An entrepreneur spends a million dollars a month on advertising, software, and suppliers. Then he books a business-class flight for a work trip and pays for it in cash, like anyone else.
It’s a scene our team sees often, and it’s one of the quietest wastes in the life of a business owner. Every business expense paid with a debit card, or with just any credit card, is a benefit left on the table.
In the United States, companies figured this out long ago: the credit card is a business tool that returns value on every dollar spent, in the form of flights, hotels, services, and exclusive access.
In this article we look at how it works, why the best cards in the world are American, how to get them even without living in the United States, and what the path looks like to the most exclusive card that exists, the American Express Black Centurion.
How Credit Card Points Actually Work
Every time you pay with a high-level credit card, you earn points in proportion to how much you spent. Those points convert into flights, hotels, and travel services.
In Italy, and across much of Europe, this culture barely exists. In the United States it’s the norm: no company pays with a debit card, not even ones with plenty of cash on hand. Many of our clients have all the liquidity they need and use the credit card purely to rack up points on expenses they’d be making anyway.
The numbers make the point. With $10,000 spent in a month, the right cards generate roughly 40,000 points, enough, for example, for a business-class flight from Madrid to Miami.
Now think about what a real company spends. With $100,000 a month and a card that multiplies points by four on business spending categories, you accumulate 400,000 points in a single month. At roughly 50,000 points per business-class flight, that’s seven or eight flights.
Cashback exists too, but in most cases it’s worth far less: a 2% rebate is nothing compared to eight business-class flights.
There’s also a detail many people overlook: even expenses that normally go through a wire transfer, like team salaries or payments to certain suppliers, can be paid with a credit card through services that convert a card payment into a wire transfer for the recipient. By the end of the year, that’s millions of dollars spent, and so millions of points.
A Real Example: Twelve Business-Class Tickets Paying Only the Taxes
The most striking case comes from… GloboBanks itself. Founder Lorenzo Giberti, as he described in some videos on our YouTube channel, used American cards exactly this way for his honeymoon.
Combining an American business card, with a four-point-per-dollar multiplier, and a personal card with a two-point multiplier, on roughly $150,000-200,000 in spending he accumulated 600,000 points.
With those points he booked six business-class flights for two people, so twelve tickets, on airlines like Emirates, Turkish Airlines, and Singapore Airlines. Paid in cash, they would have cost around $50,000. The actual cost was $2,000 in airport taxes.
With a debit card, on the exact same spending, you get nothing.
Two details make the difference. The first is booking many months in advance, because the points required go up as the date gets closer. The second concerns hotels: at high-end properties like the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, booking with the right card can be worth up to $350 in credit to spend inside the hotel.
If your business spends tens of thousands of euros every month and you want to understand which cards you could qualify for, the GloboBanks team offers a free initial review of your profile.
Request your free pre-analysis.
Why American Cards Are Worth More Than European Ones
At this point someone thinks: “I already have an Italian Platinum, and it doesn’t work anything like this.” They’re right, because they’re comparing two different products.
Even when the name is the same, American Express USA and American Express Europe are separate companies, with completely different agreements with airlines and hotels. Cards issued in Europe behave almost identically to each other, with far less generous points programs. American ones belong to an enormous market built around travel, where competition between issuers has pushed the benefits to a level that simply doesn’t exist in Europe.
That’s why, with a few exceptions, the best credit cards in the world are in the United States.
Can You Get an American Card Without Living in the United States?
Yes, and without ever having had US credit history. What you need, though, is one specific condition: a company in the United States.
Credit cards follow the geography of the company.
A European company can get European cards; a Singapore LTD gets Singapore cards. If your company is based in Asia or Latin America, in 99% of cases you won’t be able to open a relationship with an American bank, and even if you did, you wouldn’t receive the cards, because you’re not a local business.
With an American company, on the other hand, you can build a credit score even as a non-resident. The tool is the ITIN, a tax ID for non-residents not to be confused with the Social Security Number: the first is used to build your credit history, the second relates to who pays taxes in the United States.
The path, though, has to be handled carefully.
Issuers’ websites all have an “apply” button, but clicking it without preparation almost always leads to a rejection, and every rejection damages your credit score, pushing the card you want further off, by months. There are, however, application methods that leave no trace on your score: even if a card is rejected because it’s too early, you can try again at the right moment and get it, without having to start over.
And there’s a benefit that arrives immediately: welcome bonuses. By completing the process correctly, some cards award as much as 200,000 points for roughly $10,000 in spending in the first few months — that’s four business-class flights on money you would have spent anyway.
Amex Black Centurion: How to Get It Without an Invitation
The American Express Black Centurion is considered the most exclusive card in the world. You can’t apply for it: it normally arrives only by invitation from American Express, after years as a client and millions spent on its cards.
Its value goes beyond travel perks. It offers a personal concierge who handles practically everything, access to private events, and above all a network of people you’d rarely meet anywhere else, starting with the Centurion lounges at airports.
There is, however, a legal and structured path to getting it even without ever having been an American Express client. GloboBanks has an agreement with the Centurion division of a European country where the requirement is to show you hold at least €1 million, or the equivalent in another currency, in a private account at a specific bank.
The funds aren’t locked up: you simply need to prove the wealth exists. The process is open to almost every residency, excluding sanctioned countries or those in critical geopolitical situations.
Other versions of the Centurion, such as the one issued in the United Arab Emirates, often require locked-up sums and come with significant limits. The American version, by contrast, has a $10,000 initiation fee and a $5,000 annual fee, and is normally reserved for those spending millions every year. Starting from the European Centurion, you can later also begin the path toward the US one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a US resident to have an American credit card?
No. You need an American company and an ITIN, which lets you build a credit score even as a non-resident and without US credit history.
How long does it take to get the best American cards?
A few months, because the credit score has to be built up in stages. Following the right path avoids the rejections that would slow it down.
What do I need for the Amex Black Centurion without an invitation?
Proof of at least €1 million, or the equivalent, in a private account in a specific jurisdiction.
How GloboBanks Guides You Through It
Our team supports the client at every step, working directly with partner relationship managers: setting up the American company, obtaining the ITIN, getting a US address and phone number, opening the business account at a physical American bank, and building a credit score.
For the American Express Black Centurion, thanks to our agreement, access arrives in about 30 days, without an invitation, and without ever having been an American Express client.
If your business spends every month and you’re still paying for business-class flights in cash, the team offers a free initial review of your profile.
Contact the team for your pre-analysis.
