agentpeppermint

My husband was wondering what he can do with his new SS number...ie get utilities, cell phones, credit cards? and how difficult is it to obtain such things?

adjudicator89

If he has brand new SSN it will take some time to build his credit. But, my ex-wife added me to her 2 credit cards before i got ssn as soon as I got my ssn I checked my credit like a week later, I was surprised my score was close to 800's. But that was because her credit as well was (is) excellent. If you do have credit cards with good standing You can put your husband as an authorize user or joint (both pretty much the same) and it will go on his credit report. Then he should wait 3-6months and try to apply for one in his own name. One more thing, I was shocked when i got my very first credit card from Capital One back in 2006 with credit of 10.000 dollars. It is harder to build credit thean mess it up trust me. So , please tell your hubby not to go too crazy on credit, and always pay on time. Also good advice, never use more then 50% of your credit limit that brings the score down. As far as for cellphone, I don't think that high credit score is needed. cell providers like better no credit than bad credit. Utilities no need great credit either. I hope I helped you some on this. Best wishes Milan.

ian-mstm

Oh my... no, they're not! One will affect the husband's credit score, the other won't.

Ian

jeffreyhy

ap,

What he can do with his new SS number is pay into the 'social security' system and, when he becomes eligible, collect benefits.

For the other things that you mention he doesn't need a SSN, although they may tell you that he does.

Regards, JEff

md95065

Once he actually has a social security number people will be able to run credit checks on him, find out that he doesn't have a credit history and deny him credit. This is one tiny step forward from not having an SSN which means that they can't even run the credit check in the first place ...

adjudicator89

Well Ian I have to tell you that you are wrong this time. I was authorized user only and yes it was on my credit score. I also know a couple whos wife put him as an authorized user and yes it is affecting the score. Seen mine and his credit report , so sorry but no u are wrong.

Noorah101

The same thing happened with Sadegh. I added him as an authorized user to 2 of my cards, and he got a credit score based on that.

I'm thinking perhaps the phone reps who add the spouse to the card, don't know the difference between "authorized user" and "joint user" themselves, and perhaps they do add them as a joint user, even though verbally they say he's an authorized user. I could totally see that happening.

Either way, it worked out well for Sadegh because my own credit is good.

To agentpeppermint: The best way he can build up credit in his own name is to get a secured credit card to start with.

Rene

chartreuse

There's a lot of confusion over the whole AU thing.

What happened was, various "credit repair" companies were charging people a fee to be added as an AU for a credit card. The CRAs et al didn't like this and set about making changes so that AUs wouldn't help your score.

In the end, the job got half done. Being an AU on some random company's card won't help you. But being an AU on a family member's card will.

AP - your hubby should look into getting a secured card from BoA or Orchard, as a first step towards building a score. If he had an AMEX card in the UK he should also look into AMEX Global Transfer.

adjudicator89

Ok, cool

Michael

That was true in 2007 when Fair Isaac tried to eliminate piggy-backing that was being done by credit repair companies. However in 2008, Fair Isaac figured out a way to allow legitimate authorized users to improve their credit score.

http://www.creditfyi.com/Credit-Repo...sers-Again.htm

Last summer, FICO tried to crack down on this shady practice by altering its credit calculation models to eliminate authorized-users in the calculations altogether. Unfortunately, this created collateral damage, prohibiting as many as 50 million consumers from legitimately building their credit history through the authorized user credit practice.

After a lot of pressure from both credit companies and consumers, FICO announced that it has found a way to include legitimate authorized users in the credit-scoring model while weeding out the "piggy backers."

Bob

Not really a visa question this...better off asking in the US forum I'd have thought....

agentpeppermint

i only asked here because we are still going through the visa process and getting the social security card is part of it...you can move it if you like.

adjudicator89

To me it is ok to be that question on here as it is part of his Visa journey, agentpeprmint I ththink you are just fine :-). I wanted to give you a tip for credit card , a friend of mine who is a student from my class, he has no credit at all and he applied recently with Capital One Bank and got approved for 300 dollars that's better than nothing for a start. They have different types of cards, for people with no credit etc... check it out

adjudicator89

here:
https://cardfinder.capitalone.com/Ca...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

adjudicator89

Or even better
https://www.capitalone.com/creditcar..._H1_07_G_CCPCL

click on Limited credit, where it says I have had a credit card for less than a three years or I have never had a credit card. See what happens.