Travel cards alongside AMEX; credit limit thoughts

[comeocome]

I wonder what travel cards do you guys have apart from AMEX, which has notoriously high FX fees? I’m new to the country by the way…

Also, any thoughts on the credit limit based on previous country’s credit history (the global expat programme).

[Gary_Dexter]

When travelling outside the UK?

Halifax Clarity.

You’d have a new credit history coming to the UK so you’d be starting from scratch.

[John]

What was your previous country, if possible, keeping credit cards from that country may be more useful for spending abroad, provided you also have some savings from there. With the GBP being so low I don’t want to spend GBP outside the UK right now (though it may go even lower).

I have some USD cards and even if they charged a 5% FX fee I would be happy with that at the moment… though the important thing is also having USD to pay off those cards, obviously, if I had to pay them off in GBP that wouldn’t be useful.

But I’ve linked my foreign cards to Curve so there are no fees up to a limit anyway – however Curve won’t let you link non-EEA cards any more.

I also have Halifax Clarity, but with no UK credit history, you might want to look into Revolut, Monzo, Starling, Chase (current accounts) which have no FX fees, with some limits.

[Maples]

I just plan on using my backup card (Barclaycard Avios) abroad with Curve Blue. £1000 abroad per month with no fees as I believe it.

[SteveJ]

Maples wrote:

I just plan on using my backup card (Barclaycard Avios) abroad with Curve Blue. £1000 abroad per month with no fees as I believe it.

£1,000 is just the summer 2022 offer, it’s normally only £500 per month fee free on curve.

[Reney]

I used the amex global expat program several years back (moved from the UK to US). It worked well, once you opened one amex they allow you to open others whilst waiting for your credit record to build up and be accepted by other lenders.

There was (i.e don’t know if it is there anymore) a clause that required you to still have an amex card opened at the time you use the global transfer program i.e keep the one you had from your ‘from’ location, not sure how that works if you need to close down everything before moving.

[Maples]

SteveJ wrote:

£1,000 is just the summer 2022 offer, it’s normally only £500 per month fee free on curve.

Okay, thanks. It’s still better than the £200 I was thinking it was but misread it because that limit is for ATM withdrawals.

[aseftel]

Virgin Atlantic card in (most of) the EU

[marshy11]

Halifax Clarity here. Great rates.

[memesweeper]

For as long as they offer 1% back the Chase debit card is handy to use abroad and has 0FX markup.

I have used Curve extensively in the past, including heavy use of foreign ATMs in countries where cash is still the default payment method.

I also have a dollar ICC platinum card, but I’m likely to cancel that shortly as I don’t have the need at the moment. A euro ICC is superficially attractive but the acceptance rate for Amex is even lower than the UK in much of the Eurozone, and I have a decent rewards card behind Curve now so not worth the hassle for me.

[comeocome]

Reney wrote:

I used the amex global expat program several years back (moved from the UK to US). It worked well, once you opened one amex they allow you to open others whilst waiting for your credit record to build up and be accepted by other lenders.

There was (i.e don’t know if it is there anymore) a clause that required you to still have an amex card opened at the time you use the global transfer program i.e keep the one you had from your ‘from’ location, not sure how that works if you need to close down everything before moving.

Thanks! So you mean once you got the first AMEX from global expat, then you can apply for a second AMEX? What’s the purpose tho? Both are AMEX anyway..

By the way how long did it take you to build your credit history to apply for a regular/ standard/ non-AMEX credit card?

Mind sharing how much credit limit you got from your first card based on the global expat programme?

[comeocome]

Seems like a lot of people recommend Halifax Clarity, however they don’t accept people with limited credit history I think. Not a basic credit builder card? Seems like it requires 3 years of UK address history..

Regardless, why don’t you guys look at Santander all in one and NatWest Rewards Black? Both offer around 0.5% cashback, Barclays Rewards 0.25% cashback, all are on top of fee free like from Halifax Clarity.

[comeocome]

John wrote:

What was your previous country, if possible, keeping credit cards from that country may be more useful for spending abroad, provided you also have some savings from there. With the GBP being so low I don’t want to spend GBP outside the UK right now (though it may go even lower).

I have some USD cards and even if they charged a 5% FX fee I would be happy with that at the moment… though the important thing is also having USD to pay off those cards, obviously, if I had to pay them off in GBP that wouldn’t be useful.

But I’ve linked my foreign cards to Curve so there are no fees up to a limit anyway – however Curve won’t let you link non-EEA cards any more.

I also have Halifax Clarity, but with no UK credit history, you might want to look into Revolut, Monzo, Starling, Chase (current accounts) which have no FX fees, with some limits.

Moving from The Netherlands so I already have some euro credit card, which is a joke anyway – Dutch credit cards don’t have rewards/ loyalty programmes. So the only benefit vs UK CC are no “FX fees” on euro transactions.

I was more referring to US, Hong Kong, or other exotic countries where I travel to from time to time. That’s why I would like to get a travel credit card, offering some sort protection vs travel debit cards such as Revolut etc.

Did you also move to the UK? I wonder how long did it take you to build your credit record? Thanks.

[Reney]

comeocome wrote:

Reney wrote:

I used the amex global expat program several years back (moved from the UK to US). It worked well, once you opened one amex they allow you to open others whilst waiting for your credit record to build up and be accepted by other lenders.

There was (i.e don’t know if it is there anymore) a clause that required you to still have an amex card opened at the time you use the global transfer program i.e keep the one you had from your ‘from’ location, not sure how that works if you need to close down everything before moving.

Thanks! So you mean once you got the first AMEX from global expat, then you can apply for a second AMEX? What’s the purpose tho? Both are AMEX anyway..

By the way how long did it take you to build your credit history to apply for a regular/ standard/ non-AMEX credit card?

Mind sharing how much credit limit you got from your first card based on the global expat programme?

My situation was moving out of the UK so all these answers won’t help much but here are some anyway.

So I had an Amex in the UK, I kept it opened, when I moved to the US, I called up US amex and told them I want to open a US card via the global transfer program as I had no US credit history. The program rules said if I had closed my UK card, I could not use the global transfer program.

Why I had more than one amex? For sign up bonuses of course! In the US once I got one amex, amex allowed me to get a second one not long after.

None of the other card companies in the US (that I tried) would let me have a card without at least one year of credit history. I was careful about who I tried due to the Chase 5/24 rule.

I think my first card was a charge card so no visible limit. This was quite a few years ago so I don’t really remember.

[comeocome]

Reney wrote:

comeocome wrote:

Reney wrote:

I used the amex global expat program several years back (moved from the UK to US). It worked well, once you opened one amex they allow you to open others whilst waiting for your credit record to build up and be accepted by other lenders.

There was (i.e don’t know if it is there anymore) a clause that required you to still have an amex card opened at the time you use the global transfer program i.e keep the one you had from your ‘from’ location, not sure how that works if you need to close down everything before moving.

Thanks! So you mean once you got the first AMEX from global expat, then you can apply for a second AMEX? What’s the purpose tho? Both are AMEX anyway..

By the way how long did it take you to build your credit history to apply for a regular/ standard/ non-AMEX credit card?

Mind sharing how much credit limit you got from your first card based on the global expat programme?

My situation was moving out of the UK so all these answers won’t help much but here are some anyway.

So I had an Amex in the UK, I kept it opened, when I moved to the US, I called up US amex and told them I want to open a US card via the global transfer program as I had no US credit history. The program rules said if I had closed my UK card, I could not use the global transfer program.

Why I had more than one amex? For sign up bonuses of course! In the US once I got one amex, amex allowed me to get a second one not long after.

None of the other card companies in the US (that I tried) would let me have a card without at least one year of credit history. I was careful about who I tried due to the Chase 5/24 rule.

I think my first card was a charge card so no visible limit. This was quite a few years ago so I don’t really remember.

Right! Thanks! Congrats to moving to somewhere with even more attractive rewards in credit cards!

Maybe it’s something I can look into in a few months time to get a second AMEX credit card in the UK for signup bonuses.

By the way, for my first UK card, I intentionally opted for a credit card vs charge card, to make sure I have an explicit credit limit on my credit record, which can hopefully improve quickly.

And I am definitely hanging on to my home/ previous country’s AMEX Plat, which comes with a key perk, the priority pass through security at Amsterdam airport (not just lounge access) and we all know the mess with European airports right. And I will travel at least monthly between these two countries.

[Reney]

I have since moved back to the UK, but I made the best use of my time in the US re points earning.

Whilst more options in the US, there are a lot more even more restrictive rules re sign up bonus. With the launch of the Barclaycard here, there is a bit more going on in the UK, but several others shutting down thou.

I hope you have read the HFP guide on which Amex to get the in what order. Both the nectar and marriott are credit not charge hopefully your first was one of those.