HI Need help

[Anonymous]

HI, I am from Australia, here for a few years on a Visa and need to develop a Credit rating here as my Australian Credit rating isn't recognized here. I have faithfully paid ALL my utility bills and recently received a $500 deposit back from AT&T which I had to pay to even be able to get a cell phone because I didn't have a Credit Rating here. Still if I do Credit check nothing shows up at all. No Score, cause there is nothing listed they say. I tried to get a Store Card but was told I couldn't do that unless I have a Credit Rating! So its like the Chicken and the Egg scenario! I can't get a Credit rating without obtaining Credit someway and I can't get Credit without a credit rating!! WOW!! What is that??!? I can't ask friends to co-sign as I don't have those sort of long term relationships here. So any helpful suggestions, will be gratefully received. Thanks! Aus1

[fused]

If you have accounts with a bank or a credit union, start with them.

[Anonymous]

You can also try for a Crown Jewelers Acct for some revolving credit, the only good thing about them is they don't do a credit check and everyone mostly gets a 1,500.00 cl.  The bad thing is, you have to keep the acct active or the cl will drop to 500.  But it is a good credit establisher, even if you don't like jewelery too much..

[Anonymous]

You could try a secured card. Basically you put a deposit down and that becomes your credit line. Try credit unions or banks for these and look for fees before opening.

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, Aus1, welcome to the forums!

As fused said, I'd start by meeting with an officer at your bank or credit union to see if you can get a CC from them. They might well require that you secure it with a deposit to give them some protection. Ask if they will unsecure it after a certain period, allowing you to keep the original opening date and history. Make sure that it will report to all three credit bureaus: EQ (Equifax), TU (TransUnion), and EX (Experian.)

Once you have some sort of credit reporting for 6 months, you'll have a credit history and scores.

For what it's worth, the half dozen or so members new to the US who have posted here have found that their scores were around 680 after the first 6 months and then around 720 or higher after a year. It's a lot better to have no credit, as you do, than messy credit that needs to be overcome. You might do a search for posts by wmarat, who went through this journey himself. His credit is now far better than mine. (But congrats to him.)

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 07-12-2008 12:47 PM