overseas credit cards

[haulingthescoreup]

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@athensguy wrote:

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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.

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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.

[TangMeister]

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@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

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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.