Sergei Drachev

Hi,

Another thing you can do to improve or establish your credit rating in the new
country is to go to your bank, talk to the loan officer, and ask him/her to give you
a SECURED LOAN.

Here's how it works: you give them $300 or $200, and ask them to give you a loan for
the same amount. You take the loan, and promptly pay it off, let's say within a month
or two. You'd have to pay the bank the interest, but it's a quick and proven way to
establish credit.

-Sergei Drachev Toronto

"Tom" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    | My fiance has been working in San Francisco for 1 month and it
appears
    | to be difficult for her to get credit because of the complete
absence
    | of any credit rating.
    |
    | I will be joining her in a couple of months and expect to
experience
    | the same problem with no US credit rating.
    |
    | Is there anything I can do to establish a credit rating in
USA, either
    | before or after I land?
    |
    | We both have very good ratings in the UK.
    |
    | Tom Squance

Ned

For me, the two cards were totally separate...the US company simply did a credit
check with their UK counterpart. I gave up my UK card after I got my US one but there
was no transfer involved as the US card was a new, separate account. However, my wife
kept both cards. Balances are irrelevant unless your payment is overdue.

"crazy daisy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Sorry Tom to tiptoe in your thread(!) but I have another question for the
    > resourceful folks at britishexpats. A couple of you mentioned being able to change
    > your UK card for a US one. Was there a balance still in the UK card? If so, are the
    > card companies willing to transfer the balance or do they require you pay off the
    > balance before starting the new card?
    >
    > Thanks again guys!
    >
    >
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Andrew Clark

Keep your foreign credit cards (I Did)

Then when you get here open up a cell phone account. They offered me 2 ways to do
this. Either a credit check, or have a major credit card with at least $200 available
credit on it.

Since VISA in the USA is VISA anywhere I opened up a cell phone account using my
canadian credit card and on my US social security card. Next thing I know I start
getting US credit cards offers.

It took a few years but we have a couple of cars loans and a mortgage now.

Andrew Clark

[email protected] (Tom) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > My fiance has been working in San Francisco for 1 month and it appears to be
    > difficult for her to get credit because of the complete absence of any
    > credit rating.
    >
    > I will be joining her in a couple of months and expect to experience the same
    > problem with no US credit rating.
    >
    > Is there anything I can do to establish a credit rating in USA, either before or
    > after I land?
    >
    > We both have very good ratings in the UK.
    >
    > Tom Squance

Meg Lamont

A gas card used to be a way to establish credit for those who had no credit. for
those without any credit, Amoco, Shell, Mobile... etc. What a company wants to see,
is frequent use, and frequent payment. This establishes what kind of person you are
when it comes to paying. Sounds silly but it works. Same for a local department
store. They just want to be sure of what kind of payment history you are
establishing.

Best of luck!

Meg

"James Donovan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > [email protected] (Tom) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > > My fiance has been working in San Francisco for 1 month and it appears to be
    > > difficult for her to get credit because of the complete absence of any credit
    > > rating.
    > >
    > > I will be joining her in a couple of months and expect to experience the same
    > > problem with no US credit rating.
    >
    > A secured credit card is the way most people go. Your foreign credit rating counts
    > for nothing here. I discovered that the hard way, and I am a natural born US
    > citizen (who grew up in the UK).
    >
    > You pay a small security deposit (eg $500) and you get a credit card with
    > that limit. You make your payments on time and in a you'll be on your way to
    > good credit.

James Donovan

[email protected] (Andrew Clark) wrote in message
news:<[email protected] om>...
    > Keep your foreign credit cards (I Did)
    >
    > Then when you get here open up a cell phone account. They offered me 2 ways to do
    > this. Either a credit check, or have a major credit card with at least $200
    > available credit on it.
    >
    > Since VISA in the USA is VISA anywhere I opened up a cell phone account using my
    > canadian credit card and on my US social security card. Next thing I know I start
    > getting US credit cards offers.
    >
    > It took a few years but we have a couple of cars loans and a mortgage now.

I don't know about that. Some telephone companies don't typically report to credit
bureaus unless you are seriously delinquent, in which case they would report you as
BAD credit.

There are quite a few ways to do it, but most people just take a secured credit card
and work their way up.