carla24

Does anyone know if you can use an itin for credit purposes? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

dbj1000

I'm not sure what kind of credit application you're thinking of, so this is a little vague but...

...from what my Credit Union told me, it's pretty much impossible to get credit without an SSN. My wife (on an H4) has a card in her name, but on the same account as mine, and so she didn't need an SSN or ITIN.

If the question is more about whether you can use an ITIN in place of an SSN for identification puproses on a credit application, I'd say yes but you should be able to use other forms of ID, like youre passport number. I had to do this when opening my first bank account while I was still waiting for my SSN to come through.

carla24

Thanks for the info. I was offered instant credit at some of the major retail stores by just showing a major crdit card and license. I wasn't sure if I could use an itin inplace of the ssn that they asked for.

dbj1000

One warning I received before I arrived in the US, and which was repeated to me by my Credit Union, was to never apply for credit you weren't sure you were going to get. I stuck to that rule until a store offered me 10% off a very large purchase if I applied for their store credit card. I filled out an application and although I had an SSN I did not have a Texas drivers license. They used my UK license number instead, and the application went through.

Ten minutes later I had been rejected, had to pay 100% of my purchase with my other card, and I had damaged my credit score (by 10 points, I believe) because of the rejection. Not a good result

So, if in doubt don't apply for store cards.

Having said that, I have no idea how long you've been in the US, or how much credit history you may have over here. Even without an SSN, if you're named on a loan, rental, lease, bank account, utility bill or any other form of credit then you're building credit score for yourself. But without an SSN you're unlikely to be accepted for credit from institutions who don't "know" you (such as stores).

I hope this helps, even if it's not too positive!

Ray

From my experience... you cannot gain any credit standing, no matter want you spend or pay unless you have a SSN ..everything start there...

TRPardoe

What we cannot do is look up someone's credit score without an SSN or ITIN.

Makes it very difficult to get someone financed.

Pulaski

I can't directly answer your question, but I may be able to shed some light on the reason that a SSN is needed, and why a ITIN may work, but may not!

First off, if it is possible to tell an ITIN from an SSN by looking at it, or if there is a database available for businesses to check whether a number is an ITIN or SSN then you are stuck.

But, the SSN is not, of itself, important, it is just a lable, an identifier unique to the person it was given to, and is therefore a handy hook on which banks can hang your personal records.

The problem with getting credit is that as an new immigrant your credit file is empty, and even getting an SSN doesn't change that. But if, and it's a very big IF, you can get your ITIN accepted somewhere, anywhere that supplies the credit reference agencies with their raw data, and IF nobody notices that you have given an ITIN rather than a SSN, then you might be able to get on the road to getting credit in your own name.

Good luck, .... I fear that you'll need plenty of it.