Europeans, can you get SPG Amex?

[Quiding]

Hi.

I have a question that probably only Europeans can answer..
When I got my TS the salesguy told me about the SPG Amex card and it sounded very good.
Only problem is, I live in Sweden and when I came home I found out that you need to live in the US to get the card.
I have a normal Swedish Amex card but the transaction rate is 3usd for 1 Starpoint, instead of the 1 to 1.

So I am wondering if there is anyone here who has found a solution to this??
It sort of sucks since I have a company who buys a looot on credit card. It sounded very good first time I heard about the card but... I don't think I can blame the salesguy that he doesn't know that I probably can't get the card if I don't live in the US.

Thanks for all the help!

Br
Johan

 

[Henry M.]

Do you have a US address you can use for applying for the card? MAybe a friend that can help you out? Once you have the card you could then set up electronic billing and payment online. It might all be somewhat cumbersome, though.

 

[Captron]

Do you have a US address you can use for applying for the card? MAybe a friend that can help you out? Once you have the card you could then set up electronic billing and payment online. It might all be somewhat cumbersome, though.

My brother does this for a US card at my house. Now if I can get them to turn off all the other credit card offers and catalogs I get now for him and his DW! (I def know where they are coming from though...AMEX!!!)

 

[Quiding]

Mm thanks for the tips but I don't have anyone that I know in the US
Anyone has had any other solution or am I screwed?

 

[sml2181]

No, no US credit card for us.

It has been my understanding that one needs to have a US ss number in order to get such a card. Could someone confirm?
If that is not the case, then I could have set it up years ago!!!

Life would be so much easier...

 

[YYJMSP]

No, no US credit card for us.

It has been my understanding that one needs to have a US ss number in order to get such a card. Could someone confirm?
If that is not the case, then I could have set it up years ago!!!

Life would be so much easier...

I seem to recall hearing that AMEX has a "global transfer" feature, allowing you to move your accounts from one country to another when you relocate, and my understanding is that they don't require you to have a credit history in the destination country.

Not sure if this could be used to switch one account to the USA without having to actually move there. Perhaps call AMEX?

 

[sml2181]

I seem to recall hearing that AMEX has a "global transfer" feature, allowing you to move your accounts from one country to another when you relocate, and my understanding is that they don't require you to have a credit history in the destination country.

Not sure if this could be used to switch one account to the USA without having to actually move there. Perhaps call AMEX?

Thanks. Tried that but Amex said it couldn't be done. Oh well.

 

[sml2181]

Have you tried the Amex Green Card?

To the op: Just wanted to mention that like you, we get 1 SPG point for 3 Euro spent using Amex.

However, I found out that with the Green Card, one gets double membership rewards for foreign transactions. So needless to say that most of my purchases are now foreign transactions! Maybe that doesn't work at all in Sweden, but just thought I would share, as I have had Amex for many years, and I never knew about this benefit of the Green Card until I read about it on Flyertalk!

 

[clsmit]

Starwood has a relationship with MasterCard in some countries -- at least for hotel discounts. Maybe that's the way to go.