3rdWaiver

Hi folks,

I am looking for information on this forum on when to apply for SSN, bank accounts, secured credit card, auto loan, mobile plan upon arrival. We have relatives in California and have offered us to stay in for 3 months, which hopefully is enough time to build some credit history.

1. There are conflicting messages on this forum when to apply SSN. Some say wait for 10 days and some say it's unnecessary. Does anybody have a more recent experience (in the last 2 months) arriving in the US? Can you please share how you went about getting SSN?

2. Given that SSN is generally required to open a bank account, how do people on working visas here received their first salary? cheque?

3. Has anybody here opened a bank account, auto loan, mobile plan, etc. while waiting for their SS card to arrive?

Thanks in advance for any experiences you can share.

rpjs

You don't need an SSN to open a non-interest bearing account, any unique ID number such as a passport number will do. Finding a bank employee who understands this may be the tricky part though.

Hotscot

Where are you moving to?
What will you be doing work-wise?

If you're intending buying a car have you contacted International Autosource?

I don't think 3 months is enough for a meaningful credit history...at least 6 months I think.

LeavingLondon

Hi, we applied for our SSN when we came for the look-see so within a few days of arriving as we didn't have 10 days to wait. They had everything they needed their end to process it. When we moved here a few months later, we went straight back to the SSN office to retrieve our numbers and the card came a few days later. (They said they had sent us our cards after our initial visit but they went MIA)

We opened a bank account with Chase on our look-see, and therefore with no SSN. We received our debit card within 24 or 48 hours. We gave them our SSN when we received them.

We called AMEX Global and opened up an AMEX Account and we received those cards within a few days too.

Re the mobile phones. i went on a $50 a month plan with T-Mobile using my UK iphone (no monthly contract and walked out with my new SIM card within minutes) as i was holding off for the new iphone to come out. No SSN needed. My OH opened up a Verizon monthly contract (new phone) and despite the fact that it took hours for them to get their heads around the lack of credit history and no SSN, he did also eventually that day, get a new phone and contract! He had to pay a deposit which he got back after a year.

Hope that helps. Where in California are you moving to?

Bob

Nothing will be reported till 6 months to make any real history and it'll be meaningless till the year mark.

That said, car loan/finance is the easiest form to get....depends on deposit and budget though.

Utilities, put down a deposit.

There's quite a useful wiki here that goes over the credit thing...quite a lot of recent threads on CA too...and covering most of these general questions.

3rdWaiver

Thanks for all your responses. I work as an IT Project Manager and moving to San Francisco.

LeavingLondon, thanks for sharing your experience. Very helpful. This is what I'm looking for. It seems that the 10-day wait is unnecessary. I'm also planning to open an account with Chase and AMEX global transfer for credit card. Good to know I can do all that without waiting for SS card to arrive. Where are you based in California?

LeavingLondon

I'm in Los Gatos, South of the Bay Area, near San Jose. Which areas are you looking at?

GeoffM

I think this advice goes back years when stuff was less automated. Certainly in my case - and in a few other reports on this forum I've seen - these days the number can be issued literally the day after you arrive, with the card coming a week or two later. I was able to get the number (not the card) when I wandered into the office after a few days but very recent reports suggest that is no longer possible.

However, if you haven't had your card within a couple of weeks, then it would probably be time to chase it. What you don't want to do is trigger a manual verification as that slows down the process by many weeks apparently.

Of course, for this to happen automatically, you must have ticked the appropriate box on whatever form it is and the planets have to align perfectly.