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Post by baedaebok on Sept 8, 2011 17:37:18 GMT
A few posters have mentioned having American Express cards while living in KSA. Did they apply for them while here or back home (I'm Canadian but the same situation may apply)? I have tried to apply for this card but the application asks for my Canadian (or US) street address and Canadian (or US) employer. Since ARAMCO is a foreign company, I've hesitated in putting ARAMCO down.
If I get the Amex card issued through the Amex office in KSA, would this contribute to my credit history back in the US (or Canada)? Do Amex credit histories follow you back home? The reason I ask is I have no credit history so I need to start creating one. I have a local KSA bank Visa card but I doubt that would add to my credit history.
DB
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derekg
Senior Member
Posts: 107
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Post by derekg on Sept 9, 2011 1:38:53 GMT
When you are in KSA, things are quite different from in North America. If you have a North American AMEX card, you can have the account transferred to Saudi Arabia (this can be complex). The alternative it is to apply for a new card in KSA. The process is simple, but you cannot do this until you have been in KSA and working for your employer for a minimum of 3 months. Getting an AMEX in KSA is not difficult and the advantage is it is easy to keep payments current since payments will come from a Saudi financial insution (see below); they are not able to accept payments for non-Saudi AMEX cards due to some banking rules in the US that end up affecting all AMEX cards.
Credit is a different situation; every country is independent and what you do in one does not usually contribute to another.
One challenge to consider is that making payments on US or Canadian based credit cards must be generally be done on a bank in that country; this is particularly true of the US where they have made it difficult to remit payments from a foreign source due to money laundering and tax avoidance. Be sure you have banking in the country where your credit card(s) are issued!
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Post by vpainter on Sept 15, 2011 19:54:28 GMT
We use my mom's address for our U.S. Amex. No problems using the card here or around the world. Just needed a U.S. billing address. May work for Canada also, use a friend or relative's address for your card.
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Post by ridgeway on Sept 17, 2011 13:43:19 GMT
I got one but it was issued in the UK, it worked fine till I came to KSA. I have emailed AMEX several times and they assure me my card will work here, but my experience so far has been that very few shops accept it and even in those that dispaly the logo e.g. IKEA it didn't work. I have yet to find an ATM that accepts it also.
Lucky for me I have a Mastercard which seems to work just about everywhere and in every ATM I have tried so far. The only transaction I have sucessfully made on it while here was via the internet to UK store. Outside of KSA the card works fine but based on my experiences here I would not recommend AMEX unless you have a backup in your wallet. I expect it should work well enough for booking flights as that is an internet based outlet.
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Post by David_and_Nita on Sept 22, 2011 2:12:59 GMT
No cards other than ATM work here in KSA. It appears that the huge and demanding task of executing a CC transaction here (the one that the kids at KFC or McDonalds in the US execute on a daily basis) is too much for the merchants to handle.
Our cards do however work in bahrain or abu dhabi or jakarta or anywhere else in the world and are billed, in our case, back to parents address in the US. Ditto for internet purchases such as hotel / airline bookings etc etc. We just have to periodically renew our travel notification a couple times a year.
(laughing) We have never successfully executed a CC transaction directly to local airline either and always end up paying cash at their nearest office or at the camp travel agent. The airlines can't execute a CC transaction either but expedia or travelocity etc etc can and do.
Nobody who has at any time for instance had their account frozen or mobile phone service cancelled when their iqama is renewed banks 100% in KSA anyway. It's a frightening lesson. Best to bill it to a friend or family member back home and keep an account back home to pay it from.
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