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Hi everyone, I have a scenario I'd like your advice on. I moved to Australia 10yrs ago, but I'm still a US citizen and file US tax returns. When I left the States, I stupidly closed all my CC accts, so I now have nil credit history (in the US). This is beginning to hurt my US-based business because I can't get loans with nil credit. [I started my business company 4yrs ago and run it remotely from Australia, using a virtual phone number (Google Voice) to route business calls from people in the US to my Australian cell phone, and a US-based forwarding address to receive mail by post (they scan it and send it to me by email).]
Recently my Dad (who still lives in the US) added me as an AU to one of his mature credit lines to give my credit score a boost. Using that I applied for my own CC and was approved (I used my virtual phone number and my forwarding address on the app). Then I got a letter from their fraud dept saying they've put a restriction on the acct, and to call to confirm my identity to have it removed. They wanted to SMS me a code, but they refused to use my virtual phone number for the job. They'll only use a "real" US phone number.
I don't have one so they said I could identify myself by mailing them photocopies of my drivers license, a utility bill, a rental/lease agreement or a deed to a home. I can give them the drivers license (I'm lucky enough to still have one from my home state that's still within it's validity period) but I can't give them the rest since I don't actually live in the US. My business owns rental properties in Texas, so I asked if I could use the deed to one of those: they said I could try but he wasn't sure it would be accepted.
What should I do? Could I give them my business certificate, registered by the Texas Secretary of State? Do I get a "real" US phone number? How would I do that? I have 21 days to resolve this issue or I guess they close my acct.
What happens if they close my CC acct? Will that leave a negative mark on my credit score/report?
Surely it cannot be illegal for a US citizen who lives abroad to have a line of credit in the States?
Any advice here would be very welcome.
Yeah, it can be a problem doing credit/banking business from overseas. Nothing illegal, just security - they probably detected that your IP address was from Oz.
Have you tried Google Voice? They give you a US phone # for free, and have Android & iPhone apps so you can answer text & voice on your US phone # on your mobile phone in Oz.
You have many options..
are you able to use a phone number from somebody in your family that lives in the USA? If not you can sign up for vonage
Yeah I gave them my Google Voice number but they didn't like it. They did some quick check then said "we can't use that phone number to verify you".
And I said I'd give them my mother's number (who lives in the States) but they said I couldn't use that either: it had to be a phone I had access to right then and there (I did think later that I should organize with my Mom to simply text me the code as soon as received it on her phone... may still try that.)
Regarding vonage, if they won't use Google Voice, maybe they won't use vonage? Is it different to how Google Voice works?
[Thanks for the responses by the way everyone!]
Vonage is different from google voice. Try it with your moms number.
Since your card was approved and the issue is now with retaining it, I'm moving this thread to 'Credit Cards' to get you some additional exposure.
Something that I might have missed but could be important... what bank is the new credit card with?
Thanks UncleB! The bank is Synchrony Bank (Synchrony Financial?)
To get a USA phone number, I bought a DID from CallCentric (~$3/mo): had Mom (in the US) call it and it routes perfectly to my phone in Australia! But (DOH!) it doesn't support SMS
So then I found a few services that receive SMSs to USA phone numbers and post the results online (getfreesmsnumber.com, smsreceivefree.com, etc). Wondering if these would work?
Over the years when I've lived in places for short period of time (or thought I would be) I usually opted to keep things simple and just use my father's address for anything that was "official". I know this doesn't help your present situation, but it might make things easier going forward for future applications.
You could still have most things sent to a fowarding service (or other alternative address) but just keep at least one bill going to your 'home' address; this should keep it active with the credit bureaus. Using a parent/sibling address will also allow you to keep your driver's license address the same - which for a few years in the late 90s (when I moved quite a bit) was a biggie for me.
I'm still hoping others here will be able to offer suggestions for your current verification issue.
Edited to add: You might consider checking out sites for RV'ers as well... retired folks traveling the country full-time tend to have the same issues you're dealing with, and they might have some solutions as well.
@Anonymous wrote:Thanks UncleB! The bank is Synchrony Bank (Synchrony Financial?)
To get a USA phone number, I bought a DID from CallCentric (~3/mo): had Mom (in the US) call it and it routes perfectly to my phone in Australia! But (DOH!) it doesn't support SMS
So then I found a few services that receive SMSs to USA phone numbers and post the results online (getfreesmsnumber.com, smsreceivefree.com, etc). Wondering if these would work?
The bad news is that it's Synchrony... they can be a mixed-bag when it comes to anything out-of-the-box, so if you're unable to give them what they are asking for they might not be flexible.
The good news is that it's Synchrony... which means if things don't work out you still have plenty of top-tier lenders to choose from. Also, losing a TU pull isn't as big of a deal as a EX or EQ pull might be (granted, if you have few to begin with it's not a big deal in any case).
I called Synchrony for a CLI once and they needed to send a code via text to my cell phone; it happened to be the number they had on file but I had to point this out to them - until I mentioned it they didn't seem to care about the number as long as I could provide one (which was always a head-scratcher for me - what good is that?). I have no idea how they handle situations where people don't have a cell phone (like many older people).