We are often asked by our international clients: How can we get credit in the US?

Many people talk about secured credit cards. We don’t like them. Why? There are better ways:

The way to go is the so called American Express “Global card transfer program”.

 You have to be an American Express cardholder in your home country (otherwise you should join immediately). You call the US global card transfer center at 1-800-453-2639 (North America) or 01-801-945-2048 (International) 7:00 am - 5:00 pm (MDT).

HINT: Check out which card you want to take before you call! The information on the phone can be very complicated, and you only have 1 choice (you can apply for other cards through the regular ways later, but you can only transfer 1 card).

What they do is they use the internal “AMEX credit report” from your home country and transfer to the AMEX credit report at your destination country. This works worldwide where American Express cards are available (not only for the US). You don’t have to have a SSN in order to transfer your card to the US. However, if you have one it’s even better for you.

For more info: American Express Global Transfer Program

By using the American Express Global Transfer Program you will get a relative high credit line from Amex into your local credit report, your credit worthiness will grow really fast. A SSN will help to make sure that the Amex credit report is assigned to the right person when reported to the nationwide credit agencies (Transunion, Experian, Equifax).

Hope this helps!

Axel