EricK

My girlfriend is here on an F1 Visa, so she does not have a SSN. However HSBC have given her an unsecured credit card (Mastercard) due to investments she holds with them in her home country.

Will she build any kind of credit score in the US without a SSN by using the credit card?

britishspouse

I dont believe so, but dont quote me on it.

I was curious about the same thing whilst over there on my F1 Visa, but couldn't find an answer.

Im guessing if she pays on time etc, she will gain good standing with the bank, but it wont relate to a US credit score as such.

Bob

F1 should be allowed to get a SSN though as they're allowed to work on campus part time.

Credit history is pretty much tied to your SSN, so not having a number, chances are you won't be building any...but it'll be six months before they report anything, so that should be the first semester of none campus work.

md95065

They will only give an F1 visa holder an SSN if they actually have an on-campus job - the fact that you are allowed to work on campus isn't sufficient - if you don't need the SSN because you have a job you won't get one.

britishspouse

and its near impossible to be allowed to work. My campus dean pretty much told me the only cases he has authorized for F1 VISA students working was one where a girls home country economy crashed, and one where a guy lost his family in a car accident so had no more means of support :S

cranston

I did this.

HSBC will keep the credit history of that credit card in their files. When/if she is allocated a SSN number in the future the whole history will be sent to the credit agencies.

Until she gets a SSN the information will be kept inside HSBC.

E3only

My story…

When I moved up here 7-8 months ago from Sydney, I was given unsecured credit card by Amex no questions asked (history in Sydney). I enrolled for their credit watch program too. I noticed the start date on the account was the start date when I got my amex in Sydney. Great! It gave me massive leg up and I started off with a 735+ credit score.

I applied for car loan with a credit union little later (3-4 months from when I entered US). I was declined. The guy there mentioned even if my credit score was fantastic, the ‘age of SSN’ was not in support.

Of course, if you have HSBC credit card and they recognize your overseas history I am sure they would give preferential treatment if you went for an auto loan with HSBC. I am just pointing out the technically, credit card without SSN may not help with cross entities…