Strategy to obtain US Amex

[MajuraAscent]

I'm wondering that myself - though "streaming" money from a 'trusted' tier one bank to Chase long term is likely better than from a fintec like "revolut"? Thanks, I'm starting to wonder whether I need to worry about maintaining HSBC US Premier status - I'll need to look at their alternate non-premier cards as I have the Premier MC - which has a $US95 AF. Any suggestions? Though HSBC US is Premier only now.

I wouldn’t rely on something like Revolut or Wise. Much better to use a proper bank that isn’t some European fintech. Wise has also been closing a lot of people’s accounts lately.

 

[aaa99]

Tried to go Amex GT for P2. And got hit with pop up jail on the gold card. No previous Amex cards, never been an AU.

Would calling the GT line directly to apply make a difference?

 

[QF_Flyer]

I'm thinking this too - I'm planning to narrate deposits to my HSBC USA checking account as "salary" but will that work? Does anyone have any data points? I'm otherwise finding I need to transfer >$US5K/month anyway so I can route it via HSBC. I've drained my Chase checking account. I applied for the Sapphire Reserve Business as it's a charge card (no preset limit much like Amex but it's a Visa) but got declined for too many application in a short time (I got my last ink in Feb 2026 so that's 5 months, perhaps they were looking for longer but reconsideration rep wouldn't tell me what the wait time is - Gemini says it's 6 months YMMV). I was hoping to get the current 200K SUB, I even reduced my CSP and Ink limits but to no avail. The original decision stood and I'll have to wait - not sure if that's now 6 months from Feb or from current attempt (July) - happy for anyone to share their experiences.

Re HSBC direct deposits, I don't see why it won't work - it's automatic afaik so I don't think a person is going to be manually looking at them - I'm sure not all direct deposits say "Salary", "Pay" or similar, so any old description is probably ok. For BoA I made no effort to do anything similar, just paid the money in (prob even said "Sent from Revolut" or similar) and got a written/automatic confirmation of eligibility.

I wouldn’t rely on something like Revolut or Wise. Much better to use a proper bank that isn’t some European fintech. Wise has also been closing a lot of people’s accounts lately.

I agree in principle - however, Revolut is now a bank in the UK/EU, and also Australia as of a week or two ago, so that is something slightly safer. I've got no issues with Wise, but don't store money there, I've been using them successfully for well over 10 years (since they were TransferWise).

 

[QF_Flyer]

If you are a US resident for tax purposes, they then tax you on your income in all countries

Taxation of U.S. Residents | Internal Revenue Service

A resident's income is generally subject to tax in the same manner as a U.S. citizen.

www.irs.gov

That’s not really a desirable outcome, and I think it would be hard to hide given they have your passport details from ITIN, and there is so much cross border info sharing from anti-money laundering laws

No it's not ideal, I agree - though doesn't the tax from everywhere only apply to Citizens? I'm not a US tax expert, admittedly.

 

[QF_Flyer]

...Thanks, I'm starting to wonder whether I need to worry about maintaining HSBC US Premier status - I'll need to look at their alternate non-premier cards as I have the Premier MC - which has a $US95 AF. Any suggestions? Though HSBC US is Premier only now.

I presume you mean alternative US cards, rather than alternative HSBC cards (as you've noted, they only offer Premier cards now)? Do you not have a US Amex?

 

[albyd]

I have a US Amex. Started my US journey with Amex and have a couple of other banks now too. It’s took a very long time to build up to this.

I think I will try to stay Premier in AU as long as they maintain it. I’ll likely try to route all my US payments through my HSBC US checking account and tag them ‘payroll’ to start putting in the work for AU Premier eventually ceasing to be a ‘thing’.

I think I will roll back or can my Premier elsewhere. I do have Expat Premier. I guess continuing with Premier in the US will keep me going of sorts. Is there a pathway to migrating my Premier card to something else in the UK (since Expat doesn’t issue its own cards, they are issued by HSBC UK (HSBC UK doesn’t issue cards directly to non UK residents otherwise). I also have a small GBP balance. Best to keep it there even though interest rates are so low as the Aussie Peso will continue to fall against GBP long term (my thoughts but I’m not giving financial advice here).

 

[Grrr]

No it's not ideal, I agree - though doesn't the tax from everywhere only apply to Citizens

No - it applies to US residents as well.

So when you fill in a W9 and say you are a US resident, you make yourself eligible to pay the IRS tax on your Aussie income and any other income you may have around the world