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Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

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JaysonT
Regular Contributor

Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

I did try and find any posts relating to this but they seemed to head in other directions.

 

I am looking for an option which would allow me to give my father a credit card for small purchases.  Seems simple enough but there are some issues.   My father lives in Greece and I am in the US.  I was thinking of just adding him as an AU on one of my cards but I am unsure how that would work.  Maybe I am over thinking this and it is just that simple.  Add him as an AU and maybe contact the bank and let them know about low dollar value purchases in Greece.  I am not even sure if they would have anything in place to handle that?  I looked at Prepaid cards for Europe but they all seem to carry a $5-$7 monthly fee which seems a bit excessive when he will likely just be using ~$50 per month.

 

Any thoughts, ideas, experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
MT936
Established Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

So are you looking for a credit card with no foreign transaction fee and then adding your dad to it as an authorized user? Does he have a social security #? By the way that's the most cards I have ever seen lol

Amex Blue Cash Everyday: $25,000 | Navy FCU Cash Rewards: $25,000 | Discover It: $20,500
Chase Freedom: $12,500 | Citi Double Cash: $10,000 | Bank of America Cash Rewards: $8,000

Message 2 of 10
longtime_lurker
Valued Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

FWIW, and I have no experience on this - I think any creditor will be fine if you can speak with someone (with at least some marbles), explain the situation and have them notate the account so his (and your) cards are not constantly blocked for fraud. Because of this, I see you have multiple cards with Amex and Chase, I'd reccomend using the CSP or Platinum (no FTFs on either) and they both have great CS that should be able to address this. My guess is Visa has more acceptance in Greece, so I would personally lean towards the CSP if I were in your shoes. 

 

Good luck and keep us posted, OP.

Current cards: MSUFCU Platinum, Amex PRG, Amex Surpass, Amex BCE, Citi Prestige, Citi Double Cash, Citi Premier, US Bank Cash +, Huntington Voice, AAviator, Sallie Mae, Discover IT, Chase Freedom TU:753 EQ Enhanced: 758
Message 3 of 10
sponge_gto
New Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

Would like to see updates from the OP as well. GF is planning to send a card home to Germany just to "give back" to the folks. For a start I'm thinking of just getting an AU card of my fake QS for that purpose.

Amex: EDP, Platinum, SPG, Delta Gold; Chase: United no-AF, CSR, FU, IHG, Freedom; US Bank: Club Carlson Premier, Fidelity; Barclay: Rewards, SM; Discover: IT; Cap. One: Quicksilver; BoA: BBR; Consumers CU: Cash Rebates Siggy
Message 4 of 10
RecoveredDebtaholic
New Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

I did this for my wife's sister in Portugal. I used Cap One Quicksilver, called up asking to add AU, they understood the situation and accommodated the request after the CSR confirmed it was ok with a supervisor to add a person that does not have a social security number. Obviously for security reasons they mailed the card to us and we remailed to her sister and we activated from here once we confirmed she received it.
TU FICO 10/2/14 826
Message 5 of 10
JaysonT
Regular Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?


@MT936 wrote:

So are you looking for a credit card with no foreign transaction fee and then adding your dad to it as an authorized user? Does he have a social security #? By the way that's the most cards I have ever seen lol


I am thinking of adding him as an AU on a card with no foreign fees.  He does not have a social.  I will get Chase on the phone today and see what can be done and I will update everyone here.

Message 6 of 10
maceto
Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

Most banks will allow you to add someone without a SSN, however will keep sending you requests to provide a SSN.. Amex allows foreign driving licenses and will honor this as enough
Message 7 of 10
jd352
Regular Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?


@JaysonT wrote:

@MT936 wrote:

So are you looking for a credit card with no foreign transaction fee and then adding your dad to it as an authorized user? Does he have a social security #? By the way that's the most cards I have ever seen lol


I am thinking of adding him as an AU on a card with no foreign fees.  He does not have a social.  I will get Chase on the phone today and see what can be done and I will update everyone here.


I would lean towards the CSP as well. Adding him on the Platinum costs $175/year vs. free for the CSP.


NPSL............... $20,700........... $15,200.......... $5,000............ $15,000............ $20,000
Current Scores: Equifax: 761 (Fico) TransUnion: 751 (Fico) Experian: 768 (Fico)
Message 8 of 10
JaysonT
Regular Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?

Well, I went with the Chase United Explorer card since I can always use more miles.  I received the card in the mail yesterday and contacted Chase to see what needs to be done.  It was all very painless, the CSR asked what country my father would be using the card in and then added the necessary notation to the account to allow for 1 year of use in that country.  She said that once the year was up, just call back in and have them add another year on.  For some reason I anticipated this being difficult when in fact it was very simple.

Message 9 of 10
carlosjgg
Contributor

Re: Looking for a foreign credit card option... any thoughts?


@JaysonT wrote:

I did try and find any posts relating to this but they seemed to head in other directions.

 

I am looking for an option which would allow me to give my father a credit card for small purchases.  Seems simple enough but there are some issues.   My father lives in Greece and I am in the US.  I was thinking of just adding him as an AU on one of my cards but I am unsure how that would work.  Maybe I am over thinking this and it is just that simple.  Add him as an AU and maybe contact the bank and let them know about low dollar value purchases in Greece.  I am not even sure if they would have anything in place to handle that?  I looked at Prepaid cards for Europe but they all seem to carry a $5-$7 monthly fee which seems a bit excessive when he will likely just be using ~$50 per month.

 

Any thoughts, ideas, experiences would be greatly appreciated.


i have done this before and i never contacted the bank about it and it work fine, if they put a fraud alert just call then and explain to then that the au of the card is abroad. and they will make note of if you do not have to explain to then where hi live.make sure it is a no ftf card, i know that some bank ask for ss# for au, but some don't like cap one and they do not have ftf

Chase sp 5k c---------------------------Care credit 4500 cl
Chase mileageplus explorer 5k ---Citi diamond p 2k
Chase mileageplus club 15k ------ Discover it 1.5k
Amex ed 5k -----------------------------Lowe's 10k-----Dinersclub mc 5k
Amex gold npsl plus a 35k cl--------BestBuy 2.1k--Kay's 5k
Sam's mc 4.5k --------------------------Jared 6k
Message 10 of 10
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