Best bank to foreign couple that will move to US (Chicago). (to rent, credit report)

[cenral11]

Dear colleagues, my wife and I will move to Chicago soon (this july). We are foreigners, but we have a bank account in Miami with US$ 60,000.

We need a bank that provides an account with two credit cards -- with a US$ 10,000 dollars credit limit to pay rent, groceries, etc.

I read a lot about the process of applying for a credit card. As we do not have a credit score, how can we manage to get a high limit?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[marothisu]

Have you used credit cards internationally? I bet they can access your credit score internationally. If they couldn't, then I bet you would be out of luck.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Have you used credit cards internationally? I bet they can access your credit score internationally. If they couldn't, then I bet you would be out of luck.

If they can't get some sort of international verification, then your other alternative is to open a secured credit card account. Some banks will require fully collateralized lines, some banks may only require that you provide collateral for some percentage of the credit line (for example, $5,000 held by the bank might result in a $10,000 line). Worst case, though, you could get two $10,000 fully collateralized credit cards by locking up $20,000 of your money. You would be paid interest on the collateral in most cases and as you established credit you would eventually be able to free up the collateral and convert them to normal, no-collateral credit cards. That might take 1-2 years, depending on the bank and what other types of credit reporting you receive once you're in the U.S.

[cenral11]

Thank you all. I have several international credit cards, but I doubt they can access my score. Emathias tip is really great. Do you know if Bank of America has this option? Do you know if it actually work?

[Link N. Parker]

I have a friend who is a Personal Banker at Chase bank. She told me that if you keep $10,000 on deposit with them, they will "write an exception" for you and can have the credit card department open a line of credit for you. But I do not know how large of a credit line they will give you with that exception.

Question for you - why do you need a $10,000 credit line? If you have $60,000 in cash, why dont you just move $10,000 into a debit card and pay for purchases that way? Its the same thing - you would have to pay off any purchases that are put on the $10,000 credit line anyway.

[Link N. Parker]

Also, Emathias is correct - you can get collateralized credit cards. But back to your original post, you mentioned using the card to pay rent - most landlords do not accept rent payments via credit card, at least not in Chicago. I do know that some of the larger corporate landlords do allow you to pay electronically via e-check on their website (mine does that), but they do not let you pay via credit card. They have to pay a 2% fee to the bank if you pay with a credit/debit card.

[marothisu]

Emanthias, great point. Somehow I missed that, even though I've taken out a small loan once based off collateral, ha ha.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Link N. Parker

Also, Emathias is correct - you can get collateralized credit cards. But back to your original post, you mentioned using the card to pay rent - most landlords do not accept rent payments via credit card, at least not in Chicago. I do know that some of the larger corporate landlords do allow you to pay electronically via e-check on their website (mine does that), but they do not let you pay via credit card. They have to pay a 2% fee to the bank if you pay with a credit/debit card.

Not totally true, I think. I live in a high rise in the Gold Coast and my management company accepts credit card (I THINK...I could be mistaking it for Debit though?). A few other places I found did too when I was looking around at the larger high rises. I could be mistaking it for debit card though, but I thought they accepted credit cards.

[cenral11]

Hi guys. Thank you very much for your help. My wife's company will give US$ 5,000 monthly to rent so we can use up to that limit to pay our rent (it is a refund system). Our objective is use the miles and points from our credit card to buy tickets yearly to visit our home country.

But now that you said that only big landlord companies do that, I feel a bit frustrated. The reason is a matter for another post, but I will present to you here.

We want to include everything in our rent. All utilities, cable, internet, maid service, admin fee, taxes -- everything (the company only pays what is in the contract). A complete package with an all inclusive experience. Several colleagues said that in the US few management companies have the kind of flexibility to do something like that.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by emathias

If they can't get some sort of international verification, then your other alternative is to open a secured credit card account. Some banks will require fully collateralized lines, some banks may only require that you provide collateral for some percentage of the credit line (for example, $5,000 held by the bank might result in a $10,000 line). Worst case, though, you could get two $10,000 fully collateralized credit cards by locking up $20,000 of your money. You would be paid interest on the collateral in most cases and as you established credit you would eventually be able to free up the collateral and convert them to normal, no-collateral credit cards. That might take 1-2 years, depending on the bank and what other types of credit reporting you receive once you're in the U.S.

Most of those cards have a max on them. I know some "business" people that go and buy those types of cards from Walmart to hide money on but I think they max about $3000 or so.