topic Re: overseas credit cards in Credit Cards

overseas credit cards

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:18:03 GMT

My daughter is going to be going to college in England next month and I was wondering would an overseas bank issued credit card help her establish a credit rating here or should she get a US issued one?

Re: overseas credit cards

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:37:12 GMT

Any card issued overseas won't appear on her credit reports in the US at all. Depending on how long she'll be in the UK, it may be helpful and convenient for her to open a student bank account (with which a credit card will most likely be offered) over there, but if she wants to build credit in the US, it would be a good idea to have a US-issued card even if she only uses it occasionally (just often enough to stop it being closed for inactivity!)... that way she can build a US credit history even while out of the country!

Re: overseas credit cards

MidnightVoice — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:16:28 GMT

She will need a bank account etc anyway, so the issuing bank might well be able to help

Re: overseas credit cards

SEBanker — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:10:41 GMT

You might want to consider Citibank's expatriate banking division. They will set up a NYC based checking acct and credit card for your daughter and can also set up checking/credit card accounts with Citibank in the UK all at once. FUnds can be transfered between London and NYC pretty much instantly. This would be a good option to get the accounts and credit set up with same company on both sides of the pond!

http://www.citibank.com/geb/global/

Re: overseas credit cards

haulingthescoreup — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:03:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

My daughter is going to be going to college in England next month and I was wondering would an overseas bank issued credit card help her establish a credit rating here or should she get a US issued one?

Here here, or here there? A card issued by a US bank, used overseas, will be reported on her US credit reports.

My daughter was in Ireland for 8 weeks this summer and used her US-issued cards without a problem. Since your daughter will be essentially living in England, she ought to get a card from a British bank, but she can also have a card issued by a US bank, and alternate use on them. Mine had a Visa from Bank of America and a MC from USAA, plus my American Express card as emergency backup. No problem with acceptance, although sometimes the card processing networks went down. At least that was her explanation for the occasional use of the AmEx.

Re: overseas credit cards

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:12:14 GMT

thanks everyone. She will be opening a British Bank account. I'm still not sure about her getting an overseas CC as well as a US one, don't want to tempt her

I'm going to check with Capital One as they do not charge fees for use overseas and they do have UK ones I believe

Re: overseas credit cards

MidnightVoice — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:21:04 GMT

SEBanker wrote:
You might want to consider Citibank's expatriate banking division. They will set up a NYC based checking acct and credit card for your daughter and can also set up checking/credit card accounts with Citibank in the UK all at once. FUnds can be transfered between London and NYC pretty much instantly. This would be a good option to get the accounts and credit set up with same company on both sides of the pond!

http://www.citibank.com/geb/global/

I am afraid those are corportae sponsored accounts, and so would not be available for a student

Re: overseas credit cards

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:26:38 GMT

Amex Red card might report. It's based in the UK.

Re: overseas credit cards

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:54:48 GMT

Well, on the other side I wouldn't panic that much about credit history. As long as she doesn't want to buy a house within 2 years after her return, she may not gain much from an artificial history (without active components).

Re: overseas credit cards

athensguy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:41:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Well, on the other side I wouldn't panic that much about credit history. As long as she doesn't want to buy a house within 2 years after her return, she may not gain much from an artificial history (without active components).

Age of accounts, average and oldest, are factors in FICO scores. The earlier she starts, the better.

Re: overseas credit cards

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:57:33 GMT

@athensguy wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:
Well, on the other side I wouldn't panic that much about credit history. As long as she doesn't want to buy a house within 2 years after her return, she may not gain much from an artificial history (without active components).

Age of accounts, average and oldest, are factors in FICO scores. The earlier she starts, the better.

Agreed --history is huge, and there's nothing artificial about it!

Again, OP, you and your daughter need to work out what's best, but there's a lot to be said for two cards, one Visa and one MC. Networks go down all the time, and it's truly a pain if you only have one card, and it's your network. A second card from a US bank can be used to pay for recurring charges, like cell phone service, and otherwise kept in the drawer.

Or another possibility is to just have a bank account with a UK bank with an ATM card, and a CC from the US.

My elder daughter/ middle kid had a couple of CC's all through college and barely used them, and when she graduated, her scores were in the 740's with four years of perfect history. That's handy to have after graduation, when you go looking for an apartment, a car, a job, and so forth.

Re: overseas credit cards

TangMeister — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:15:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thanks everyone. She will be opening a British Bank account. I'm still not sure about her getting an overseas CC as well as a US one, don't want to tempt her
I'm going to check with Capital One as they do not charge fees for use overseas and they do have UK ones I believe

Yep, Cap 1 would be a logical card to use in the UK that's US based due to the fee waiver. Yes, they have UK cards, as well.

If you're concerned about her establishing credit history in the US for her return post-college, I'd add her to one of your existing cards or get a new card in both your names, then hold on to it and only use it yourself, occasionally. You would be the only one using it; and she would get her personal credit established by it reporting as being "hers" as well. Then she comes home in a few years to FICOs in the 700s.