Building a US credit history

Nottoobadyet

Hiya,

I am an american by birth but have been living abroad since I was 16, including the last 4 years in the UK. I work for a UK charity and within the next week or so will be moving long term to Uganda, where I will be working for at least the next 2 years while being paid into a UK bank account.

I am hoping to return to America someday and maybe buy a home. At the moment I have no financial products (or any money) there. Is there anything I could do in advance of my return to build a credit history? For example, would parking some money in a US account for a few years help? Could I get a US credit card, spend something on it then slowly let the US account pay minimum payments to create a history? I could then pay it off once I return. Obviously I don't have an address there but could use my parent's, I suppose, unless that's problematic.

Anyway, any advice appreciated!

chexum

To be honest, I don't know much about what you can do to build your history there while away, but if you get an Amex over here, and mind your local credit history, they can get you a "native" Amex when you move to a few selected countries - US included.

http://www.americanexpress.com/globaltransfers/global_card_transfer_en.shtml

Nottoobadyet

Hey there -

Thanks for your advice. I did get an AMEX for just this reason, but from reading online I **think** all the global transfer does is let you have a card right away and start building a credit history rather than letting you pull your credit history from, say, the UK. its still a good tip though, since otherwise I'd have to plod around pulling a salary for a bit before I could even get started.