Credit Cards

[monitorlizard]

Something very strange happened the other day. I received a registered letter from a US bank with a new credit card at my address in Thailand.

It is odd, because another credit card that I use, issues in the US expired recently. They refused to send the card to me here in LOS. I had to change my address to a friends address in the US. She then sent it to me here.

Another oddity is that I had not used this banks credit card for years. Yet they issued me a new one and sent it here.

My only explanation is that the credit reporting agencies in the US have my address here?

Has this happened to anyone else?

[KevinN]

Not that, But I know that Pay Pal would not honor an order from E Bay with a Thai terminal address,and my credit card issuing bank will not send anything to me here,it has to go thru my US mail address.

I can use my cards here and make my card payments online from here tho. But if a cash withdraw I have to go into the bank and do it,I cannot do it from an ATM as I did in the states.

And I think that Pay Pal is operated by the same bank that issued my cards.

[lopburi3]

Different banks have different policies. I have had a US card for years with a Bangkok mailing address (and they don't even bother with registered mail anymore).

[CTM]

The fine print of most US bank accounts, credit card issuers, trading accounts, etc says you must be a US resident.

Stick with the big international banks for less problems, but be prepared for high fees.

It is getting worse with the US Patriot Act. My (soon to be former) bank of 10 years all but accused me of illegal activity and being a traitor for wanting to wire transfer funds to my Bangkok Bank account. The IRS in recent years has accused all US citizens with foreign issued credit cards or bank accounts of being tax cheats.