Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
Maximizing Your First Two Years of US Credit Cards
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Business Platinum Card from American Express
- Earn 90,000 MR points upon spending $15,000 in the first three months
- Plus, earn 40,000 MR points upon making a purchase in months 14–17 as a cardholder
- And, earn 1.25x MR points on all purchases
- Also, receive a $200 annual travel credit
- Transfer MR points to Aeroplan and other frequent flyer programs for premium flights
- Unlimited airport lounge access for you and one guest at Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Centurion, and other lounges
- Credits and rebates for business expenses throughout the year with Amex Offers
- Bonus MR points for referring family and friends
- Qualify for the card as a sole proprietor
- Annual fee: $799
30 Comments
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Thanks Ricky for this detailed guide on US cards. After successfully applying for my first Amex card a year ago, I just tried to apply for the Bonvoy Brilliant card using the Nova Credit service and was given the dreaded popup saying that I wouldn’t qualify for the welcome bonus due to my credit history (ie. not giving them enough business). I know you said that one must charge at least $100/month to stay in their good books but my question is, is there any way for me to get back into their good books or have been blacklisted forever?
Hi,
Just a quick question.. I just applied for a Canadian Personal Amex in the past week.. would I be able to get away with applying of a US Amex anytime soon.. or I should also wait at least 3 months before then?
If doing Global Transfer, wait three months. If doing Nova Credit, you can go right away.
A couple of things to point out as someone who has an extensive US credit card portfolio:
@John and others trying to find out if your ITIN has attached. You can go to creditkarma.com to see if you have a US file under your ITIN. Credit karma is now available in Canada as well now, so you can track your Canadian credit file too.
@Ryan, you will be best off continuing to use your SIN for a SSN. My wife got a JCPenney card using her SIN and couldn’t get any credit using her ITIN because it always showed up as fraudulent. We switched to using her SIN and she has happily gotten dozens of US credit cards since.
Finally, Probably most importantly, Ricky, when you say you are at 5/24 in your post, you are actually at 4/24. Bizarrely, for Chase, the Ink card that you just got from them does not count against 5/24. They only count a card against 5/24 if it appears on your credit bureau, and chase cards do not appear on your personal credit bureau, so at the point where you thought you were at 5/24, you could still have gotten several more chase business cards and then one more chase personal card.
Thanks for this, all the rules around which cards count towards 5/24 vs. are subject to 5/24 have been making my head hurt. Unfortunately, if this is the case, I messed up by going for the Citi Premier when I did, since I should’ve gotten the Hyatt card first. Oh well, it may be another 12 months of focusing on business cards for me before I dip back below.
Are you saying I should forget about getting a ITIN and get you my SIN?
All I can tell you is our experience. Because we were living down there, she had gotten a SSN, but she couldn’t even get a Home Depot card with her SSN because the credit bureaus had her SIN on file and would not change it. So we started using her SIN and it worked fine.
If the US credit bureaus do not already have a SIN on file for you, them definitely get the ITIN, but if you have gotten credit from a US issuer using your SIN, then trying to use an ITIN could be very difficult.
Ricky, do you have to do a phone application to get a business card without an ITIN?
In theory it’s possible to Global Transfer to a business card online too. But with all Global Transfer applications, there’s always a good chance that you’ll need a phone call to verify some details too.
Great article as always Ricky! Though I think you should mentioned the Capital One Venture given the flexible currency and ease of obtaining – depending if you want to prioritize airline points vs. hotel.
I applied for the TD US Aeroplan Visa (now discontinued) when I got my US account about 14 months ago. 3 months later got the Amex Everyday Preferred (Global Transfer). 6 months later got the Amex Green. Got the Amex Bus Gold about 3 months ago and just received the Capital One Venture this week. So that’s 4/24. Will probably get another Amex bus card (Delta or Bonvoy) and then the CSP in a few months.
I tried to apply for the Capital One Venture card, but they asked for ID which can only be US driver’s license or State ID. Has anyone else encountered this problem or found a solution?
I’ll definitely need to look into that card further. Thanks for the heads up!
Here is the scenario (and what I think I am planning on doing), dont have an ITIN. Use the AMEX Global Transfer to get a US Amex card. Use it for 1-6 months. While doing that apply for a ITIN which could take several weeks/months. When ITIN comes through, in months 7-9 apply for another US Amex card and use the new ITIN.
When doing that will the ITIN also be attached to the 1st US Amex card that was acquired via Global Transfer and thereby create a longer credit history?
Or will the ITIN only start when the 2nd US Amex credit card was acquired?
Yes – your credit history will start from your first US credit card, even if the ITIN only gets attached later.
What was the process like applying for a chase business card in branch? Did they ask any awkward questions about your canadianness, or ask for any us proof of tax returns?
Nope, although I did have a friend hook me up with some especially chill bankers. If you go, I’d recommend the branch at 51 W 51st St in New York.
Ricky, what are your thoughts on the Capital One Venture card? It seems to have more transfer partners that are good for Canadians (e.g. Aeroplan, Accor Hotels ALL), compared to Chase Ultimate Rewards which primarily has US-based transfer partners.
I just applied for this card over the weekend – 50,000 points signup bonus. All spending is 2x points even though the transfer rates are less than 1:1 but lots of partners. Also they seem to have a more liberal approval policy on credit scores.
Data Point: I have applied for the Hilton Surpass less then 2 months after applying for the HIlton Honors – no issues. But – they gave me a really low limit of 2k on the 2nd card.
You can call AMEX and ask them to reallocate some of your credit from the first Hilton Honors card to the Hilton Surpass card.
Is there any consensus on whether one can apply for Amex cards with a foreign IP address or if we should use a VPN ?
I’ve never had a problem applying from Canada.
I have applied with my Canadian ip.
Moreover, I’ve been asked to complete my application over the phone – and said I am a Canadian who oftens visits the US.
But – you MUST know your US address and be comfortable telling the representative how long do you live there.
Another must – have a US based bank account with pdf statement with your name and your address (this is your proof of residency in the US)
When I applied for a Macy’s store card, they told me to use my SIN in place of a SSN. I’ve had the card for years now. Would that have created some sort of credit history under my SIN, masquerading as a SSN? Would I be able to use my SIN to apply for credit cards in the US?
The case may well be that you currently have US credit history under your SIN. In theory you’d be able to continue using this as your unique identifier with the credit bureaus to apply for credit cards, but like Paul said, this could be a problem down the road if your SIN happens to overlap with legitimate SSN.
Not an expert, but I think that pushy sales rep that told you to use your SIN was thinking of their commission over everything else. It’s possible you accidentally committed identity theft by using someone else’s SSN, which just so happened to be your SIN.
Hey Ricky, I’ve had my ITIN for 4 months now and my US credit history is over a year old. However, when I tried to sign up for a Chase card, they said they couldn’t find my ITIN on any of the three credit bureaus. I applied for two personal Amex cards during that four-month window and applied my ITIN when getting those. How long is it supposed to take for the ITIN to ‘Attach’?
Similar thing happened to me, though, I’ve had my ITIN for almost a year and used it on my second US amex application back in June 2019
How long did it take before you saw that it attached or is it still unattached?
At that point, I kind of put a hold on applying to chase cards because i couldn’t get a hold of an actual person at any of the credit bureaus – just automated phone lines. I have no idea how to find out if my ITIN is attached to my account, though I put it on my application for my 2nd, 3rd and 4th us amex cards which looking back, were all approved in 2018, not 2019. Is anyone aware of a way to check?