Best way to preserve credit when gone?

[nyancat]

I have a good FICO score (TU Discover: 769), and I want to know how to preserve it when leaving the country.

I mean, I know how to take it with me (Amex Global Card Transfer programme)

What I mean, is life is odd and I might end up moving back to the US. If I close all but one card (my plan, to have one US based credit card just in case that gets occasional use), I'll come back to the old accounts having fallen off and being an old person with virtually no credit history except for one really old card. I suppose Amex will help in reverse, transferring my MSD back along with whatever card I keep open (probably B of A Travel Rewards), but still... Is there any kinda free "can leave it and not touch it for 30 years and they won't close it and it's frozen so fraud isn't possible" account out there to preserve my credit score?

Or do I just say I don't plan to ever come back anyway" and forget about my US credit score?

[Anonymous]

Keep 1 active credit card or installment loan account. If it is a CC, make sure it has no FTFs. Make sure it uses a processing network that works in your foreign country (Visa or Mastercard generally best). Charge one thing to it every 3-6 months. As long as one open accounts reports, your score won't dissapear. Granted, as the years go by your closed accounts will start dropping off your report as they go past the 10 year mark and your score will go down. However, since you have 1 open account your score will never go away completely. If you are only gone for a few years, your score should be mostly preserved. 

If you let all your accounts close, it takes somewhere under a year for your score to go away. Your accounts remain and will be considered in your FICO score when you open new accounts as long as they have not aged off (10 years after closing). But keeping 1 US credit card is probably the easiest way since you can easily get one with no FTF or AF, and pay it via online banking from the foreign country.

[takeshi74]

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@nyancat wrote:

Is there any kinda free "can leave it and not touch it for 30 years and they won't close it and it's frozen so fraud isn't possible" account out there to preserve my credit score?

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Nope.  You have to actively monitor open accounts as well as your credit reports.

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@nyancat wrote:

Or do I just say I don't plan to ever come back anyway" and forget about my US credit score?

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That's your call to make.

[RobertEG]

Are you moving to a third world country?

[1GaDawg85]

You sound like your moving to the bush....

[RobertEG]

I have been residing abroad in a third world country for some time.

I added by son as an AU on three major bank cards, and he makes occasional charges on the account.

I also use one card for pre-authorized, automatic annual payment of my recurring software renewal fee on my antivirus.

I use on-line banking to make payments at only the min level, leaving a balance on each card to keep it active.  I dont worry about the tweaking by keeping one card at 0% util.

Costs some interest, but it seems to satisfy keeping it active.

I have never used my credit cards in stores abroad, only for online occasional software downloads.

[nyancat]

The third world? Hecks no. I'm going to England when I finish university here, but I'm a British Citizen and have no plans to ever return to the US.

[Anonymous]

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@nyancat wrote:

I have a good FICO score (TU Discover: 769), and I want to know how to preserve it when leaving the country.

I mean, I know how to take it with me (Amex Global Card Transfer programme)

What I mean, is life is odd and I might end up moving back to the US. If I close all but one card (my plan, to have one US based credit card just in case that gets occasional use), I'll come back to the old accounts having fallen off and being an old person with virtually no credit history except for one really old card. I suppose Amex will help in reverse, transferring my MSD back along with whatever card I keep open (probably B of A Travel Rewards), but still... Is there any kinda free "can leave it and not touch it for 30 years and they won't close it and it's frozen so fraud isn't possible" account out there to preserve my credit score?

Or do I just say I don't plan to ever come back anyway" and forget about my US credit score?

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Who is going to pay your fair share of taxes? You just want to up and leave dumping your tax load on the rest of us!

[nyancat]

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@ArmyVietVet wrote:

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@nyancat wrote:

I have a good FICO score (TU Discover: 769), and I want to know how to preserve it when leaving the country.

I mean, I know how to take it with me (Amex Global Card Transfer programme)

What I mean, is life is odd and I might end up moving back to the US. If I close all but one card (my plan, to have one US based credit card just in case that gets occasional use), I'll come back to the old accounts having fallen off and being an old person with virtually no credit history except for one really old card. I suppose Amex will help in reverse, transferring my MSD back along with whatever card I keep open (probably B of A Travel Rewards), but still... Is there any kinda free "can leave it and not touch it for 30 years and they won't close it and it's frozen so fraud isn't possible" account out there to preserve my credit score?

Or do I just say I don't plan to ever come back anyway" and forget about my US credit score?

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Who is going to pay your fair share of taxes? You just want to up and leave dumping your tax load on the rest of us!

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Umm, I haven't been paying much in taxes as a university student and unless/until I renounce US Citizenship I'll still have to file tax returns in the US. In Britain I shouldn't owe anything, but still. And umm, that's itself ridiculous. Fair share? If you aren't living somewhere or benefitting from the place in any way, I'd argue the fair share is zero.

[Strogen]

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@nyancat wrote:

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@ArmyVietVet wrote:

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@nyancat wrote:

I have a good FICO score (TU Discover: 769), and I want to know how to preserve it when leaving the country.

I mean, I know how to take it with me (Amex Global Card Transfer programme)

What I mean, is life is odd and I might end up moving back to the US. If I close all but one card (my plan, to have one US based credit card just in case that gets occasional use), I'll come back to the old accounts having fallen off and being an old person with virtually no credit history except for one really old card. I suppose Amex will help in reverse, transferring my MSD back along with whatever card I keep open (probably B of A Travel Rewards), but still... Is there any kinda free "can leave it and not touch it for 30 years and they won't close it and it's frozen so fraud isn't possible" account out there to preserve my credit score?

Or do I just say I don't plan to ever come back anyway" and forget about my US credit score?

---

Who is going to pay your fair share of taxes? You just want to up and leave dumping your tax load on the rest of us!

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Umm, I haven't been paying much in taxes as a university student and unless/until I renounce US Citizenship I'll still have to file tax returns in the US. In Britain I shouldn't owe anything, but still. And umm, that's itself ridiculous. Fair share? If you aren't living somewhere or benefitting from the place in any way, I'd argue the fair share is zero.

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Dude.... he was joking. lol 

Not sure why you'd give up your US citizenship though, some people would literally kill for that.