Nylon

Hello all,

Just found this site and thought it would be helpful with some questions that I have once the "move has been made". My husband and I are in the process of getting his visa so we can get to NY (that's where I'm from originally) I CANNOT WAIT!! Very excited.

I've been living in the UK for three years. The plan was always to move back to NY before we even got married once kids were in the picture. Now I'm pregnant we have gotten the ball rollin' since I want to give birth in my own country near my family/friends. So that's the short version.

How does one establish credit in the U.S.? I intentionally kept all my U.S. credit cards active, my bank accounts and put a "temporary hold on my car insurance" just in case my husband has to "piggy-back" on me when it comes to credit. My credit is very good. Only minor, little problem is that I will not be working once we move back. But at least there will be some kind of credit history there.

In a perfect world he will get a transfer from his present company so he would not have to go through a job search. Talks are underway and the management is doing everything in their power to make it happen because the do not want to lose him, but there are no guarantees. If the transfer did happen, we would be fine establishing credit because the company would be able to vauge for him with a letter to the bank for a mortgage, credit cards, etc. But of course we do not live in a perfect world and there may be a chance that he will have to look for a new job once we move.

Take American Express for example. We are a platnium member and have an awesome history with them. But doesn't mean didley when you move to the U.S. History is wiped out as far as I know and you have to start from the botton and work you way up (and at 40 yrs. old) that can be quite aggravating.

Would love to hear some personal accounts as to how you estabished credit when you moved to the U.S.

Thanks.

fatbrit

Go here.

Nylon

Thanks for the link. I guess we should do ok as the bank account we have in NY is also in his name. Our friend is the bank manager there and she hooked us up after we got married (and it's not a mom & pop bank either, it's one of the big boys) so I'm guessing we should be fine.

Cheers.

I still would like to hear some personal accounts though.

AmerLisa

Haven't been able to establish credit as yet....if your husband does transfer over..kudos to you and I mean that. Should go a long way with establishing credit sooner. Not sure what your husband does for a living....hopefully it won't be a big hassle to find work....it was for my husband, he's in telecommunications. Other thought after reading your initial post....pregnant and no health insurance here....can't be a good thing unless you've got enough money in store for doctors, hospital bill, but you've already probably thought about that. Good luck in your quest, sounds like you've covered most of your avenues.

fatbrit

Get that secured CC opened ASAP.

Although if you've got AMEX, try this as well.

Nylon

Yes, that will be a definite. Definitely will do that. And thanks for the AmEx link - that is awesome!!

As for the pregnancy, doesn't matter. Because I wouldn't do the midwife/NHS avenue (just my upbringing). When it comes to babies getting delivered, obstetricians do it where I'm from. So if I were to have the baby in the UK, I would go private as I'm doing now (for my prenatal appointments anyway). So whether I have the baby in the UK (where Bupa does not give one cent to child birth) or the U.S. (without insurance) it's still going to cost the same. If he does get a transfer ****FINGERS CROSSED**** insurance would not be a problem since I would be covered under his. If he doesn't get that transfer we'll just have to pay which has already been covered in our expense plan.

Just had a chat with my husband about the secured cc through our bank in NY... Silly me, he just reminded me that has one already. But doesn't use it so I guess he's going to have to start!!

AmerLisa

That's cool. I'm an American citizen, husband is British, I've had babies both sides of the pond, so I know what you're talking about. Strange enough that I had the complications in the UK (at the last minute my blood pressure dropped and baby's heartbeat dropped) had to have an emergency c-section and was quite impressed with the care I received. Anyway, we were in a very good district and the hospital, midwives and consultants were top-notch, in my opinion. But, I do know how easy it is to be put off with the system there, especially if you're not in a good district. Anyway, best of luck on your move and pregnancy.

fatbrit

You're welcome. Please do report back on how it went.

neil

A firend of mine did the AmEx transfer and I was just about to open a UK one to try and go that route myself. I had been here for a year and a half on an L1 and suddenly I had a successful credit card application for a Chase mastercard - I'm not sure why because just two months before I had been rejected for a Macy's charge card. I suspect it might have helped that for about a year I had been a second cardholder on my girlfriends (now my fiance) Fleet credit card (although they did not have my social security number).

My bank actually told me that I would be unlikely to get a credit card with them because they are stricter than some others, and they actually recommended Chase, so maybe they're worth a try anyway.

TRPardoe

Take a look at this link

Guide to US Credit Scoring

dbj1000

At the risk of cross-posting, here's my standard Credit History story

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. 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!

Nylon

The transfer probably won't take place until a couple of months but once we do transfer, I'll report on how it went and if it helped us. I'm assuming it will.

Thank you everyone for all the infomation.

John Murray

DJB - could you provide some info on your mortgage broker - We are in TX also. I have a good score (over 700) but history not established long enough to allow my income to be counted, according to my broker. My wife has established history and good score also, but our broker has advised only her income can be taken into account - so would be nice to get a second opinion from a broker who has dealt with this before.

PM me with the company info if you don't want to post on here.

dbj1000

I don't have my broker's details to hand, but I'll PM you with them on Monday. Sounds to me like you need to fire your current broker!