Boylerz

Hey folks,

Just thought I'd update yee on how I'm getting on in sunny Oregon. Got here Tuesday of last week to start the job. The company flew me down from Seattle(where my girlfriend lives) to start work that day. The first week was crazy!! I was like stating my life all over again!! Heres what I got done -
* SSN application. Got the number 2 days later by going into the office. They sent it out then 1 week later. Very easy process compared to some of the horror stories I heard. Guess I just got lucky!!
* Set up bank account. This was also pretty painless. Didnt have my SSN when I set it up. Went with the WAMU. Only thing I got annoyed about is that they wouldnt cash my rent deposit cheque from my house in Vancouver, BC beacuse it was in Canadian dollars!! I HATE that cheques or should I say checks are so commonly used here. Only people 50 and older use them in Ireland! Anyways enough of that rant!
* Went to the DMV to get a driving test application and an Oregon rules of the road book. My plan is to do the test next week and then worry bout the car/insurance. I guess I will have to pay for the car with hard cash as I have no credit history? Anyone got any experience of trying to purchase a car through finance here without cred history? Can it be done if you have just arrived????
* Got through teh mountain of paperwork work that I had to sign for my job. Healthcare seems pretty good by US standards.
* I put down a deposit on a cool appartment today so I'm chuffed with that. I will be renting. My company has put me up in a hotel and gave me a car for the first month.

Next up for me is to get furniture etc for my pad, do the driving test, get a car and then I can concentrate fully on work and live the American dream!

Conor.

Elvira

What's that then?

Cheers!

Rodney you plonker

I had an absolute nightmare buying a car with no credit, all the dealerships wanted to do was lease me one. I went into a dealership and told the guy I didn't care what the car was, just figure out a way to put me in a car I can own because I was renting one at $700 a month, he contacted Ford credit and explained the situation, Ford said what I had to do was put down 40% of the cost of the car. I bought a brand new car that was offering 3 grand cash back and I put down 5 grand myself (using the 3 grand as part of the 40%), the car was 18 grand so I just scraped in.

That was 5 years ago, they may have moved the goal posts now. Here is the link if you want to contact them.

http://www.fordcredit.com/

Irn-bru

you're lucky, started raining here!

jen_andreson

Sounds like you're off to a good start!

My advice on the car is to pay cash and buy a used one to get you started. Work on your credit for 6 months and then check into buying a new car. You'll save yourself lots of headaches that way.

Wildandcrazy0525

Depending on which manufacturer you go with, you can get them to use your credit from the UK, but you gotta get the right sales rep who know's his stuff. Most won't have a clue.

Here's what we did, we went to the dealer, explained to the sales guy the situation, and he got Ford to run the credit through Ford UK, not US. Anything else and you'll be a ghost as you don't exist on any systems.

Another challenge you'll have too is your SSN won't be recongnise with most places where they ask for it for probabl about 6 months. It takes most places that long for it to appear on their systems.

Bob

get credit on a car...don't mention you ain't got credit or need a loan to start with, get a figure sorted, dump as much cash on the table as possible for the car and then get loan for the rest, and pay it off over 6 or so months...or get a loan for whatever you need if it's more than 60% of the car, you can't really afford the car, but anyway, just pay off as much of the loan straight off and pay the rest slowly, it'll build your credit up quickly.

but your better off getting second hand, hell, you can get a fully spec'ed saab 95 se that's 3-4 years old for $10-14K with anything from 30-85K miles on the clock around here, and that's gotta be a nicer ride than getting a brand new kack mobile trailblazer, saturn, chevy impala etc.

sambuc

Anyone got any experience of trying to purchase a car through finance here without cred history? Can it be done if you have just arrived????


We arrived in US on Dec 3rd 2004. Hubby got SSN and we bought 2 new cars on Dec 23rd 2004.

Wasn't easy, but then I don't think buying a car here is, horrible, painful, frustrating fvcking stupid system. All that backwards and forwards shite to their manager and writing crappy numbers on a piece of paper.

I told our sales rep that in England car salesmen were considered the lowest of the low, and that they weren't much better here.

Anyway managed to get 2 new Chevi's. A good deal on mine at 3.5% interest but hubby was stung on his, 17.5%. But we thought, swallow it for 6 - 12 months, then re-finance. Which we did, but actually paid off the balance.

The stupid thing was that we did the finance through a co called GMAC. Who we actually had a mortgage with in UK a few years ago, but they weren't intested in that.

Also once we did the deal on the cars we then found out that my sister had told the same dealership about 12 months previously that she and no-one else she new would every buy a car from them, as they were shisters. And what do we do, only buy 2 from them.

Anyway my point is, its a painful experience but a good way to get your credit rating started.

I am sure we could have gotten a better deal but did what we had to do.

fatbrit

Not these idiots?

BTW, all newcomers need to read, understand and digest Car Buying Tips before going anywhere near a US dealer.

Sally

Big telly to watch your Midsomer Murders on