Building credit history before move
 

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Short answer, you can't. For any credit activity to be registered you have to have a social security number, so without one, even if* you could do anything which would impact your credit score, it won't help you because without an SSN you don't have a credit score.

* US banks have no interest in extending credit to non-citizens living outside the US.

Get yourself an Amex card if you don't have one already, as Amex in the US will give you a US one based on your existing card in the UK. I think that there is a minimum period of 12 months before it can be switched, though I think some people have reported it might be shorter now.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Sounds like you've lived in the USA in the past and have a social security number? I guess that's how you got on your wife's presumably American credit card.

After being here a few years including getting life up from scratch, I've seen that the fixation with a credit score is not all it's cracked up to be.

I've been able to navigate every hurdle that folks often quote, but admittedly a lot is by paying cash for stuff.

How I did this is being in a position like you and knowing a move is inevitable. I started saving up cash and had a decent kitty to move here with (even though the uncertainty of leaving the EU at the time destroyed the fx rate).

I'll give some examples:

• Cash for 2 cars
• Extra deposit on apartment
• Deposit on utilities
• Having to go through some phone calls for identity verification instead of via the bureau automatically
• Manually underwritten mortgage - yes I got a mortgage with no care for a credit check on a traditional mortgage at a 4% interest

It's doable, but definitely requires a bit of planning.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Then you won't be getting any credit score from it. What this means is that if you run up debt as an authorized user, and your wife doesn't pay, then it will ding her score.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

When you move and start your own credit history it won't take long to build a decent credit score through the usual routes. @ 6 months.
It's only important for certain things..mortgage, car loans, rentals etc
A low or non-existent score probably won't prevent you doing anything if you have cash reserves but YMMV.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

+1 on the Amex, their Global Transfer service was very helpful to us when we moved over. And Amex remains my favourite credit card in the US.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Just curious, what company did you use for a manually underwritten mortgage? Currently looking for a house, and your rate sounds much better than anything we have seen so far - and we have a good credit score.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

A credit union

Re: Building credit history before move
 

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Fatbr...it_and_Finance

It has been a while since this was last updated, but the principles still apply.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Hi Tom, I'm interested in credit unions. We're heading over to Seattle soon, not sure how long for - we'll be on an E3, non-migrant visa - and we will be renting, don't need house or car loans, will maintain Au and UK bank accounts and pay local obligations from those (we own our Au property). Don't even want to think about the tax implications of all that right now but thinking our day-to-day US finances should be fairly simple.

Being a recently ex Finance Director of an Au organisation with US-based staff, I know that international transfers to CUs can sometimes be tricky, e.g., need to go through intermediary banks. If it ends up being a longer term move, we may need to do more of that kind of thing.

Would be grateful for your thoughts and any recommendations. Thanks.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Thanks for this, Bob, very timely.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

It's not really "tricky" even for the banks that move your money, and to you as a customer the process is entirely transparent. You tell your bank, whether in Australia or the UK to send an amount to Acme Credit Union, of Podunk, OR for the credit of Kooky Smith, Routing and Transit No (RTN): 320012349*, A/c number: 0123456789012. and with usually 2-3 days your wire will arrive at your credit union bank in Oregon. The process is the same for an on-line FX remitter such as TransferWise, Xe, OandA, etc.

The fact that your wire from the Chelsea Building Society in the UK has gone through Barclays Bank in London, and Citibank in New York, and perhaps a regional bank in Oregon on its way to your credit union account is of absolutely zero consequence to you, and indeed most people are blissfully unaware of the route taken.

FWIW if you use an on-line remitter the route may be even more complex, or, as I believe happens with TransferWise, they take your money in the UK and put it in their account, then send you funds in the US from their account locally in the US and the money is never really "transferred" at all.

* Credit unions and "thrifts" have their own series of RTNs and if you open an account with a credit union in Oregon it will be served by the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, which uses "32" as the first two digits of RTNs for their client credit unions and thrifts.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

Thanks Pulaski - maybe it was getting the right information out of the San Fran team (pinko leftie tree huggers) that was tricky.

Re: Building credit history before move
 

You're welcome. :)

The US banking system is quite bizarre, certainly unlike that in the UK, and many Americans are pretty clueless about how to do things that should be totally routine, such as send or receive a wire.