chrisp6

can you use your HSBC credit Card in Oz? So you can get a credit rating towards a Mortgage etc....?

Wol

I assume that you mean a UK HSBC card? (Otherwise the question makes no sense).

Of course you can! However HSBC will add an extra 2.75% on to the exchange when you get the bill. It won't show, but will be in the rate.

But using a UK card will not directly have any effect on an Oz credit rating - why should it? You will have to get Oz cards to build up that!

chrisp6

Thank you for the reply I did mean a uk one

tbeb

Yes you can use a UK credit card in Australia.

If you keep the UK credit card and open an Australian one on arrival, the UK credit card company will transfer your credit rating across to the Australian card company.

TBEB

ABCDiamond

Are you sure about that ? As I hadn't heard of that happening before.

jensteve

I have a gold card (hsbc uk) and when I applied for an aussie one they couldn't give me the same over here, I had to start right back down at the bottom end again.
Jenny

John Howard

I have been here just over a year and worked for 9 months. I applied for a $30,000 car loan with HSBC in Oz and have been approved. If you can prove you have a full time job and are a PR i dont think its really a problem.

Good Luck

tbeb

Yes, Barclaycard told me they transfer UK credit history to Australia.

TBEB

ABCDiamond

Is that from a UK Barclays Account to an Australian Barclays Account ?

Are there still some Australian Barclays branches open here ? I remember that Barclays did use to have a much closer Inter-Country working relationship than the other "international" banks.

tbeb

Don't know, but Barclaycard said they make your credit history available to any financial institutes in Australia that request it.

TBB

ABCDiamond

I see... the problem may be that the Australian banks won't ask for it from the UK ones.

tbeb

Barclaycard said that they are always being asked for UK credit history, maybe they are the only ones that do it. Certainly not been mentioned by my Tesco credit card company.

The other thing to mention is the cards have to be active to transfer credit history, cancel the card and they won't bother with the effort in transferring any history across.

TBEB

pom04

Re hsbc credit card

I worked with them 15 years in Uk - In terms of a credit card I kept my uk hsbc one for when I first came and set up a direct debit to clear in full each month from my HSBC uk bank account - worked a treat and was invaluable - I opened up accounts with HSBC Australia from the UK and everything was ready and waiting for when I arrived - debit cards etc - speak to your local branch - in terms of setting up a credit rating here in oz from my new experience as a manager here for ANZ its all about servicibility of a debt as someone mentioned earlier - they will look for income to justify the card which is frustrating when you have other assets eg monies from uk house sale etc however saying that - we got a morgage and credit card within 3 months of starting work here - might be worth asking your local HSBC branch about contacting the dept down in london that deals with opening up accounts for ex pats as they many be able to even look to apply for a credit card from the uk for over here - any help I can give with contacts etc let me know