British Expatriate Network

Everybody who has lived here knows that a good credit rating is the be all and end all of American life.. Getting credit is damb hard though !

I own my own buisness and my wife works and also is doing an MBA in accounting. We are pretty finacially stable (although poor not starving). My wife has never had a credit card or car loan. When I came over I just bought a car with money I came with.

Anyway we have applied for credit cards and such only to be refused on every count due to no credit. My buisness is 6 months old and now has a monthly turnover of around $14k and growing every month. I applied for buisness credit cards and the same thing. No credit no credit card. The final blow came when we got refused a Lowes card (the credit limit we requested was $100).

We have a good income and in a couple years it is going to be even more. We have no debt and owe nothing to no one (except $5k in college loans which currently don't go towards either of our credit ratings)

So I am now at a loss.. The easiest way to get good credit I have heard is to get a car loan as they hold the car as deposit. I really don't want to do this as it will be an unnessary bill. (we already own 2 cars).

Anyone else got any ideas ???

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by Johnnyboy on 2002-08-25 0114 ]</font>

Secured credit card would be one way - you pay them a deposit that is equal or close to the credit limit and then use the card carefully for a year. You'll build up a record and get your deposit back when they trust you enough.

No credit history is just as bad as bad credit here.

I'm with Pilgrim there. Also you could try going to your bank and asking them for some help. They may be able to offer some advice too. Or try for a Sears store card. They always seem willing to give them away. You would probably have to go direct rather than through a store. I got a sterns card and I don't even have a SS number and no credit rating at all!

You are right about car loans. We were fortunate enough to get a car loan sorted before moving here so by the time we reached our 6 months we could get a credit card.

Did you have any credit history back in the U.K.? I know banks can do international credit history checks here and get an idea of what what your credit rating was back home.

Yes, I agree too - No credit history is just the same as very bad credit history. I remember my american hubby even back in the UK saying to me just get a card and pay it off every month and you'll be suprised what it does for your credit.

Your UK credit history is protected by the UK Data Protection Act. Even though you may have a perfect credit history and its the same companies, Experian etc,doing the checking, its not worth anything here.Even though we paid cash for our home and had other substantial assets we ended up going the Sears card route.(my wife had had a Sears card 30 years ago!!!!) Good luck lol

AIG has a scheme for foreigners which lets them get credit cards & insurance without prior history. We still use them for insurance because their rates are so good. It costs about $400 to join the scheme initially (our company paid for us) but it lets you build up your credit rating.

UKMocha posted on this a while back (see here) as she had found out that you are expected to have a certain amount of credit for each year in which you should have been eligable for credit -or something :???:

Another thing to be aware of is that every time you apply for credit and are turned down, this has an adverse affect on your credit rating.

There is some good advice on the thread I mentioned above, plus if you search the forums for topics on "credit", you will find many more pleas for help and good advice. It's a recurring theme which has had pretty much all of us tearing our hair out at one time or another. Hang in there -and don't keep applying for credit willy-nilly -it's like nailing your own credit coffin!

This is going off the topic a wee bitty, but be very careful about your credit reports. I've had more trouble than I care to think about since my husband died with false information being reported. You just have to fight it.

A couple of weeks ago I got a letter from one of the credit offices addressed to my husband, stating that negative information has been posted to his credit rating last year. Now Kevin died almost 2 years ago so I tried to get hold of them but unfortunately there's no way you can get a live person without the latest credit report reference number. Can't get a credit report for my husband so I resorted to sending them a letter that obviously there's some sort of fraud being perpetrated here and requested them to give me the details so I can report it to the authorities. No reply as yet.

But, people can post negative info to your credit reports without you even knowing it. About a year ago my car was broken into and my handbag stolen (my own fault for leaving it in there)with EVERYTHING in it - check book, military ID card, credit cards, driver's licence, etc. I immediately contacted all the credit offices to put a fraud alert on my accounts, besides cancelling all credit cards, opening new bank accounts, etc.

I still can't figure out how companies can get info re your credit rating yet I can't find out anything about my husband's without an act of God.

Joan

A secured card is the way to go .

Without credit here you will be dead in the water very soon .

Cant understand why Lowes would turn you down thier interest is so high and the amount so small that it seems there might be a neg remark on your rating that you dont know about.

If you are turned down by any c/c you can ask for a copy of the report free of charge to see what it contains.

Sears will give a credit card to a boxer dog so try there ,but anyhow you need to get a positive rating some how and soon .

Credit reporting agencys are known for there inputing of false infomation on to your credit history, its in there interest to give bad rating otherwise the inquiring companys would see no need for them.

We had a similar instance here about 11 yrs ago one of these GRA got my wifes rating and her mothers mixed in together and we ended up owning a home we never had ...

After lots of letters / phone calls and threats to sue it was sorted out and the agency informed us the mistake was ours because my WIFE had the same first and second name as her MOTHER ..(we where not married at the time ) .

After pointing out to them that the S/S number would be differant we got a reply that said *we dont have time to do all that research * .

Eventualy we got it straighted but as i say we had to threaten legal action first , you are dealing with folks who in intelligence are just one step up from a orangutan .

Now I would say that would be an insult to an orangutan!!! grin

Well thanks for the advice... I will look into a secured credit card... I'll also be stopping by sears ASAP !

Thanks again.

They can't request your entire report but they can buy a list of credit worthy people's names and addresses - usually people who fit their profile for offering a card to.

I have recently been on a mission to deny as much information to companies like this as possible. You have to opt out but it is possible and now all three of the big credit agencies are not allowed to share my information with anyone unless I have given my permission. I also did this with the mortgage company.

I apologize to any Orangutan,s that may be reading this ,no insult was ment by my statement .



_________________

John

One neutered pet makes for a few less homeless animals. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: JohnA on 2002-08-25 19:21 ]</font>

Apology accepted

I had the same issue. I put $1000 down on a secured card and used that for 12 Months. After that I qualified for an unsecured Capital One card which has a credit limit of $450, LOL. It's enough for what I buy on line though, most of the time. I cancelled the secured card and got my $1000 back. I also got a Filenes card with a $300 limit which I've used to help build a history. I've had these about 10 months now and will apply for a better card again next year to get a one with a slightly bigger limit, every now and then I see something on e-bay more expensive and restrain myself from bidding.

The way I was told to do it was use it to buy stuff and go to about 80% of the limit, then pay it back over 6 Months. This apparently make it look as though you can live within your limits, and make regular payments. I did that twice with the secured card. The small card I have now and the Store card I just pay off each month to avoid any charges.

Recently I bought some Home Theater kit from Best Buy and thought I'd chance my arm for the Zero Interest financing they were doing. To my surprise I qualified for up to $1500 so the route I took must have worked for me. I spent $900 and will pay it off over 6 months, which I think will put me in good stead.

If I stay here I'll want to buy a house so I'm interested in building my credit history wherever I can.

Another option which I found out about, after I had started down the route I went down, was you can actually pay to have your credit history transferred from the UK to here. The companies are basically the same, i.e. Experian, etc.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Richie ~80)