Cell Phones/ Credit Cards/ Credit in the U.S.

Hello - I'm wondering if anyone else has run into the problems that my husband and I are having regarding the above topics. We moved from Can. to the U.S. in September on my TN visa. So, I'm the only one with an SSN, all the household bills/ bank account/ etc. are in my name. We need cell phones now as he is commuting to college (previously he was enjoying his no-work TN spouse status) but we cannot get a contract with any cell phone providers because our credit is 'bad' (they won't specify, but presumably since its not bad and we're both 35 year olds with excellent credit in Canada, its just that we've only been here for 3 months). So, I've been trying to get a credit card, but that won't work either - I'm denied for the same reasons (or no reasons). I know that we could pay full price for a cell phone and then pay exorbitant rates for a 'pay as you go' phone, but that seems absurd. Has anyone else run into this? Any ideas for cell phones? Credit establishment in the U.S.? Or, does anyone know how long this 'banishment' phase will last for us? Thanks!

If you still have family back home in Canada, and your credit rating was good back then, apply for a Canadian Amex card. Then once getting that, call American Amex and get an American Amex card. It'll take a couple of months to build your credit this way though.

US creditors will only look at your credit history in the US, so if you don't have any, then they consider you a high risk.

If you have any Canadian credit cards still that may have a US affiliate, like American Express, or MBNA, or RBC, then you may be able to switch it to a US $ account.

Don't just keep applying for credit cards hoping you'll finally get something somewhere though. Each time you apply for one, a notation is made on your credit reports and makes your score go down even more. So you're kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

If the company you work for has a credit union, you can maybe get a credit card through them.

MBNA doesn't exist anymore, they were taken over by Bank of America.

There are two ways to establish credit: get a credit card or at least a some sort of store card that gives credit via some company you already do business with, e.g. if you have a phone account with Pacific Bell, apply for a Pacific Bell credit card.

They will base the card issuance in part on your bill payment history, so your credit score will be a teeny bit higher. This is what I did, also I got a Sears card and that helped too.

The other way that has come along since I lived in the US is get a secured credit card. Banks have started doing this so that Mexicans can get a credit card. You basically give them a security deposit of $300 or have a bank account with them with at least that much in it and you get a credit card with a limit up to $10,000, based on what the rest of your credit history says.

For example.

so what happened to all the MBNA credit cards in Canada? They don't exist anymore, or they're managed by BoA?

They still have the same offices running the card divisions, but they're owned by Bank of America now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBNA

So then if you have/had an MBNA Canada card, (now owned by BoA) then you can still transfer it to a US $ account.

Same stuff, different pile.

Many cell phone providers will simply make you pay a "deposit" (couple hundred bucks!) and would allow you to sign a contract. I ended up going with Qwest (or Sprint) because they didn't force me to pay a deposit. But I have a lot of international student friends who have signed cell phone contracts, they just needed to pay a deposit.

As for Credit cards, give Bank of America a try. Their starter cards are pretty easy to get and you can later ask for a credit line increase.

I really don't think having Amex in Canada would help you get Amex in US. The Amex US system/computers are ENTIRELY separate from the Canadian one. They really have no way to access your canadian credit.

If you have AMEX anywhere in the world you can transfer it to another currency on their website. I know of several people who have done this when they moved to the US, both from Canada and from Europe.

I'm sorry I don't have the specific URL but if you have a Canadian dollar AMEX card, contact them and they can instruct you on how to exchange it for a US dollar card.

I really don't think having Amex in Canada would help you get Amex in US. The Amex US system/computers are ENTIRELY separate from the Canadian one. They really have no way to access your canadian credit.

Trust me, it works, I've done it. A couple months before leaving, I applied for a Canadian Amex with my decent Canadian credit rating. They gave me a $5000 limit. Fastforward to a couple months later, having move to NJ, I called the American Amex up and asked for a Credit Card based off my Canadian Amex card, and they gave it to me, with little questions asked (only things like a fax of my I94 etc). They initially gave me a credit limit of $3000 which I've been able to increase it to $10,000 in 6 short months.