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Need your help figuring this - My husband recently moved from Canada to the US to be closer to me. He took a job transfer with the company he used to work for in Canada and now works at their US office. Since he moved countries, his Canadian credit history is not considered in US and he has no US credit history. He applied twice for a credit card with the bank where his paycheck gets deposited - but was rejected each time due to non-existence of a US credit history.
What is his next approach? How can he build his credit history here if he is not given a chance? How do secured credit cards work?
great post (I was about to post a similar one). Hope you dont mind me piggy backing your post) Moving to the US from Australia - no credit history in the US. So besides obtaining a credit card with no credit history how can you obtain a rental property (including having rental references and ledgers from oz) and utilities without credit history? How has others done this previously? thanks in advance.
This happened to my parents when they first moved from Canada. What they did was put a substantial amount of money in deposit with a LOCAL bank and the bank was willing to get them a card. My Dad also recommended trying to get your company to get you a corporate AMEX as a starting point. For a mortgage my parents had my Dad's company write a letter to the mortgage company and again my parents put a large amount down on the house.
There isn't an easy answer though unfortunately, its a silly process.
I don't know if this would work or not, but . . . .
When I moved from Canada back to the US, I applied for a credit card and it was refused for the reason that I had no verifiable credit history. I talked to my friend at the bank, and he said I should write to the Comptroller of the Treasury in Washington, and explain the particulars.
I did. Three weeks later, a credit card came in the mail. That was many, many years ago, but it's worth a try.
Add him to your credit card as an authorized user. According to the statement below, it will help his credit and not hurt yours as long as bills are paid correctly.
From creditcard.com ...
"Being added as an authorized user will not cause your credit history to be combined with that of the primary account holder, so their good credit score will not be affected" by your poor history, says Rod Griffin, credit bureau credit bureau Experian's director of public education. "The only change will be the addition of the account to the authorized user's credit history," he says.
We moved from Canada to the US a few years ago. We had a US$ credit card issued by RBC (A Canadian bank with branches in the US) when we first moved down here. It was issued through a RBC branch in FL eventhough we live in MA. After a year or so I built up my US credit history and was able to get credit cards issued by US institutions.
I would suggest your husband talk to a Canadian bank (e.g. TD has a large presence in New England). Quite a few Can banks cater to Canadian snowbirds and they will issue your husband a US credit card.
When I relocated from Canada, my company had a banking package with Citibank that included a guaranteed credit card. That helped me established a credit history.
Later, when my brother moved to the US, I added him as an authorized user on one of my cards to get him started.
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