Credit Cards for Foreigners - General Discussion

In that case they must only notify if you are declined.

AMEX just called to confirm the address my card will be delivered to. They said my application is approved and Iā€™ll receive my card after a few business days. Apparently I will also receive an email confirmation shortly. Woohoo. My first credit card.

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I also just received an email from the automatic alert I set up on companies checking my credit report. Weird that Iā€™m getting this after they already approved me. Maybe there is a delay and they actually checked this morning

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This came up a while back and I think there was a solution, but I canā€™t find the answer now. Since so many people have a CTBC card, has anyone had trouble linking it to your app? Or online banking? Does it take a while to show up? I finally got my first credit card in Taiwan. They sent me two and I activated both. I bought one thing with one and itā€™s working, but I donā€™t see any information in either the website or app. I activated one card through the CTBC app and the other some other way, through LinePay maybe.
@lostinasia had this problem earlier. Did you find an way to check your balance on the card? I need some way to monitor how much I owe before payment is due so I donā€™t go over.

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How sure are we that this is correct?

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Also, can anyone here confirm if they were approved for an HSBC credit or charge card without a guarantor? Their site says foreigners need a guarantor but have heard conflicting info from others.

American Express sent an email confirming card is coming. Very excited

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My husband who is a Taiwanese citizen tried to apply for a HSBC card and they said his income is too low but Iā€™m pretty sure he didnā€™t even get to make a formal application.

I would love if there was a credit card here I could earn Singapore Airlines miles with

Seems like Amex is easily the most foreigner friendly. I got the impression they treat foreign customers exactly the same as their Taiwanese customers.

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Thatā€™s how it was years ago. Not sure about today. But anytime someone signs for you, they are the valued customer, not you. The bank does not view you as creditworthy.

As far as HSBC, I got one years ago unsecured but I had to make a bit of a stink about it. They didnā€™t want to at first.

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With AMEX cards, could we just add them to LINE Pay, JKOPay or Taiwan Pay and then use the card wherever those platforms are accepted?

Or do those platforms not accept AMEX?

Line Pay and Taiwan pay donā€™t work with Amex. If you find one if those platforms that does let me know!

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With your Costco card, I noticed that there is a requirement on the Cathay site that you need to have been in your current job for over a year. Did you meet this requirement?

I donā€™t because I recently changed jobs, but am thinking of applying anyway

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I do meet this requirement but they never asked and I never showed any proof of where I work or how much I earn, also I get paid in cash so I donā€™t have salary deposits in my bank accounts.

I received the card in the mail today and it works! 15% interest rate, $30,000 credit limit.

I havenā€™t been able to add it to line pay yet, line pay says the phone numbers donā€™t match but I have my cathay debit card on my line pay account so I might give it a few days.

I think having had a cathay bank account for ages that is used pretty frequently helped

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Ah, cool! Iā€™ll go and apply for one tomorrow then and see :slight_smile: Thanks

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A day after recieving the confirmation email from AMEX, the card just arrived!

It arrived at my wifeā€™s parents place so my father in law is now opening it for me and will attempt to take a photo of the card and letter so I can set up the AMEX app. Wish him luckā€¦

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As you can imagine the photo is blurryā€¦ we are trying again

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Amex was my first card in Taiwan many moons ago. I think once they showed on my credit report many other banks were more willing to lend me credit. I eventually cancelled it as they wouldnā€™t waive the annual fees which they did the first and second years for me. And by this point I had other banks cards and the fact that amex wasnā€™t usable everywhere. Their service was excellent however.

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Thatā€™s also my plan, glad to know it worked for you :slight_smile:

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Bit of a let down, the AMEX gold card doesnā€™t support Apple Pay.

I guess I really will never leave home without it.

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Stupid question: But why so much love for Amex in this thread? Theyā€™re accepted almost nowhere (compared to VISA / Mastercard), mostly have an annual fee and not that many benefits from what I understand.

Iā€™ve never felt the need to get an Amex - the only time I had one was when I received one issued by my employer which I had to use for travel.

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