{"id":117,"date":"2014-10-15T00:52:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T00:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britsimonsays.com\/?p=117"},"modified":"2014-10-21T17:05:24","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T17:05:24","slug":"establish-credit-history-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/britsimonsays.com\/establish-credit-history-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Establish credit history in the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"
OK – you just arrived in the USA and maybe you are already learning that your “credit rating” is very important here in the USA.<\/p>\n
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Almost every\u00a0adult legally residing\u00a0in the USA has a Social Security Number (SSN), or tax ID. Your SSN is issued to you one time and never changes. Employers report your earnings and taxes against that number, which is a legitimate use of the number and credit history companies track your history against the number also. However, you will be asked for the number as a personal identifier in all sorts of situations where it really isn’t a legitimate use of the number – but Americans seem to hand it out freely. You will also need to provide the number to open a bank account (normally), for a driving license (in most states) and so on.<\/p>\n
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So – the SSN is a BIG DEAL. If you are a DV lottery winner you probably checked (ticked) the box to have USCIS request a number on your behalf. Unfortunately that doesn’t always work well. So – I would suggest a visit to the SSA office – you can find a location here<\/a>. \u00a0The SSA staff will sometimes say it takes a few days after you enter the US to be searchable in their system. They will need to search you to confirm your immigration status. However, you will certainly want to do this fairly soon because you will very soon realize that not having an SSN is a big nuisance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n OK – so now you have your SSN. You won’t appear on credit agency files yet, so you need to do a few things to get a credit file as soon as possible. A “credit history” is maintained by a small number of bureaus\u00a0(Equifax, Experian, Transunion) that gather and sell financial information about you. Various companies that lend money will report information information about how you pay your bills to these three agencies. Then when any other lender is deciding whether to give you credit, they can “pull” your credit file and see that you pay your bills on time and so on. This doesn’t just affect credit, it can affect your ability or costs to rent a home, get car insurance, get a mobile phone contract and so on. Really – this is part of your daily life – so it is worth taking seriously.<\/p>\n In the beginning you will\u00a0have a “thin file” meaning they recognize you (your SSN) but you have little or no financial information. The trick is to do things that start to build your file and make sure you build a good credit score as soon as possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following things are good to do to get started and to build a good credit history.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Okay – hope that helps. Again – I’m happy to get feedback or questions on the form below or feel free to email me to ask if anything is unclear!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OK – you just arrived in the USA and maybe you are already learning that your “credit rating” is very important here in the USA. Almost every\u00a0adult legally residing\u00a0in the USA has a Social Security Number (SSN), or tax… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nOK – got the SSN – what next?<\/h5>\n
Tips to build good credit history<\/h5>\n
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