Laura
Well-Known Member
Black one is super big spender high limit...above Platinum.
Money Issue
- Thread starter SwingWaltz
- Start date
quixotedlm
Active Member
I'm thinking of all that hazzle and difficulties for US residents to open UK account are tax-related issues: I've heard high net worth US residents open bank aco****s in foreign countries to avoid paying tax in US...
I have a friend working in UK as engineer before then he found a better job in NYC, and he told me he's surprised we working folks pay income tax, he said he filed no tax return while worked in UK????
well, you should have voted for Ron Paul then
I'm thinking of all that hazzle and difficulties for US residents to open UK account are tax-related issues: I've heard high net worth US residents open bank aco****s in foreign countries to avoid paying tax in US...
I have a friend working in UK as engineer before then he found a better job in NYC, and he told me he's surprised we working folks pay income tax, he said he filed no tax return while worked in UK????
Was your friend an American citizen or legal resident? I have a vague recollection about some kind of tax break on money earned overseas if it's within a certain limited period of time. I'm not sure of the details--just remember a friend in a similar situation having a limit on the time he could work in England and still get the tax break.
It's possible the British Inland Revenue doesn't require filing of tax returns, but my British friends would sure be surprised to be told they weren't paying taxes!
Standarddancer
Well-Known Member
oh really? I've received an offer in the mail but since I'm happy with my citi dividends master card and no plan to change, I throw the offer to trash....
Does this one have cash award?
Standarddancer
Well-Known Member
he's UK citizen, never been in States until got that job offer.
probably the tax break you've talking about is "foreign tax credit"...
Laura
Well-Known Member
No idea.
There is also a plum-colored Amex for small businesses.
I don't have Amex because I read a lot of articles back in the 80's about their approval processes and it put me off. Apparently (at that time, at least) they have the authority when you are making larger purchases to verify that you've got money in your checking account and/or savings account to cover the purchase before they will approve the charge, even though they don't come due for 30 days. I didn't want them looking into me that closely, not because I have anything to hide, but because it made me feel squeamish.
Although the egotistical side of me would kind of like to flash a black Amex. (I'm so horrible...
)quixotedlm
Active Member
No idea.
There is also a plum-colored Amex for small businesses.
I don't have Amex because I read a lot of articles back in the 80's about their approval processes and it put me off. Apparently (at that time, at least) they have the authority when you are making larger purchases to verify that you've got money in your checking account and/or savings account to cover the purchase before they will approve the charge, even though they don't come due for 30 days. I didn't want them looking into me that closely, not because I have anything to hide, but because it made me feel squeamish.
Although the egotistical side of me would kind of like to flash a black Amex. (I'm so horrible...
Amex Corporate and Amex Business are different. With Corporate, it doesn't even tie to your credit history. If you don't pay, the liability belongs to the corporation, not the individual. I think there is only color - green.
JANATHOME
Well-Known Member
I use a Citibank American Airlines credit card for everything, I mean everthing goes on that credit card for the mile accumulation. You just need the discipline to pay the balance each month. I use to use the miles to upgrade to first class but now with things much tigher it is how I help with our comp flight costs.
You have to work it a bit... Make your flight a year in advance to get a free flight but most of the comp schedules are out a year in advance so it can be done. This year it saved us a lot of $$$'s.
I also use a Starwoods American Express that allows us a 4:00 PM check out of all Starwood Hotels and upgrades to suites if one is available when we check in.... Usually we are put on the concierece floor at no extra cost and really comes handy for breakfast and snacks when at comps.
You have to work it a bit... Make your flight a year in advance to get a free flight but most of the comp schedules are out a year in advance so it can be done. This year it saved us a lot of $$$'s.
I also use a Starwoods American Express that allows us a 4:00 PM check out of all Starwood Hotels and upgrades to suites if one is available when we check in.... Usually we are put on the concierece floor at no extra cost and really comes handy for breakfast and snacks when at comps.
Warren J. Dew
Forum Master
I don't think they can look at anything any other card issuer couldn't look at. I don't believe I've ever given them my bank account number.
They do have a policy of "no preset spending limit", which in principle means they could deny a charge whenever they wanted to. I've never had that happen to me, though on a couple of occasions when a retailer called them to confirm a charge, they've asked to speak to me directly. In those cases, I think they were just trying to verify that it wasn't someone using a stolen card - for example, when I went on a sudden big spending splurge in Hong Kong after not travelling overseas for a few years.
If you get banking services from them as well as the credit card, they might be able to look at information about those particular banking accounts. That's true for other credit card issuers, too, though. If one wants to be extra safe on that front, one can just make sure one doesn't get credit cards issued by one's own bank.
Warren J. Dew
Forum Master
Amex Corporate and Amex Business are different. With Corporate, it doesn't even tie to your credit history. If you don't pay, the liability belongs to the corporation, not the individual. I think there is only color - green.
Most business accounts require that the individual getting the account accept joint liability with the company. I think that includes some Amex Corporate accounts, though I'm not sure exactly where the line is between their Corporate and their Business accounts is.
To get a credit card that only has corporate liability, the corporation generally has to be able to show financials audited by a big accounting company, and that's a bit expensive for most small businesses.
Laura
Well-Known Member
There were some articles about this back in the early 90's, in either whatever the alternative paper is in Austin (TX) or in the Austin American-Statesman itself (I was subscribed to both so I don't recall which one I read it in). It was so long ago that I don't recall all the details, but the author did talk about how he was told expressly by Amex customer service that he was denied a charge because they looked into his checking account records, which he thought they didn't have access to, and they told him since he didn't have enough money in his account to cover the charge and that they didn't see any evidence based on prior activity in his checking account that he would have the money by the time the charge came due, they were denying the charge on this piece of art (the price was about $5k).
Sorry for the fuzzy memory, but I decided right then that I wasn't going to bother with Amex after that.
This was all in the days before Amex started their "blue" card (which is basically a credit card) and and I think before they started allowing revolving charges for high-ticket items.
I suppose MasterCard could do the same thing as Amex allegedly did, but at that point I already had one of those so figured I might as well just stick with it.
Laura
Well-Known Member
That's probably why they started the new "Plum" card program which is expressly targetted to small businesses -- probably has different rules and requirements and fee structures etc. than the regular corporate green card.