Weird credit card question

Have you checked with the Citibank AAdvantage card? We tried them for our business card which they said they wouldn't do since we're in the USVI but they said they would do a personal card. I'm not sure if they person I talked to was correct but it's worth a call.

CitiBank has a PR division that takes care of USVI.; they should be able to give you the number .

I have a Citi Aadvantage card I've had for eons & upgraded it & they switched me to the Puerto Rico division. The PR division made lots of mistakes I couldn't get straightened out so I squawked to Citi & they switched me back to the Stateside card. The Puerto Rico division maybe has improved since then so it's worth a try.

We've got both Biz and personal citicards in MC and VISA. Our are handled stateside.

Creditcards are one of the unreported hassles you encounter when you move down here, and it doesn't always have to do with the card issuer or what type of card it is. Sometimes it has to do with the BILLING address you provide for the CC on the online form.

I do a fair amount of online shopping, and sometimes have to call their 800 number to finish the purchasing process. You sometimes have to call because their shipping options request that you do, --or the site doesn't offer "VI" or the like in the "states" field on the form, so their form kills your attempt to order. Having a "stateside" card doesn't always help.... here's why:

I have a CC from USBANK, where I still maintain a spare checking acct stateside. But the statements for that card are mailed to me here in the VI. And some websites will REJECT the use of that CC due to the fact that my BILLING address for the CC is a USVI address. Some companies simply don't want to accept cards with a non-continental billing address. (I process cards through my own business, and I understand why they are shy).

So, I'm going to CHANGE my official billing address for that CC back to my stateside company address, and just having them forward the bill to me every month. Eventually maybe all companies will realize that the USVI is not a foreign country.

(I process cards through my own business, and I understand why they are shy).

Neil, I don't understand why they are shy. Can you explain?

Why some cc processors are shy about some cards:

1. A large of amount of fraudulent cc purchases made in the US come from non-US issued cards.

2. CC issued by non-US banks often don't subscribe to the verification system which most stateside companies use to "approve" your card online.

3. Even if your CC is "approved" you can always claim you never received the merchandise, then the company is stuck and unlikely to send somebody overseas to look you up. So for example, my company will ship to the UK, but never to Africa or Eastern Europe.

4. Many online forms are "off the shelf" products which retailers have purchased (or contracted to use), and they don't bother to customize the forms to accept VI as a "state" or be able to calculate USPS shipping beyond the continental US. Of course, they don't KNOW their forms have limitations, until it's too late and they don't want to pay thousands of dollars to customzie them for just a few overseas customers.

5. Some credit card processors have higher security requirements than others. My company, for example, will approve a purchase even if the zipcode doesn't match the card's security feature because of the type of product and customers we particular deal with.

Of course, if you're a company which regularly sells to overseas locations, you have safeguards and shipping protocols in place to avoid fraud. But most retail companies simply don't want to be bothered.

As has been mentioned on this board, one way around the "VI not listed on state list" is to just select VT or VA. It works "sometimes" ...depending on the amount of internal checks the online form is set up to make.

Creditcard processing does not look at street alphabetic info, only numeric info. So for example, you can mispell your street but better get the number right. And the card's official billing zipcode must match the billing address zip you provide or it will be automatically rejected.

Some online forms will accept 00850 (VI), but then the company will contact you later and say "sorry, we don't ship there." So word to the wise: always call customer service within 48 hours to be sure. In some cases, companies will just cancel your order and not tell you.

It's all a house of cards. Follow up, and diligently read your statements.

Another thing that can be done when purchasing on line is to use Paypal. I always check the drop down state menu on the "cart" section before I order because if the VI is not there they won't ship here.

Cool, thanks everyone... I hate that state drop down menu!! I always scroll down to look for us. What bothers me more, is the ones that have a place for APOS, but not the VI...

We are the redheaded step-child of the US

We are the redheaded step-child of the US

Hey Beth, Is that politically correct?:D I read recently that, in the not too distant future, there won't be any natural redheads. They are getting fazed out by more predominant, darker hair.

Oh well, just a tidbit. Back to the original topic!

I think I am allowed to make slurs against redheads since I am one... sort of how blondes can tell blonde jokes. 🙂

But I love these little digressions, I decided to try to find something about it on the web, but I must not be phrasing my search correctly, as I came up with a page about cutting your hair to the phases of the moon.

I think it was in a magazine. I get all the old lady ones now, like More, Oprah, (Ladies Home Journal...NOT). So is it just an old wives tale about cutting your hair on the new moon. Or is it the full moon?

I heard that in London last year only they refer to red hair as ginger.

They do and Fergie, a red head, wears a necklace that has the letters GB on it referring to her Ginger ??????

I was a redhead once, when I was about 15 years old. Took plain old hydrogen peroxide to my medium brown hair. Didn't know one peroxide from another, but it actually turned out an OK color. My mother went ballistic!

So, Beth...how you doing on finding a credit card? Every once in a while someone won't take my amex because it has a VI address (although it is through Bank of America), but it happens so seldom I haven't considered it a problem. And Donna mentioned PayPal, which is great. You register your cards and bank account with PayPal and then you just pay through them and it doesn't matter what your address is (if the merchant takes PayPal - more and more are taking it).

citibank operations in puerto rico where sold to Banco Popular early this year????? so any of you that have a aadvantqe card from citi you are really carrying another card from Banco Popular

So the question on the state pull down screen...I have found that when I can not find the USVI on the state drop down screen. If you look on some of them they have a second drop down for country. The USVI is listed as US Virgin Islands as a different country.

In regards to some rewards on a credit card since Spirit flys out of here they offer a credit card through their site that gives you miles on the card. All I have done so far is sign up for their $9 dollar fare club and it let me choose the USVI as a different country. I would imagine the credit card situation is the same.

Guess we are kinda part of the US...but online we are a whole different country.

CIAO!

wow, bummer, I just ordered red hair dye online.....of course, I had to have it shipped to the states via fwd from a friend.

Thanks for all of the great advice guys... i admit I haven't done anything about it yet. I am a procrastinator... I will take note of all of the answers and sometime, like three months from now, I will finally get around to it. When I do, I will post the results. 🙂

Stateside merchants are just to provincial. Yesterday I had to order some parts that I could only get from a small German company. Not only did they have their web site available in several languages they had the US Virgin Islands on their pull down for shipping. When I selected the USVI and said to ship it to St Croix the shipping by mail was only ten Euros. PayPal automatically converted my dollars to Euros to pay for the parts and shipping.

Jim