topic Re: Credit for Immigrants? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit for Immigrants?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:22:04 GMT

My fiance is from Ireland, and we're going through the grueling process of applying for his temporary residency in the United States at the moment. As a result, this has us asking all sorts of things about what we need to do to prepare for our life together here in the US. One of the questions that popped into my head after receiving an alert about my credit score is that I wasn't sure if he would have any credit at all when he moved here, since all of his reporting is done in Ireland. According to my research, that's looking like a disappointing "no". So at this point, I'm trying to figure out how to establish his credit in the quickest, best way possible... since you tend to need credit to do anything from renting a car to renting or buying a home. *sigh* Unfortunately, everywhere I look gives you different advice. Some places tell you NOT to do something that other places tell you that you should. Does anybody know the best way to go about doing this?

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Tuscani — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:29:46 GMT

Great question. I would assume a SS# would be required before one could apply for credit.

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:55:09 GMT

Well... obviously... yes. They have nothing to apply your credit reporting to if you don't have a social security number. And that's the part we're working on with immigration. The point of the question is... what do we do once we have a social security number to establish credit? Some places say to take out high interest loans & credit cards. Others say not to. I'm looking for somebody who knows what they're talking about to actually tell me what the best plan of action is.

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2007 14:42:32 GMT

Once he has secured a SS# add him to your existing CC accounts ASAP as an Authorized User. This will create some existing TL's from the start and you will have a point to start from.

Take Care.

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Tuscani — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:51:21 GMT

lilacdragon81 wrote:
Well... obviously... yes. They have nothing to apply your credit reporting to if you don't have a social security number. And that's the part we're working on with immigration. The point of the question is... what do we do once we have a social security number to establish credit? Some places say to take out high interest loans & credit cards. Others say not to. I'm looking for somebody who knows what they're talking about to actually tell me what the best plan of action is.

They same as anyone else... secured card, small personal loan, AUs, ect.

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:07:01 GMT

I belive she can get loans if legaly here, but to create a credit hostory, she needs to have SS# and "green" card.

I know that, because I moved to the USA 4 and a half years ago.

I got car loan only after 3 months, but with 18%(ouch) rate.

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:11:56 GMT

I'll be bringing over my fiance from Kenya later in the year (I hope) and that's the tactic I plan on using for her. I'll add her as an AU to my BofA account (which is unblemished). This will at least put her on the scoreboard credit-wise. Then I'll get her an account at BofA and have her get a 99/500 secured card.

Since she will have no baddies on her CR, I anticipate her FICO will increase rather quickly well into the 600s, and then I'll help her get a couple more cards.

Re: Credit for Immigrants?

Tuscani — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:42:21 GMT

TheNewWorldMan wrote:
I'll be bringing over my fiance from Kenya later in the year (I hope) and that's the tactic I plan on using for her. I'll add her as an AU to my BofA account (which is unblemished). This will at least put her on the scoreboard credit-wise. Then I'll get her an account at BofA and have her get a 99/500 secured card.

Since she will have no baddies on her CR, I anticipate her FICO will increase rather quickly well into the 600s, and then I'll help her get a couple more cards.

I thought you were migrating East, WAY East?

What happened to "The Rebublic of NWM"?