying you asked to provide ID documents and you've done that. I've seen plenty of people take 6-8 attempts before getting it. I wouldn't waste the HPs.

I think it is safer for me to wait for now. This time it is fraud dept and I will have to pass this for them to review again and I might waste another HP. Kinda get sick of it already. They did HP every time I called in the past. Got a couple of AUS cards with high min spend to apply so will go for that first while trying to lower the balance which is normally 10k-20k across all cards (due to 0% APR promo). Cap1 also rejected me because of that and the 2 HPs from Chase.

 

[levelnine]

This time it is fraud dept

Fair enough. If you have other options, might as well focus on them.

For anyone else reading and thinking of applying for Chase in the future, the fraud department isn't anything to be scared of. I always get the fraud department when I call in after making an application because I apply from outside the US. Every time, all they've wanted is to ask some simple ID questions and then approve on the spot. Always been very friendly and helpful. Some people do get put through the wringer, especially if you're on your 5th+ Ink, but as long as you have a plausible reason for needing a new card, you can generally get it over the line. Sometimes just takes some persistence.

 

[Finale]

Fair enough. If you have other options, might as well focus on them.

For anyone else reading and thinking of applying for Chase in the future, the fraud department isn't anything to be scared of. I always get the fraud department when I call in after making an application because I apply from outside the US. Every time, all they've wanted is to ask some simple ID questions and then approve on the spot. Always been very friendly and helpful. Some people do get put through the wringer, especially if you're on your 5th+ Ink, but as long as you have a plausible reason for needing a new card, you can generally get it over the line. Sometimes just takes some persistence.

I had no issue with fraud dept in the past. Got 3 Chase cards so far. For this app, they reviewed and denied without me having to submit anything. I just needed to confirm ITIN. Then after the second recon, they asked me to submit docs two times. First was ID, proof of address and proof of business address. I submited bank statement for both addresses. They got back to me saying those didn't meet the requirement and asked for SSN and Tax ID for business. Submited ITIN for both since I do not have EIN and they said it did not provide the information required. No more docs I can submit to get pass this. I think new app will be easier and make sure no HPs for 3 months or so. Shame about 90k though. This feels almost like when you get unlucky with Amex and they request 4506-T which you need to let the app expire.

 

[nomad2000]

I just had a rather unpleasant experience applying for Chase business card.

I applied and was approved for Chase Ink Unlimited back in Nov and then applied for Ink cash early this month. I was asked to call to confirm my infortmation and was told it was denied pretty much due to recent inquries. I have Venture X and I tried to apply for Venture 2 times in Jan and Mar and was denied both times.

I was then transfered to the recon line and I asked if they could approve me by moving a credit line from another business card. I got a rejection letter the next day. I called again for another review which I think was too early since the first rejection letter mightn't be for the moving credit line request. My app then went to the fraud department and they asked me to upload documents, proof of residential address, business address, SSN, ITIN, DOB. I only had ITIN, Passport, and bank statement which they did not accept and would not process my app. Got 2 HPs from them as usual.

Now I have 4 useless HPs on my file (past 3 months) lol It was quite a mistake with Cap1 apps. I only got 1 Chase business card last one year and was at 2/24 so these inquiries really hurt. Maybe holding 12 cards with some balance makes it more difficult as well.

Isn't there a Cap1 rule that you can't hold more than 1 card of the same family? You either get Venture X or Venture unless it's a product change?
I think I read it somewhere, I might be mistaken though

 

[Finale]

Isn't there a Cap1 rule that you can't hold more than 1 card of the same family? You either get Venture X or Venture unless it's a product change?
I think I read it somewhere, I might be mistaken though

You can have both Venture and Venture X. Funny thing is I got denied for Venture 3 times, one time before Venture X. X was quite easy to get. The last 2 times I tried, they approved Venture One instead which I did not accept.

 

[nomad2000]

You can have both Venture and Venture X. Funny thing is I got denied for Venture 3 times, one time before Venture X. X was quite easy to get. The last 2 times I tried, they approved Venture One instead which I did not accept.

damn, Cap1 is very weird