Guidelines for obtaining a Credit Score in the US

[madwife2002]

When us Brits get together the most frustrating thing we all agree on is how to get credit-now at home in the Uk it is not that important as here in the US because everything and I mean everything is credit scored from the expected to the unexpected.

So a good way to get a credit score started is by getting a loan or a credit card-not simple you havent got a score so you wont get either of these. NOw there is a way round this and it is simple.

Whilst you are in the UK living and working apply for an American Express card-do two applications if you are a husband and wife team. Spend on it and pay it off each month.

When you arrive here in the US-phone American Express here and apply over the phone for a US AMEX Card-you will get a credit limit of around $5000 straight away. Then do the same as I advised early use it and pay it off each month. This will build up your credit score.

You should also get either a car loan or a lease car this will also build up your credit (even if you can buy a car for cash dont). You will pay higher interest rates but you have to look at the bigger picture.

Keep doing both of these and after six months you will be in a better position regarding your credit score-then after a year you can refinance at lower rates.

My husband never applied for his AMEX until August, he is self employed and he has no credit score as yet!!!!!!!!

Now any Brits who have good suggestions and advice please post to help those who follow

[JCR.UK]

Hi

I just got a SSN so can now start to build a credit score. My husband has a good score, does anyone know if there is anyway I could latch onto his score?

Thankyou

PS: congrats silverdragon on becoming staff, your advice is excellent.

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Hi

I just got a SSN so can now start to build a credit score. My husband has a good score, does anyone know if there is anyway I could latch onto his score?

Thankyou

PS: congrats silverdragon on becoming staff, your advice is excellent.

Thanks, been a nice learning curve looking at what happens behind the scenes

Not sure about latching onto hubby's, maybe someone else will be along soon to help

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

Hi

I just got a SSN so can now start to build a credit score. My husband has a good score, does anyone know if there is anyway I could latch onto his score?

Thankyou

PS: congrats silverdragon on becoming staff, your advice is excellent.

Hi,

Sorry you will have to build your own score, you cannot latch onto your husbands score-though it would be nice if we could latch onto somebodies elses sometimes lol.

If you get some credit established even if you pay a higher interest rate initially, that is the best way to build up your score.

Have you got a job? It is a lot easier to establish credit if you have an income?

Remember every time you apply for credit it has the potential to lower your score which can be very frustrating.

Good luck and if you need to ask me anything and I can Help I will

[JCR.UK]

Hi,

Sorry you will have to build your own score, you cannot latch onto your husbands score-though it would be nice if we could latch onto somebodies elses sometimes lol.

If you get some credit established even if you pay a higher interest rate initially, that is the best way to build up your score.

Have you got a job? It is a lot easier to establish credit if you have an income?

Remember every time you apply for credit it has the potential to lower your score which can be very frustrating.

Good luck and if you need to ask me anything and I can Help I will

Hi

I do have a job but not started yet. I have been in the US for nearly two years and have a joint bank account. I will start by speaking to the bank to see if they will give me a credit card.

Thanks for the help.

JCR.UK

[cariad]

our very first credit card was only for a few hundred dollars, but we used it each month and paid it faithfully. thats the way to start to show that you are a good risk. creditors dont want you to use more than 49% of the credit that they give you.

[UK2USA]

My fiancee had terrible trouble establishing some credit history in the USA.... she received knock back after knock back.... each time damaging her already shaky score. Then someone gave us a really great idea:

Talk to your bank manager about a secured loan... something small like $500. As security you give the manager $500 which he puts in a savings account. Specify that you only want the loan to run over a short time.... say 2 months. Then you simply transfer $250 from the savings account to your loan account, plus a couple of dollars for interest.

The bank HAS to report this as a completed loan.... it doesn't matter that it was for a small amount, or for a short period. It counts as a 'loan repaid in good time and without penalty'

We did this and within 2 months my fiancees credit score had soared. I only wish we had heard of this 12 months before when we couldn't get on the credit history ladder.

[misswoosie]

Would people like to add anything to this thread as things may have changed since 2007?

The only thing I wanted to say was that when we got our secured CC we were told NOT to pay the balance off in full every month, rather over 2 months.

So use it for less than 50% of the credit limit (which will probably be around $200) and then pay that off over 2 months before repeating the cycle.

We have a CC with a much better limit now, but we tend not to use it very much except for larger "lump" purchases such as air flights , and then we pay off about 10% of the balance per month (it's interest free for a year- no problem now getting such a card as we started building our score in 2009).

We don't have a store card.

We have a small loan for a car purchase which we overpay each month.

We don't have a mortgage.

In view of the fact that we might want to apply for a home equity loan to do some remodelling, would people advise that we need another line of credit, such as a store card?

We may also pay off the car loan as it has an 11% interest rate (best we could get in 2009 after being here 8 months). We thought about taking out an additional loan with a lower interest rate , but they won't lend less than $7000 and the amount we owe on the car is around half of that.