Nikki

Hi,

My husband moved to the US from Australia about 8 months ago. We got married in
January and know we want to buy a car together. My credit is not so good on account
of my ex-husband so I am also trying to do my best to fix it. My present husband is
from Australia and we want to know how he can start to establish credit in the US. We
had a credit check done, and they told us that they have no record of any credit
history for him. He has 2 different Visa cards, a Bank account, a retirement account,
and some other things from Australia. Is there a way that we can prove his credit
from Australia?

Thanks, nicole

Shannon

I moved from Australia 18 months ago and had a similar problem. I asked around and found no way of proving my credit. This is really irritating as I had excellent credit there and went back to nothing.

I was told to do the following to establish credit ASAP.

1) Open a secured credit card with your bank.
2) Open a charge card at major department stores like Bon Marche, Sears etc. An Aussie credit card is fine as backing on that.
3) Add name to all utilities.
4) Add name to joint loan (if someone with ok credit can help).

If you pay the bills on time this should get your credit rating going as soon as anything. Of course, salary etc stuff is also useful

I found the same problem in terms of car insurance. Although I have had a drivers license for 18 years and never claimed on my auto insurance, I went back to an absolutely unrated driver paying premium rates when I got my US license. It is really unfair.

Good luck

Prince

You could also put some savings into a CD, and then ask your bank for a secured loan using the CD as collateral. Pay of the loan quickly, and leave the money in the CD. You've paid of your first loan. Good for getting credit points.

Todd

But you will need to pay on this loan for at least 6 months. Any less and the bank
will probably not report it to credit agencies.

"Prince" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > You could also put some savings into a CD, and then ask your bank for a secured
    > loan using the CD as collateral. Pay of the loan quickly, and leave the money in
    > the CD. You've paid of your first loan. Good for getting credit points.
    >
    >
    >
    > --

mrpilock

HI y`all,
you could write to your old credit card company and ask them to give you a credit reference.


Kind regards

Keith

Shannon

Keith
Have you had experience with a "credit reference" helping establish credit? I asked various US agencies and none felt it would do any good.

Shannon

mrpilock

HI Shannon,
im still in the process of getting to the states i have my visa interview on the 1st Aug , I just thought that a credit reference would help especially if it came from your previous credit card company its something i will try regardless. Because the thing is you dont know if the person asked has the autority or experience to say if would count or not Try it you have nothing to lose thats what i willn do when i get there.

Kind regards


Keith

Prince

When I moved to the states from the UK, references from my bank manager made no difference. I was an unknown entity here.

Also just because you may have a great credit rating with MBNA in Europe for example, doesn't mean anything to MBNA America.

Get whatever type of credit you can, pay if of, and soon the credit junk mail will be flowing.

rogerpenycate

I've had the same experience with American Express Europe.
I've had a Gold card in the UK for 15 years or so.
Have always paid on time, quite frequently £1,000 per month.
I wrote to them and it means nothing to American Express in the States.
Did I say AMERICAN Express.
Yes I did.

Bizarre or what.