Belgium

I have read a number of threads about getting a credit rating in the USA. Now it is possible that I will transfer to The States on an L1 visa (work for a large corporation). Does anyone think that being in that situation would help in getting a bank loan for a car?

Couldn't think of a better user name - am a Brit living in Belgium

Manc

you'll probably start from scratch credit wise.
having a company behind you all the way should/could make many things easier. Credit isn't one of them. However there are many companies out there that cater to the transfered Expat.

Belgium

Manc - Credit companies you mean?

I was easily able to open a bank account in the states which I just use on business trips - was a given a gold visa check card immediately - that was easier than I ever found in the UK or here, but I suppose it's not the same as a loan.

Manc

not credit companies per se, but help getting you in a car

intl autosource is one often touted on here, apparently they appear half decent to deal with.

it's the insurance that's gonna kill ya.

Belgium

Is the Insurance that bad?


I currently pay about $600 per year for third party which I thought was bad enough!

Manc

depends where you are going in the USA

you driver history will generally count for FA, as having no license pretty much as soon as you step off the plane.

NC Penguin

I don't think having an L1 visa or working for a large corporation will give you any advantage in getting credit in the US.

If your employer is a large, well known American corporation, it may give you some leverage when renting an apartment though.

If you have a spouse who's American and has maintained a credit history whilst living outside the US, you could piggyback on his/her credit.





NC Penguin

anotherlimey

It depends on who you are applying for credit with and what your company is willing to do for you. Some car dealers will do commercial loans for you if your employer co-signs a credit agreement, however I was told not many local banks do this anymore.

I was in the same position as you, I even had the president/owner of our company co-sign with me only for the bank to reject the application because he didn't live in IL, blumin' fudder muckers. I ended up going to CarMax to get an immigrant loan (just under 13% APR ).

-tom

bromleybill

International auto source is a good site to buy a car and get savings on insurance using history from DVLC and your insurers. These are sent to the US broker who will make a difference.

Using your spouse citizen with their social security number is good too.

Thing to note: you are more likely to get credit if you put the maximum deposit down and take a loan for a small amount for one year. Once you are approved or your spouse is with you as the joint name...the tentative first steps will have been taken to achieve the history.

You can only buy US manufactured cars but the web site has good deals below dealership best prices and will refund the difference if you can get a quote for the same spec vehicle at a lower price.

Contact: [email protected] He has been an invaluable help to me and my wife .

dbj1000

We came over here on an H1-B visa 16 months ago, and within months had a car loan, mortgage, credit cards and a "very good" credit score already. Here's what we did:

As soon as we arrived we joined the Credit Union which is (vaguely) associated with my company. I don't think we're alone in our experience that some Credit Unions can be far more flexible and useful than the large banks when it comes to starting your credit facilities here. If your company doesn't have a relationship with a Credit Union, then find out which bank it does business with. If that fails, find a local Credit Union - their Union status requires that you belong to an organization affilitated with them somehow, but in the case of ours that includes certain sports clubs, gyms, charities and schools as well as five local companies.

With a letter from my company president (just saying who I was and that I would be working for them long-term) we were able to open a bank account and get a $5,000 limit Master Card right there and then. However, it took a lot of personal initiative on the part of the Credit Union employees to work around the fact that I did not have a Social Security Number yet. In the end they entered "random" numbers as a place-holder in the computer system until I had my SSN a month or so later.

We then asked them for a car loan and, after some discussion with their head office, we were given their "good" credit rating interest rate (6.5%, only 0.5% above their best rate at that time). This again was down to initiative and discretion that a big bank wouldn't have been willing or able to do.

Next, after 9 months in the country, we approached them for a mortgage. They told us that they couldn't be flexible enough for us on that, and sent us to a mortgage broker who they all knew. Although he took a small fee from the lending company he was excellent at finding us a great deal (0.2% above the best interest rate we could have found anywhere in TX with any level of credit history) and was great at working around the minor problems caused by our lack of credit history. We didn't have to get international credit reports, letters from our UK bank, or ANY non-standard paperwork for that matter.

Within a couple of months of buying our house the flood of credit card offers started. Turns out our credit score went through a step change at that point. When we bought the house it was around 650 ("fair"), it's now nearly 800 only 16 months after arriving in the US, which is good engough to get good credit rates from "mainstream" financial services too.

The moral of this story? Don't accept the crappy service that so many financial oranisations here offer (they're as bad in the UK, in my experience). Don't accept ill-informed demands from bank employees - even my Credit Union had to be shown the state law saying that they could not demand a Social Security Number purely as an ID for my wife (who is not entitled to an SSN on her visa), for example. If a bank isn't being helpful about the complications of being a new Expat, take your business elsewhere. We weren't moving huge sums of money over from the UK, but we were still offering our prospective bank some long-term business, and too often the big banks figured they were doing us a favour!

Good luck! Regardless of what many threads and posters here will tell you, starting your new credit history here shouldn't be too difficult, and for us it served to remind us that having combined available credit card limits of over $75,000 in the UK wasn't a good thing, it was just an invitation to get into the debt problems so common over there!

fatbrit

Great post.

At the bank, you need to ask about "membership accounts". These usually add a few freebie extras because your company has a relationship with the bank.

SamuearlJackson

found this a really interesting read. i've been over for a year now but i'm sure i haven't accumulated any type of credit. i filled in an application for a chase credit card a few months ago as they kept pestering me sending letters saying my staus was 'preferred'. well anyway, that was rejected...but they did say i could get a secured credit card, but i just had to send them a cheque for the same amount as the limit i wanted on it to start with (+ $35 annual charge......).

i just left it then and decided not to bother but i'm now applying for longer term jobs (currently doing post-doc research) over here and realise that if i ever want to buy something expensive i'll need some help (and a credit history). now, my university is associated with a credit union. do people think it will be better to try the credit union or go for the secured credit card?

Thanks

Highcouncilruler

Secured credit cards are for high risk people and usually have either ugly interest rates, ugly rate increases if you are late to pay a bill, ugly finance charges or all of the above. They are not as valuable because they show up on your credit report as high risk credit cards, rather than regular cards.

Credit Unions on the other hand are banks with the bonus features of offering credit services such as cards, loans and generally have low interest rates and often sell cars from dealerships at low rates and prices for members.

If is a far better value to go with a credit union. The one I use has given me 3 car loans, a credit card with a high balance and a second mortgage on a house. I have had to do very little for this except sign on the dotted line. Get into one through a company or local membership to club as previously suggested or you can check with friends and family to see if they use a credit union. Mine will allow new members if an existing member refers them.

Good luck

scrubbedexpat099

Credit Unions are sort of the equivalent to Buiding Soc's before they got airs.

SamuearlJackson

thanks for this. i think i will give the credit union associated with my university a try then.

SamJ