American Airlines Credit card advice

[raleyoz]

Hi All, i am having a bit of difficulty on finding a way around this
i have a business in the USA and bank with Citibank, but i am not a resident , so i do not have a SSN

it appear you can not get a credit card (from Citibank anyway) without a SSN.
i have lots of overseas expenses in the USA and the points would be really beneficial. Currently I use my company USA bank debit card but can not accumulate points.

any ideas would be appreciated

Raleyoz

 

[Jack_OC]

Hi All, i am having a bit of difficulty on finding a way around this
i have a business in the USA and bank with Citibank, but i am not a resident , so i do not have a SSN

it appear you can not get a credit card (from Citibank anyway) without a SSN.
i have lots of overseas expenses in the USA and the points would be really beneficial. Currently I use my company USA bank debit card but can not accumulate points.

any ideas would be appreciated

Raleyoz

IME card issuers generally don't allow non-residents to hold credit cards. When I moved from the UK to Australia, I naively contacted my three UK credit card providers to tell them my change of address, and all three informed me that the cards were only available to UK residents and promptly closed my accounts. Conversely, I had no issue keeping my bank accounts open. I can understand the credit card issuers' position TBH - if a non-resident was to max out a credit card and simply refuse to pay, I think it would be very hard for them to recoup the money. The fact that you own a business there might change things, but I'm not sure.

 

[albyd]

I'm an Australian resident. It have a US issued Citibank rewards credit card.
I'm assuming you already have a transaction account in your name of 6 months or more good standing with Citi US.
See a banker at your local branch and tell them you want to open an 'international' or 'global' card and they will have a special form with a list of approved cards (not all Citi cards e.g. Hilton are eligible). I've had mine for a year now and works well. Bonus point categories apply globally e.g. Mine is the ThankYou Premier card earns bonus points in bonus categories like dining locally in Australia and when I've used it in other countries outside the US.

 

[Finale]

I'm an Australian resident with no SSN and has a Citi US credit card. I also bank with them over 2 years now. The only way to apply without SSN is to visit the branch (I tried on the phone but they would budge). They will need you id (passport) and income verification (your citi bank statements). I don't even have to fill an app. The banker did it all for me and I jsut had to answer a few questions. I only applied for their basic card but they gave me a slightly better card (thankyou preferred). Looking at doing a product change to either premier or prestige for airline transfer. Cant do product change until the card is 1 year old and out of APR promo period (15 months in my case).

They were pretty generous actually and gave me something like $7500 credit limit on my first card in the US. I think they would have approved me if I had applied for Premier.

I used to pay $30 a month for Citigold which is now Citi Priority. Not sure if it helped. I think you can still get $100 off Prestige with Citi Priority. Since you bank with them and live in Australia, you might already have Gold/Priority since it helps save quite a bit of money with wire transfers and foreign transaction fee when withdrawing from ATM and debit transactions.

Another annoying thing about no SSN is thankyou.com that is used to redeem points won't work. Need to call them to redeem.

No idea about AA credit card though but Thankyou card family is good.

 

[Isochronous]

I'm an Australian resident with no SSN and has a Citi US credit card. I also bank with them over 2 years now. The only way to apply without SSN is to visit the branch (I tried on the phone but they would budge). They will need you id (passport) and income verification (your citi bank statements). I don't even have to fill an app. The banker did it all for me and I jsut had to answer a few questions. I only applied for their basic card but they gave me a slightly better card (thankyou preferred). Looking at doing a product change to either premier or prestige for airline transfer. Cant do product change until the card is 1 year old and out of APR promo period (15 months in my case).

They were pretty generous actually and gave me something like $7500 credit limit on my first card in the US. I think they would have approved me if I had applied for Premier.

I used to pay $30 a month for Citigold which is now Citi Priority. Not sure if it helped. I think you can still get $100 off Prestige with Citi Priority. Since you bank with them and live in Australia, you might already have Gold/Priority since it helps save quite a bit of money with wire transfers and foreign transaction fee when withdrawing from ATM and debit transactions.

Another annoying thing about no SSN is thankyou.com that is used to redeem points won't work. Need to call them to redeem.

No idea about AA credit card though but Thankyou card family is good.

Was it easy to open the transaction account in the first instance as someone not resident in the USA?

 

[Finale]

Was it easy to open the transaction account in the first instance as someone not resident in the USA?

It was very easy for me 2.5 years ago in San Francisco (applied for CC in Chicago). I only used my passport and my friend's address in the US (for mailing). They also asked for my Australian address as well. Then I just filled out w8-BEN form. ATM was mailed to US address within a week.

 

[albyd]

Similarly was pretty easy for me. I used my Australian address and they were fine with that. I'd allow at least an hour for the whole process, like anything financial, there's a lot of red tape but it's worth it. They even give you your ATM/MC debit card before you leave the branch. I did mine in NYC.

 

[nzchris]

I opened with Citi in Washington D.C. last January where I was on a student exchange for 4 months. Was able to open a bank account, get a temporary ATM/Mastercard Debit card and also apply for a Thank You Premier Preferred student credit card. I wasn't working at the time and when I asked if they needed income verification, the banker just said he'd take my statement of fees paid to my host university as proof! He was very confident on me getting the card and mentioned a 90% no rejection rate.

You can do instant transfers from your Australian account to the US account with no fees, even without Citi Priority or Citi gold though it took months to connect the two accounts properly.

Interesting because I'm able to redeem on ThankYou.com without an SSN or US tax number.

 

[cove]

We both have Citi AA credit cards but we started with SSN from 1984 when we lived in California for a year.
My youngest son has not been able to get a US CC so far but will have another go later this year. US Bank said no SSN no credit card.
He tried transferring his Amex card but they would not do it in the short time he had available.

 

[Isochronous]

It was very easy for me 2.5 years ago in San Francisco (applied for CC in Chicago). I only used my passport and my friend's address in the US (for mailing). They also asked for my Australian address as well. Then I just filled out w8-BEN form. ATM was mailed to US address within a week.

Thanks for sharing!

Does the Citi US debit card have fee-free withdrawals like the Australian Citi Plus?

Also, any minimum deposit?

 

[Finale]

Thanks for sharing!

Does the Citi US debit card have fee-free withdrawals like the Australian Citi Plus?

Also, any minimum deposit?

There is no minimum deposit but I think you need to keep average balance or have some direct deposit to avoid monthly fee. Re ATM, I'm not sure to be honest. I'm paying $30 for Citi Priority and they waive some fees. I do think they don't charge any ATM fee even with basic account. You could still be charged by other local banks ie withdrawing in Australia at non Citi ATM, I'm normally charged $2-$3 by Australian banks. There is a foreign transaction fee unless you have a Citi Gold or Citi Priority account. I believe if you have a citi gold account, they will even refund the fees charged by other banks. This isn't as good as Citi Plus in Australia.

Different types of accounts have different fees, you can check here

https://online.citi.com/US/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=Packages&JFP_TOKEN=IZT6MDA5#fn9

 

[kyanar]

There is no minimum deposit but I think you need to keep average balance or have some direct deposit to avoid monthly fee. Re ATM, I'm not sure to be honest. I'm paying $30 for Citi Priority and they waive some fees

$1500 monthly balance or $1000 deposit (must be ACH! Cheque deposit or foreign transfer doesn't count) will waive the fees.