Paying current US credit cards in UK

Hi Mangoeater

One possibility is that you could setup an account with one of the companies which offer US postal addresses and then setup your credit cards, any other accounts which send you mail etc to that address. You then have the option on getting mail forwarded to your UK address and of course still being able to shop at US websites for any goods/services you wish to purchase.

http://yourusaaddress.com/

Of course, there'll be fees etc, but could be useful if you really can't use family or friends etc.

I've not personally used this kind of service, but they've recently appeared and on the face of it offer a good overall solution.

Hope this helps a bit!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

This won't work for everyone, but I kept getting annoyed trying to keep track of transferring money back and forth to the US and it was becoming a big logistical nightmare for me- so once I was able to build up some credit history here, I took out a loan from my bank, did 1 large wire transfer and paid my US credit cards off completely.  The debt doesn't go away it only transfers, but now I only have to worry about paying 1 loan and I pay it in a currency that I make money in, so I'm not subject to the exchange rate-  and the best part is, the interest rate is way lower than it was on the cards.
YMMV

 

Interesting!  Depending on the interest rate (and my account balances when the time comes) that sounds like a decent idea.  Right now I'm paying them down (and not charging anything anymore) but I'd prefer to have one payment rather than the few.

Both my bank and credit card co (HSBC and Bank of America) said its fine to have my home address be in the UK.  But my problem is, I'm guessing that many US retailers (from amazon to anything else) etc will not accept payment from a credit card that has a foreign billing address, even if it is a US card. Has anyone had this problem?

I'm not sure why this would be an issue. I frequently use a non-US card that has a US mailing address and have never had an issue anywhere in either Europe or the US.

What I've done is temporarily "change" my address to a local friend's address. But I dont want to be dependent on her good wishes forever.

I dont have any relatives that I can use their address, at least not in-state (and I really dont want to be changing my banking /credit address to another US state -- I've done that once before and the IRS came after me, and it took several months to prove to them it wasnt a problem). 

Any advice?

If you're in the UK temporarily, I would leave the address unchanged and set up to get eBills, cancel physical statements, and then pay the bills online. The credit card company may cotton on eventually if some other communication to your old address is returned as undeliverable.