Transferring balance from UK credit card to US credit card

[buffertortoise 0]

Hey everyone,

I'm having a bit of a crisis right now. Since I have been in the US it has been a struggle to make the monthly payments on my UK credit card as I am not earning any money to put in to my UK account and my card cannot be paid from a US account. Making transfers to my UK account is too costly and only worthwhile if there is a very large sum of money to transfer.

Myself and my wife have been looking into transferring the balance from my UK Amex on to a US Amex or Citibank card (which we hold jointly) however calls to Amex and Citibank have yielded so many different responses that we don't know what to do (its almost like talking to USCIS!)

I just wondered if anyone had any experience doing this and had any hints or tips for us?

Thanks so much

Buffertortoise

[Otto 83]

AMEX has a Global Card Transfer - click HERE

[Ling Ling 22]

AMEX has a Global Card Transfer - click HERE

If that doesn't work, see if you can get a blank check from one of your US credit card issuers, that can be used to pay off another account.

Be sure to look for zero interest or low interest balance transfer options.

[buffertortoise 0]

Thanks for the repies- I just called Amex about the global card transfer and was told that all they can do is establish a line of credit for me in the US but no balances can be transferred..which pretty much puts me in the same situation I am in now. Or should I be able to transfer my balance with the global card transfer? It seems to make little sense otherwise.

As for the check idea, I have already looked into that but the fees appear to be astronomical...arghhh...you would think there was a simple solution to this considering how many people move around the world.

Is there any other kind of bank account I can open where I would be able to pay dollars into my UK account without incurring currency conversion fees. I'm desperate!

[cellarlily 0]

I don't know how useful this will be for you, but my husband sends money to his brother back in the UK via PayPal at least once a month, and then his brother pays his credit card for him. There are conversion fees and such, but it was the only way to get a payment to his UK credit card.

If you have a reliable relative back home that would be willing to do this for you, look into it. There are limits to how much you can transfer per month, but I think it's $500 or more.

[bakofoil 27]

I have a UK paypal account and a US paypal account since there are limitations on purchases in the US from a UK paypal account. Anyway, the UK account is linked to my UK bank account so I can effectively pay myself from my US paypal account. There is only a small commission charge involved. I looked into opening an international currency account with both Barclays and Citibank and these both involved too much hassle, by way of charges, commission and holding a minimum amount in the account.

[cellarlily 0]

Duh, sorry. That's also an option if you still have your UK bank account open. My husband closed his before moving here, so that's why he needed to transfer funds to his brother.

[wannabe_texan 0]

I had a Citibank account in the UK that had a US dollar current account and UK current account, that's what I used for a while after we got married. You could transfer in USD from over here, without the penalty, and then transfer to GBP account as needed.