Moving to the USA - Credit History Questions

CKhalvashi

We’re with HSBC, and the great thing is being able to take your credit history anywhere within the HSBC group. OH was with them in Georgia, meaning when she came to the UK (c.2001), she still had access to credit facilities, whereas I had the opportunity to build mine from scratch here (Lived in UK since 1990).

For this reason alone, it may be worth moving EVERYTHING to HSBC now, so you don’t lose anything. We managed to get a straightforward transfer of debts to the UK.

I know this was the same with one of my staff members from Russia last year.

I hope this helps somewhat

CK

PitRejection2359

Buzby wrote: »

Donlt know why you think this is a problem - Both Experian and Equifax run their services in the USA, and there is no difficulty in accessing your previous record, but you need to start the ball rolling with a US purchase or mobile phone contract. As you will be required to give your previous address, this will provide the link, and your file will follow you as before.

Hi Buzby - you're right about the credit agencies working on both sides of the pond, however all the banks I've spoken to and people who live out there have said exactly the same: the credit history doesn't go with you, and although you may have a history report from an agency to prove it, in actual fact it doesn't count for anything within the US system!

CKhalvashi wrote: »

We’re with HSBC, and the great thing is being able to take your credit history anywhere within the HSBC group. OH was with them in Georgia, meaning when she came to the UK (c.2001), she still had access to credit facilities, whereas I had the opportunity to build mine from scratch here (Lived in UK since 1990).

For this reason alone, it may be worth moving EVERYTHING to HSBC now, so you don’t lose anything. We managed to get a straightforward transfer of debts to the UK.

I know this was the same with one of my staff members from Russia last year.

I hope this helps somewhat

CK

It does sound like HSBC are good at helping across international boundaries so we'll definitely be looking to use them, however I don't plan to move everything to a single provider (HSBC) for a number of reasons e.g. security of each individual financial institution, identity theft, etc: if I use more than one institution if something terrible happens to one of them I can still get by with one of the others in the mean time!

simongregson

Be careful as the Virgin AMEX card is issued by MBNA, I think you need one that is actually underwritten by American Express to do the transfer.

udydudy

cocksy_boy wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm moving to the Texas in the summer for 3 years with work, which is awesome, but has some issues attached with it...............Any help and advice greatly appreciated!

I would say open an account immediately with HSBC youself, apply for a credit card with them, run the accounts well(lots of expenses and repayments for friends and family) until you leave for the US. at that point ask HSBC to transfer your accounts to the US or open new acct with HSBC in the US.

You do not need to transfer all your monies to HSBC now but just open accounts here and run your monthly expenses and income from there.

That way they would assist you in having your initial foothold on the US. then you can take it for there. May take your a year to build your credit file there but would go a long way.

I know a lot of student friends who came from India and had accounnts with HSBC in India and they opened international accts with HSBC here and then local HSBC UK accounts. The reason for HSBC international accounts is that India did not have a credit file system then. But having HSBC accts in india made the process faster.
Iwould think form here to US it would be much easier and better,

NewCanuck

Hi There,

My wife and I emigrated last year from the UK to Canada. On the advice of a friend of mine who emigrated a couple of years ahead of us we opened an HSBC account and used it to do our daily banking about 18 months before we moved. When it came to the move we spoke to them about 6 weeks before we left and they started the process of opening an account in Canada for us so that when we arrived we'd have a chequing account, cheque books, ATM cards, Visa card etc. (I needed somewhere for my employer to pay my salary into from the get go!).

In theory this all sounds nice and simple, but in practice it didn't go very well at all. The branch we used, as well as the international accounts centre (in Manchester) made several admin mistakes and we had to return to the branch a number of times to update the application / authorise changes etc.

When we arrived in Canada and turned up at the branch they had no such evidence of the application or account ! I was in the same position I had been had I not have initiated the international account opening process ! (Needless to say I was fuming as they charged me 100 for the pleasure).

Thankfully the branch manager told me not to worry and opened up an account for me and my wife there and then. Issued us with temporary ATM cards so we could access our money, and issued us with a book of temporary cheques which would tie us over until everything arrived in the post.

The credit card was interesting. In my naivety I had overlooked to a certain degree, the importance of credit cards in Canada / North America. I had assumed I would not need one as I was taking money with me. However, many establishments request that you pay for services with a credit card as well as use them for identity checking purposes. And for this they would not accept a UK credit card. This stuffed us up a little and caused a lot of stress and frustration.

HSBC said they would issue us a card, but that it would take 6-10 weeks to transfer the credit history! (Again I was exasperated given that they are a "global" bank, and with the advent of the thing they call the internet I had thought they could do it far quicker)/

The alternative option was this: I would have to hand over $2000 to HSBC. They would issue me with a credit card with a $1000 limit. After 12 months of the account being in good standing they would give me back my $2000. I politely declined this kind offer and chose instead to wait the 6-10 weeks for the credit transfer.

Oddly, quite out of the blue a HSBC credit card then turned up in the mail ( one for each of us ) within about 2 weeks !

The benefit of using HSBC is that we can use what they call "Global Link" to pair our two accounts together online, so I can log into one website and see both my Canadian and British current accounts. i can also very easily and instantly transfer funds between the two accounts, very handy. although this service does come at a price. Firstly you must have an "Advance" account (minimum salary requirements etc), plus they charge you $7 or 5GBP per global transfer. They also apply the International HSBC exchange rate at the time of transfer, which although is pretty reasonable, you can get better exchange rates online by using one of the many Forex companies who will do it for you online, just not as seamless and instant as the HSBC Global Transfer.

So, the short story is this. Yes HSBC is global, and it's very convenient to have your international accounts linked and viewed through one web portal. However, and this is my word of caution, DO NOT expect the transaction or move to be seamless. DO expect to have to chase them for updates, DO expect something to go wrong or for them not to have set up the account when they said they would, and on time, DO expect to go into the branch in your city of landing AS SOON AS YOU LAND and check that everything is in order.

Hope this helps, sorry if I went on a bit !

PitRejection2359

Hi Coomz,

Thanks for the details: after we spoke to HSBC and did a bit of digging, it turned out that as they didn't have a branch in the area we were moving too, and a number of other reasons similar to yours, we decided not to go with them and are just going to go with the American Express Credit Card to hopefully transfer our credit history out there. I'll let you know how it all goes!!

Buzby

I've just closed my Bank Of America account and asked them for a printout of all the information they had on me. Yes, they had my UK file showing - although not up to date. Whay you WILL need to do anything is a Social Secutiy Number, as they will not open an account easily without one. The CRA's there link to this number, so your previous address wil pull up this information and link it for all to see.

[Deleted User]

jpwjpw wrote: »

The Virgin AMEX is issued by MBNA, so I reckon there is very little chance that one would help a US credit rating.

Even though MBNA is a part of Bank of America?

shobs

We are doing a travelling holiday through West Coast of USA.
We have a Nationwide card and also an american Express.
Which is the best card to use out there?
Do the Americans prefer Amex? will we get the best rates?
Or shoukd we stick with nationwide and use that for all card purchases?