USA based payment card

**jamesbrown** · 27 October 2025, 23:38

If you want a card with a US BIN, I think you will struggle because, as you say, companies like Wise and Revolut (avoid) will provide a multi-currency card with a BIN that is based on the country in which you opened the account and were verified for money laundering etc. (UK), even though they provide linked US bank account details for inbound payments. Also, if the payment is geo-blocked based on the BIN, I would be surprised if the vendor doesn't want a US zip code/address too. I honestly wouldn't trust any company offering a card with a US BIN to a UK person to try and circumvent a geo-block - most or all of these providers are likely to be dodgy as hell.

**woody1** · 28 October 2025, 09:11

Originally posted by ladymuck View Post

I'm looking to pay for something that can only be paid with a card from a bank located in the USA.

That's a bit odd in itself.

On the rare occasions I've not been able use a credit card or PayPal for goods or services from abroad (eg. private holiday rental), I have been able to pay by international bank transfer.

**hobnob** · 28 October 2025, 09:16

I'm quite curious about what you want to pay for, but I assume you're being deliberately vague

At the risk of stating the obvious, do you know anyone in the USA who could do the payment for you (then you reimburse them)? I've done something similar, when I don't want to pay for international shipping - I have it sent to a friend who's going on holiday to/from the USA, then they bring it over in their luggage.

**ladymuck** · 28 October 2025, 10:05

There's no shame in saying what I'm trying to achieve

A friend lives and works in the USA, and they've set up a travel consultancy. I want to book some flights via them to support their business but, at the moment, they can only accept payment from US-based cards. International will come but these things take time. I will have to ask if a bank transfer would work.

I do know people in the US who might be willing to help; the challenge is that the authorities can find it quite suspicious if the person paying isn't the person travelling. And, as I want to do a points run that will have an interesting itinerary, giving an extra excuse for scrutiny (even though nothing dodgy is going on) will just complicate matters.

Some of these points run tickets are really hard to book by the lay person so you need an experienced agent to get it right.

**willendure** · 28 October 2025, 10:08

Can also use a freight forwarder to forward goods from a US Zip Code to the UK. Occasionally I have done this when ordering car parts from suppliers that would only send to a Zip code.

Sorry doesn't help with the bank account. Only way I can think of that a UK person can have control of a US bank account is by incorporating a US company - but that seems unlikely to be something you are going to do to make a single purchase. I don't understand why it has to be from a US bank, dollars are dollars and the US is generally open to doing business in dollars with foreigners.

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Have you actually tried using a Wise card on their site? Might work.

**woody1** · 29 October 2025, 08:39

Originally posted by ladymuck View Post

I will have to ask if a bank transfer would work.

Probably the best option if you can. You'll get a better exchange rate as well. It's a few years since I used Wise to transfer money abroad but at the time the rate was better than our bank. More recently I've used OFX. I've used PayPal a couple of times but the exchange rate was poor; ok for small amounts but not large purchases.

**northernladuk** · 1 November 2025, 18:28

Would they class American Express as a US based card or would it be under Amex (Europe) or something?

**ladymuck** · 1 November 2025, 22:24

Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

Would they class American Express as a US based card or would it be under Amex (Europe) or something?

It'll be Amex UK. It has different entities across the markets it operates in.

USA based payment card