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Buy a credit card in the US

Question

I have some dollars in cash and would like to spend it while I'm there for the next few months, in order to avoid using my European credit card and lose money because of conversion rate. So is it possible to buy a credit card by depositing my cash?

sparkles

No. Just spend the cash.

Oct 25, 2016 11:50
Newstart77

But I was once told at the airport that I could buy a credit card at the next counter. How could I have done that without a bank account in the US?

Oct 25, 2016 12:51
Mikek1300gt

Post FATCA, any connection with the USA is very dangerous. Do NOT get a US credit card even if you can. The USA has a broad and amazing list of who they consider to be US tax payers.

Oct 25, 2016 21:47
anon

Newstart77 - I think what you're talking about is a pre-paid credit card that you load up with cash at a bank, and then use as a payment card. They're more difficult to get now, as you typically need a US social security number to get it.

You could try Serve by AMEX;
https://www.americanexpress.com/serve/?intlink=us-serve-marketing-home-h...

You should be aware that these cards typically charge you a fee every time you use them, so it may not necessarily work out in your favor. I would advise you to go along to your bank here and ask what they can do for you.

If you can get one of these cards, you can re-charge them at multiple grocery stores like CVS, Dollar General, and Walmart.

And, just to reassure you, having a US credit card will not makie you liable to be a US taxpayer. I think Mikek1300gt's hysteria about FATCA has got to him!

Oct 26, 2016 09:56
anon

Heres another product from VISA where it looks like you can get the cards in person, rather than having to have it posted to you:
https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/cards/services-locator.html

Oct 26, 2016 09:57
Newstart77

Thank you Anon! The link to Visa is extremely helpful. This is exactly what I'm looking for! It doesn't even seem that there are transaction fees for purchases :-).

Oct 26, 2016 12:20
Mikek1300gt

""I think Mikek1300gt's hysteria about FATCA has got to him!""

That's probably what the guy in the UK would have said if I told him not to do work for the US and try and bank a US check/cheque in the UK. He's now black listed. due to his sketchy "US indicia" which all banks have been forced to hunt out to report back to the USA. You can google the story.

We have the lord mayor of London paying US taxes and disabled Canadian children paying US taxes on their disability savings plans. Yes, it does sound outrageous, but it happens to be the extraordinary truth.

Oct 27, 2016 10:55
anon

Mikek1300gt, I think you'll find that it is was the former "Mayor of London" and not the "Lord Mayor of London", and the reason he was paying US taxes is because he has dual UK / US nationality and was liable for the taxes. There is nothing extraordinary about that at all.

Oct 27, 2016 17:09
Mikek1300gt

Nothing extraordinary about a country demanding taxes based on presumed ownership of people who don't live in the country?? Tell me, which other country would do this? Eritrea seems to be the only example I can find, and in 2011 the USA was the loudest mouth at the UN in demanding sanctions if Eritrea did not cease and desist from attempting taxing it's diaspora. Then the USA went about doing the same thing, on steroids. FATCA.

Oct 27, 2016 20:36
Mikek1300gt

And do you REALLY think it is perfectly normal that a disabled Canadian child is taxed by the USA on his entirely Canadian funded disability savings plan, leaving Canadian tax payers to yet again be left to be paying when the money runs out because the USA took it? Yes I DO have a bee in my bonnet about FATCA! That combined with the US tax system is an obscenity on an epic scale. LEARN, and be angry.

Oct 27, 2016 20:47

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