Ray

Thats easy ..banking is slower.... they are just getting around to a new idea.. you call it direct debit..Tax pretty much the same as the Inland Revenue plenty of form that nobody understands
health care = money and lots of it ..life revolves around your credit rating here
http://www.accessidaho.org/

Lion in Winter

Well you would know I suppose - I haven't seen Noddy since I was three, myself.

Ray

Think Euphemism

inquisitive40

Yes,, that is the BIGGEST culture shock for me here, the credit system, even renting an appartment needs a credit check. Without reasonable credit here you can hardly exist.
Tax is less that it was in Ireland, US taxes are not really that bad, no VAT (just sales tax at around 8%). Sales tax is added AFTER you checkout and is not on the marked prices, that was REAL hard to get used to.
Also car buying and selling is VERY different here. A dealer can pretty much give no real guarantee with a car they sell you, also if you trade in your car, the trade in value could be $3500 whereas the dealer will resell your car at twice that price. In Ireland it was actually better to trade in a car cause you would get a good deal against a new car, here the dealers take a huge commision on the trade in AND then get a big commission on the new car.
Patrick

Noorah101

That's been very frustrating for my husband as well. There is no such thing as "credit" back in his country. There are deals made between people, but it's not the big banking thing it is here.

On his third day here, I took him with me to buy a new car. He was amazed that it could be done just like that, in about 3 hours time, and with absolutely no cash in hand. Even the small down payment was made on a credit card. Of course, they wouldn't put his name on any of the paperwork because he had no SSN at that time. In Iran, you wait until you have cash in hand to buy a car!

We went to get him a cell phone, and they wouldn't let him open his own account because he didn't have a SSN or credit history. We added him to my existing account.

He had to learn how to use a debit card, the ATM machine, and how to write a check. Everything is CASH back in his country. Our next step is to get him a secured credit card.

He was talking about the future and opening his own business. He started to say something about saving enough money to do that. That prompted a whole new discussion of getting a small business loan - if you wait until you save that much money, you'll never make it here.

This is an immigrant who not only has to deal with leaving his homeland and learning a new language, but also has to completely change his idea of how to handle finances and business. I have to say, he's doing very well, though!

Rene
sorry...went OT on all that, but just thought it was interesting how some people REALLY need to learn about life in America!

inquisitive40

Credit can be an issue in Ireland BUT is not as bad as here (even though I have heard they have gotten worse). In Ireland when I bought my house, all I needed was an address that had clean credit to apply for the mortgage, there is no SSN there and so you are not tracked the same way as here. Also in Ireland (when I was last there) you either got approved for a loan or your were not approved, there was no different loan rates depending on your credit, that is a REAL sucky thing here. The final thing here that REALLY hurts my head with credit is that unless you take out credit you cannot get credit. When we moved here from St Louis, we cleared all our outstanding bills because my SO did not have a job and so we cleared any bill that we could, consequentially we now have no loan payments or anything to show we are good for making payments and so pretty much have zero credit,, once I start working here we intend to get a secured credit card to get our credit back BUT it is such a crazy concept, you need a credit card basically to get credit. Also the way applying for credit can screw you and then simply closing a bank account decreases your credit score, it is a TOTAL minefield.
Patrick

Ray

Patrick.. The way it works here......if you need credit ..difficult
if you don't need credit ..you can have as much as you like ..

inquisitive40

EXACTLY....
You summed it up very nicely Ray
Patrick

a_J_Martin

Yeah, i've been loads of times, i'm a bit worried about those things, well both the things you mentioned actually. But its a nice place and the weather is so good. It's early day yet anyway, we are definately starting out there because it's where her parents live.

But it all depends on where i can find a job ultimately!

Andy

a_J_Martin

hmmm... gives me a headache just thinking about it! I'm used to all my tax being done for me. And the thought of sorting out health insurance etc is a little daunting. I should imagine it's not that bad though. At least there's direct debit i use that to death.