Building Credit Abroad?

[danteallegeri]

Right now I am in my mid 20's and have a respectable FICO score in the 760's. My goal is to get it past 780 (ideally 800 for a buffer zone) so eventually I will be able to get the lowest interest rates

My concern is that I have interest in living abroad in the future (specifically Australia and the UK) and I know none of my US credit history will transfer.

I am looking for a way to setup just a basic credit history abroad while I currently live in in the US so that if I do decide to move I will not have to start over

Is there anyway to do this? Can I apply for something like an HSBC Australia credit card while living in the US?

[user5387]

Welcome to the forums!

I don't know the answer.

However, if I wanted to run this down, I'd contact HSBC and Barclays and Citi and other international banks, and ask them this question.

I'd also check with Amex, as I recall that there's some angle with this like moving accounts internationally.

[TheConductor]

In general, the answer is no. 

US credit history will not transfer elsewhere, and to open a credit account in most countries you must have an established residence address in that country.

Here's what you can do:

1. Open a bank account in your destination country, well before your departure. Unlike credit, this is generally possible without establishing residency, and doing it early is essential. Account opening can be a slow process in many countries, and you will need to rely heavily on banking until you have your credit established.

2. Talk to your US lenders to see if any of them have programs that allow you to transfer an account to a new country. For example, American Express has their Global Card Transfer program. This is likely to be the easiest way to establish a beginning credit history in your new country, instead of having to apply directly for new accounts. But as noted above, you can't do this until after you establish your residency, so meanwhile you will need a bank account to get by.

3. Transition as much of your available US credit as possible (that can't be transferred to an account in the new country) to cards with no foreign transaction fees. Apply for new FTF-free cards if you have to. You'll still take a small hit on the currency exchange rate for using these cards, but the lack of an additional FTF fee will help to minimize the cost of using your US credit while abroad

4. Do continue using your US credit while abroad. You never know when you might want to come back, and it will be good to maintain active accounts so you don't return in 10 years to an empty credit file

5. Maintain a US bank account you can withdraw from without FTFs or ATM fees. The Charles Schwab Investor Checking account is really good for this. Refunds any ATM fee worldwide. Why keep a US account if you're creating one in the new country? Because stuff happens in foreign countries - economic crashes, bank freezes, etc. Give yourself a backup source of funds - someday an incident will occur that teaches you how wise you were to do it.