American Express, Applications etc.

Does anyone know what the deal with American Express is in Ireland? (in general)

I applied for their standard charge card online, and got a response back with " we require a Bank Guarantee of 25,000 and unfortunately, we do not have a relationship with your bank, please provide another Bank for the Guarantee" - I bank with AIB.

has anyone went through this process before? - I am not sure that is something that banks in Ireland provide..

does having a guarantee not defeat the purpose of applying for the card?

Virtually impossible to get an Irish bank to offer a guarantee like that.

Other previous posters have reported the same issue.

American Express introduced heightened controls for some countries including Ireland a few years ago. At the time they must have viewed the credit risk as been higher with Irish customers.

Cant see a bank doing a guarantee like that for a customer now.
I use to have a AE card many years ago but found that when a retailer saw that I had a different card (master/visa) they would ask for that instead.

Bank of Ireland used offer the Amex Blue Card, but this was discontinued in 2010.
I did consider applying for an Amex card again, I spent some time in the US and had to get a replacement BOI card which was a hassle, Amex would be great backup while abroad. I wonder if my having had the Blue Card before would facilitate my application?

Unlikely. BOI used to be issuing agent of all AMEX products in Ireland for a long time, but (undoubtedly as part of their mandated trimming) relinquished that right. It's all run from AMEX Europe's HQ in the UK now, and they doesn't seem particularly interested in the Irish market (which I'd imagine was relatively small and not massively profitable under BOI's reign). I doubt they really care about anything from "before".

Most AMEX cards in Ireland seem to be company/corporate cards used for expenses. Low risk for Amex since the employer will guarantee

Willy Fogg said:

Unlikely. BOI used to be issuing agent of all AMEX products in Ireland for a long time, but (undoubtedly as part of their mandated trimming) relinquished that right. It's all run from AMEX Europe's HQ in the UK now, and they doesn't seem particularly interested in the Irish market (which I'd imagine was relatively small and not massively profitable under BOI's reign). I doubt they really care about anything from "before".

Click to expand...

So much for being a "member".