tipex

hi all,

if i'm using an american express credit card in the uk will this help my credit score in the u.s when i finally relocate next year?
Or bank with citibank?

tonrob

There have been reports of AMEX being willing to transfer over your record to the US, so that might help.

Whereas Citibank just hate you and want you dead.

tipex

ha ha citibank sounds about right .

sounds good about amex though

fatbrit

http://www.americanexpress.com/globa...nsfer_en.shtml

tipex

Thank you for that thats great so that will be one less thing to worry about and get credit going.

many thanks

tonrob

Hmmm.... if they move your account to the US I'm assuming they will issue a new card - the US probably has a greater number of AMEX card types than the UK so I wonder if you get to choose? There are some insane sign-on bonuses for their US card products (especially, Premier Rewards Gold and Platinum, and also Starwood cards) so I wonder whether the savvy transferer can grab one of those?

(Example - recent Platinum sign-on bonus gave enough Membership Rewards points that, when converted to BA miles, would buy a first class return to Europe Zone 1 (on BA) or Asia (on Cathay), or take a family of 3 on a multi-stop tour of South America including Easter Island in coach).

E3only

You can choose.

I applied for Costo Card, got declined called the global transfer team and they approved it.

Also, the great thing is - Amex carry forward the opening date of the card...so my card was open for 9 years in Australia and my US card on day one was reported as 9 years open!!

tonrob

Was there any kind of new account bonus applicable to the Costco card and, if so, did you get it?

Bob

If you've had the account for more than 12 months transferring shouldn't be a problem, if it's just a bit less, it's luck of the draw if they will or not.

It's a good jump start on building credit history though.

tipex

had the credit card a yearish now so yeh! happy days

needed to get some sort of reward so got virgin miles with amex

rebs

We weren't able to do a transfer with a Virgin Amex card - it was administered by MBNA - my understanding is it has to be a straight American Express card.

tonrob

Ah - yes - this might be the killer. Other banks do AMEX cards - you actually need one issued by AMEX themselves.

The US Virgin card is issued by AMEX but, to be fair, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a crap programme at best, doubly so if you live in the US. The best AMEX cards to have are the ones I listed above - both for the actual value of the sign up deal and also the level of flexibility of transferring to a number of other useful programmes (often with lovely bonuses involved).

Bob

Yeah, makes a difference...everyone else have separate entities in each country, so won't be able to do this unless it's a direct AmEx.

MBNA haven't existed for years now anyway and are BoA.

rebs

I didn't know that - they are still badged as MBNA here in the UK

E3only

No, unfortunately didnt have any sign on bonus...but I don;t see a reason why not. I mean, I applied for Costco Card BEFORE I called amex global transfer. So say I had applied for Gold card with bonus, it wud be declined and then I would have called and got it approved in principal (with the bonuses?)