E3only

Hi All,

I have asked this question on the forum before so I thought I share my experience for the benefit of others. This relates to American Express and the global transfer scheme.

I got some information on this – courtesy BE, so I called AmEx before I left Australia and I knew what the requirements were. http://www.americanexpress.com/globa...er_us_en.shtml

I always wanted to call them once I had got my SSN issued and had my own place etc. It so happened that I went to Costco (10 days after arriving here, by that time I had bank account, lease and SSN organized) and paid for my membership. I wanted to apply for the Costco amex card and the guy took down my application (I actually got a 30$ voucher for that!).

I waited for 3 days and called Costco again and got their reference number for the application. I then called AmEx global transfer number and gave them the reference number. Needless to say, they/system had auto-declined the app. I then gave my AmEx Australian credit card number (which I hold for >8 years). She put me on hold, checked the history came back, took my details (per above) and said she will recommend an approval. On hold again and in 2 minutes after that – she got the cards approved. I must say – I was impressed. The call went on for 20 minutes but at the end of it – I had cards approved. Note that, I have decent history in Australia – never missed a payment, never paid a cent of interest etc etc. I had a charge card as well as a credit card back home.

Anyway, so that’s that. Just wanted to share the experience. ….hope that helps new guys here.

Ta.

HarryTheSpider

Thanks for sharing.

I've heard a couple of things about the Amex Card angle. Perhaps some other readers can enlighten/advise - we're coming out to Phoenix, AZ in the autumn on an L1 visa. And of course we won't have credit history etc etc.

I'm thinking - apply for an Amex card while still here in the UK, use it (I travel a lot in my job, and in my new role the scope has gone from EMEA to global) then get the transfer done 12 months down the line. We'll already have established some credit history by then, but, I'm thinking the transfer of the Amex card would really boost things. Am I basically correct with this assumption, or way off?

Cheers

Martin

E3only

They say you need a card 12 months before it's transferred but you know what, if you can get one in the UK and spend money and repay it I am sure that will count. Worth trying anyway...