SATX John

Good advice, currently doing this my Mom in Law. Secured card and account is working so that is is established prior to move.

If you can get those before you move it does help in the time department.

Also, on a car loan if you have the cash get the loan and pay off over the first year. Many Interest rates for no credit are crazy, so the more cash paid against the loan the better. Then you get a payment history for a year.

You can also get a cosigner that has a history to help gain a better rate.

Noorah101

I don't understand this paragraph. If you entered the USA on a CR-1 visa, then you already are a Permanent Resident. There's nothing to convert.

Rene

SATX John

One small ad. If you are named as an authorized user on a CC, it is part of your history, even if you never use it or have a card. So long as the person owning the account maintains it.

This tactic was helpful for getting my kids a decent rating while they were in college.

Bob

These days they have to be co-signer to the card, not just authorised users of the card. They cut that loop hole.

mikechristina

All my Husband means by this is removing the 'Conditions' if the CR-1 since we weren't married for 2 years when his Visa was granted. We do this after 2 years from his arrival date.

Thanks - Mrs A

captainsensible

Doing some research into this - is the above statement actually true to your knowledge (and with what evidence?). Seems to be conflicting information on the interweb.

http://www.experian.com/ask-experian...t-history.html

Edit to include web link.

Bob

That's with Experian.

There are 3 credit bureaus, and generally being added as a user doesn't build them a credit history, unless they are a co-signer to the card.

captainsensible

I found some more info on this that would indicate its not just Experian. Apparently the original loophole that was closed was reversed by Fico but with some element of leeway provided to credit providers. Meaning that generally if the authorised user is a close family member then being such will help their credit score. Will find the info and post tomorrow.

androobe

I arrived late March and immediately opened a checking account with Citi. Asked about CC, they said no chance except for secured, needed more proofs of address etc, so didn't do anything then.

Needed CC to hire a car, so OH added me as authorised user in mid April.

Went to apply for secured card late-June, lady in bank said as I'd had a checking account for 3 months I may get accepted for an unsecured card, applied for their "Thank You" card. Declined due to "no history".

Next day got an email from American Airlines offering me to apply for an American Airlines Citibank Visa CC. Applied as nothing to lose at this stage, fully expected to be declined again, but was accepted with $2k limit. Cannot find any explanation why but happy to be starting my credit history!

Only 2 things I can think of that could have affected it:
1) Being an authorised user on wifes CC
2) Being a long standing very active member of American Airlines mileage program, but I find that unlikely....

Sue

My son has been a card holder for a couple of years and has been getting CC offers in the post since he hit 18 last year. Today he even got some junk mail asking if he wanted to buy a plot of land in Tennessee.

As a responsible parent I've been throwing all the CC offers away .... I don't want him going down the CC route quite yet and getting himself into debt before he's even left uni. (He's got a student loan for that )

Plus at the moment he seems to be doing pretty well out of the Bank of Mum and Dad

RICH

FWIW I got my first mortgage a couple of years ago. I got a copy of my credit reports that the lender had pulled. The one thing that was "adverse" was "less than 7 years credit history" (I had about 5 or 6 years by then) and I did not get a brilliant interest rate. So that tells me 7+ years of good standing would be about the ultimate!

Bob

Well that's good to know.

captainsensible

A recent-ish (2011) article about being an authorised user:

http://getoutofdebt.org/32699/quick-...uthorized-user


The FICO news release from 2008, detailing that authorised users scores would be restored to calculations:

http://www.fico.com/en/Company/News/...7-31-2008.aspx

Authorised user data was originally removed from calculations due to the practice of credit tampering that was going on, performed by companies that would match up people with good credit who were prepared to let people with no credit scores be authorised users (without necessarily having a card). By removing these people from the scoring, FICO fell foul of Federal Reserve Regulation B, which requires lenders to consider shared accounts of spouses when considering a married person’s credit risk. If the company ignored these relationships, it would have broken this rule.

So, they reworked their formula to include authorised users BUT with conditions to weed out non-relatives (essentially working on the premise of same surname, address and so on).

Hope thats useful to someone, it was to me!