Credit Card with Second Postal Address???

largeloins

Hi Guys
I want to start buying some stuff from the USA, mainly clothes and the occasional auto parts which either I can't get in the UK or EU or are vastly cheaper in the USA.

I have found a freight/post forwarder (Bongo) who has provided me with an address in the USA to where I can get my orders sent, they then re post them to my UK address for a small registration fee and the cost of the onward post. All great so far.

The problem I have found is that it seems that all the American vendors (who don't ship outside the USA) I have tried to place orders with so far i.e. Target, Wallmart, Kmart, Suncare Central and ShopKo all require my credit card billing address which is of course in the UK.

So after I have completed all the order details along with my US delivery address and my UK billing address, their "system" checks my details which don't match - it then cancels the transaction.

I've also tried using my PayPal account which initially seems to work, but after they carry out the associated card billing address checks it also fails and is cancelled.

I've asked my credit card company MBNA, if they can help but it seems they can't/won't.

I've discussed this with Bongo and they tell me that I need a second billing address (which will be my US delivery address) on my credit card so all the checks the vendors carry out will be OK

Does anyone know of a UK credit card, which I could use, that allows a second billing address .
or
Is it possible for me to get a US registered credit card and set it up for email statements and pay it from the UK?
or
Another way around my dilemma.

Please help, many thanks in advance
Ian

zerog

No you can't get a US address on a UK credit card. If you are rich enough then an offshore bank may help get you a US credit card. If you have an AMEX card then you can "move" to the US for a few months and get a US AMEX. Alternatively you can buy prepaid US cards online, but they may have the same problem of needing a US address

largeloins

Anyone else got a view??

InsideInsurance

To the best of my knowledge, which isn't perfect, address verification doesn't work internationally so even if you did have a US address on your UK issued card it would still fail because of it being a UK card.

The prepaid card may be an option but you'll need to see if you are able to get one without being resident in the USA.

Once you add international shipping, duty and VAT for importing the goods are they really going to work out that much cheaper for you?

NinjaPenguin

Could you get a US prepaid card sent to the address that Bongo has provided you with? They could then post it over for you.

digp

Any solution?

reclusive46

Address verification doesn't work on cross border transactions on American Express Cards. So any US billing address would work.

reclusive46

InsideInsurance wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge, which isn't perfect, address verification doesn't work internationally so even if you did have a US address on your UK issued card it would still fail because of it being a UK card.

Thats only true for American Express cards. It just depends if the merchant bank support UK-US cross border AVS but most do.

[Deleted User]

The US forwarding companies I looked at when wanting to buy a guitar from the US paid the US company on your behalf and you paid them in £. The fees were quite high though.

I've found sometimes that making a zip code out of the numbers in your postcode works, for example S12 4JR would be a zip like 12401.

I pay for Vudu movie streaming via Walmart that way - the US site accepted my card.

reclusive46

camelot1971 wrote: »

I've found sometimes that making a zip code out of the numbers in your postcode works, for example S12 4JR would be a zip like 12401.

.

A similar method sometimes works for petrol pumps in the US (As they don't use chip and PIN, its swipe and zip code at the pumps) and you just enter the numbers out of your post code and finish it off with zeros. Doesn't matter if its a real US zip code or not.

For example, NR14 1XT would be 14100.

digp

fascinating stuff