Moving to the US

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I will be moving to Houston, and have been learning on all the Credit score system. I am used to the income being the most important (and almost only) aspect considered, and have found I probably won't be able to get a credit card (unsecured) for several months, even if my income will be > USD 150000.

Is it seriously that way? Or with a high enough income you'll still be able to get approved even if you have no credit history at all?

Assuming I go to the bank where my company will open it's account (Chase) and talk to someone there, do you think they might consider issuing a credit card to me? (knowing I will be collecting my payments in their bank)

Thanks for you help, I apologize if the question of forum is not the appropiate one, this was kind of sudden and I'm in a hurry and didn't read the guidelines and searched previous threads, I confess!

[Anonymous]

Income is a small factor in obtaining credit in the US.  It can affect your credit limit once you're approved but more then likely will have no bearing on your chances of approval.  You will probably have to go the secured route.  

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

I will be moving to Houston, and have been learning on all the Credit score system. I am used to the income being the most important (and almost only) aspect considered, and have found I probably won't be able to get a credit card (unsecured) for several months, even if my income will be > USD 150000.

Is it seriously that way? Or with a high enough income you'll still be able to get approved even if you have no credit history at all?

Assuming I go to the bank where my company will open it's account (Chase) and talk to someone there, do you think they might consider issuing a credit card to me? (knowing I will be collecting my payments in their bank)

Thanks for you help, I apologize if the question of forum is not the appropiate one, this was kind of sudden and I'm in a hurry and didn't read the guidelines and searched previous threads, I confess!

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@Anonymous,

Welcome to the best country in the world.  Is it seriously that way? Yes.  A high income isn't enough to convince a lender of your ability to pay back debt.  You have already made a good decision joining the forum.  When you get here, get a secured card to get you started and you should be on your way.  All the best.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your input, I suspected it but had some hope it would not be that way.

Mobile phone contracts, internet, cable, buying a car, any credit is subject to the same treatment or could I for example buy a car with credit and use it to improve my score? Somewhere I read a recommendation to have the phone as prepaid for some months until I can get a good contract, and heard that some services might require non refundable deposits, is it that way?

And finally.... I always pay my cards fully each month, and don't intend to keep any balance on them.

Considering this, are cards like some Am Ex that have no credit and always have to be paid in full, useful? Would I be approved for them, and do they build credit score?

Thanks again for the help, as you see a lot of questions come up!

[Anonymous]

The AMEX cards I think you are referring to are the charge cards like the AMEX green, gold and platinum cards do require you to pay in full each month.  Nonetheless you still have to have established credit to obtain those cards so until you do you won't be able to get approved for those cards either. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The AMEX cards I think you are referring to are the charge cards like the AMEX green, gold and platinum cards do require you to pay in full each month.  Nonetheless you still have to have established credit to obtain those cards so until you do you won't be able to get approved for those cards either. 

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Yes, those are the ones I was talking about. Charge cards.

Would you know if there's any chance of transferring my local AMEX account to an US one? And do those cards help establish credit?

Thanks for your time!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

The AMEX cards I think you are referring to are the charge cards like the AMEX green, gold and platinum cards do require you to pay in full each month.  Nonetheless you still have to have established credit to obtain those cards so until you do you won't be able to get approved for those cards either. 

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Yes, those are the ones I was talking about. Charge cards.

Would you know if there's any chance of transferring my local AMEX account to an US one? And do those cards help establish credit?

Thanks for your time!

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They certainly establish credit just like any credit card.  As for whether you can transfer those cards to the e U.S. , I don't know the answer. My suggestion would be to call  AMEX.  I'm sure this isn't the first time this has happened.

[newhis]

I know you have a lot of questions, but don't worry, you can find many answers here in the forums.

If your Amex is elegible you can transfer it to the US, https://www.americanexpress.com/global-card-transfers/

don't know if they will give you your MSD from your home country, but you can ask for it, maybe they can so you will end with a new credit card in the US that will report as open years ago (backdate).

I started last March, opened a Bank of America savings account and a secured credit card. Then called Discover and they approved for $1000 without credit history. Waited for 7 months before applying for anything else. Got Discover at $2500 and BofA unsecured early.

Do you have a SSN number? I don't have one, only ITIN and I'm doing pretty good with my credit. With SSN it will be easier.

There are many paths in the credit journey. You can do the Amex global transfer, try to get a Discover card, or deposit $5,000 or more onto a BofA secured card. You only need a couple of cards to start, then after 6-9 months you can apply for more with better limits and lower APR. Don't try the Chase cards, I bank with them since late 90s and they didn't approve a credit card without history, 4 months into my DW journey they approved her with $500 (after denial), I waited until 8 months and did some deposits to the checking account (to have higher balance) and got approved for $3,500. Now Chase approved my DW for CSP with $5,000 at 10 months of credit history.

For higher limits is better to go slow, just 2-3 cards to start, wait 6-12 months then open the cards you want, with that history and income you should start getting good limits.