overseas credit cards

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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!

[MidnightVoice]

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

[SEBanker]

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/

[haulingthescoreup]

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@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?

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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.

[Anonymous]

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

[MidnightVoice]

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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/

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

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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).

[athensguy]

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@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).

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