Have GC - how do I establish Credit now in USA ?

[gvt 0]

You can also have your spouse add you as an authorized user to their credit card accounts, but not all banks will report payments for anyone other than the primary account holder. Again, you can call them and ask them.

Quote from this article;

A good article talking about adding authorized users to establish credit scores. It seems to have changed twice, once in 2007 and again in 2008. Not sure if it has changed since.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20080812-authorized-users-a1.asp

"It remains to be seen how people with otherwise low scores will benefit from their authorized-user accounts after FICO 08 is in place."

[WizandDorothy 0]

Ok , great , I might very well try this route , thank you

All I know is that they wanted to hear from my wife that she was going to be a student, (which she will later next year)....And signed her up with a $500 credit card. We didn't ask for it, the Teller suggested it. Of course the card has a very high interest rate, but we pay off all cards at the end of the month.

Your mileage may vary.

[WizandDorothy 0]

Thank you very much for that information

You build a credit rating by having accounts with companies that report to the three major credit bureaus, and paying your bills on time. You and your spouse may already be paying bills to companies that report to the credit bureaus, such as utilities or phone companies. If you call their billing department they will usually tell you which agencies they report to, if any. They will also usually tell you if they report payments for every name associated with the account. If they do, then have your spouse add your name to the accounts (you should do this anyway because it's good evidence for removal of conditions). If they only report payments for the first name on the account then talk to your spouse about having one or two of these accounts transferred to your name. That way you'll be helping your credit rating every time you pay the monthly bill.

You can also have your spouse add you as an authorized user to their credit card accounts, but not all banks will report payments for anyone other than the primary account holder. Again, you can call them and ask them.

About 1/3 of your FICO rating is based on your credit ratio, which is the ratio of the amount of credit you have available to the amount of credit you've actually used. If you get a secured credit card then you should use it every month, but don't go over about 25% of the available credit. Pay off most of it at the end of the month, but carry a small balance. It keeps the issuing bank happy if they're making a little money in interest, and they're less likely to cancel the card for non-use.

Other than that, be patient. It takes years to establish a solid credit rating.

[WizandDorothy 0]

Thank you for that info , might do the co-sign route with my Hubby , will let you know what happens !!

You can have someone cosign for you which will also allow you to establish a credit history without going the secured credit card route. See this article (although targeted at students it still is worth a read) for more info on which banks allow co-signers:

http://www.bankrate....co-signers.aspx

Also, although won't probably work for you since you are not Japanese but maybe worth a try, I came across this Japan Airlines MasterCard CC that is targeted at Japanese citizens in the USA with no credit history:

http://www.premio.co...emio/index.html

.

[sawyerp1988 0]

Hi there. fingerhut.com will set up a credit account with darn near anyone. Granted their interest is high, however sometimes that is the price you will have to pay to establish credit in the US. They report to all 3 major credit bureaus...hope this helps.

[TBoneTX 46,126]

Thread from 2010 is now closed to further comment.

VJ Moderation