imperial2002

There's a possibility of moving with my young family to the USA under an I140visa. However, I am worried about my poor credit rating in view of my ongoing IVA (Individual Voluntary Agreement) . I have fears that I will be declined in my applications for home rental or possible mortgage in the future. My employer offers a certain relocation allowance that might just be enough for a month or two.

North Carolina seems to be a fanstastic place to work, live and raise children. I am just so worried that I will be restricted in effect to my poor credit rating.

I hope you will shed some light into this dilemma.

fatbrit

Basically, you start afresh.

ljaw2002uk

Your UK credit, or lack of it, is meaningless here. Like Fagbrit said, you get a fresh start.

Bob

Not a visa question this and you'll find loads of info in the main US forums.

As stated though, you have no US history, nor driving history for that matter, so you will start as a baby.

ian-mstm

Just to clarify... the I-140 isn't a visa.

Ian

Duncan Roberts

You'll probably start fresh with no credit history in the US which is usually worse than having a bad credit history. If you have no history you will run into issues until you have one and you may need several years depending on what you are getting and who it is from.

Flabound oneday

on the basis that our good credit in the UK counted for nothing in the US the answer is no. as has been said getting a rating in the US is 'fun'

we had hassle with experian who wouldnt recognise our address. they wrote and told us it didnt exist, so i wrote back and said if thats the case why write to it and how am I replying ? their answer - sorry we cannot reply your address doesnt exist !!!!!!!!!

tht

While true in your situation (your bad credit won't affect you), having good credit in the UK can help. I did a transfer with HSBC who did recognize my UK credit history, this enabled me to get a credit card and checking on day 1. I built on that with an American express card and AT&T cell contract, and then an airline credit card. That along with bills in my name has got me pre approved for a mortgage to buy my first place over here. Not of much help to you, but may help others moving over.

tht

tht

Also around renting a place (and this may be different in North Carolina than NYC), all the places I wanted to rent wanted a guarantor and my employer was not acceptable despite a letter saying they would cover the balance of my lease if I left. As I was single with no family in the US I ended up taking a short term 3 month lease and paying 5 months rent (2 months as deposit) upfront. They then allowed me to renew for 9 months the next time. So as others have noted not having a credit history may be worse than a bad one. You won't exist when they look for you.. per the above para if you do move you need a plan to get you "on the grid" i did not need all the credit cards I applied for but it just helps to have a certain number of different things on your record (also note there are 3 different credit agencies so you need to do enough to cover all your bases as different companies search different credit agencies). I signed up to the monitoring so I could make sure I was showing up on all 3 and that my history was building the way it should (this was all in anticipation of looking to buy a property once I got my GC in hand).