Tips For Preparing To Build Credit As A New Immigrant To The United States

If you are someone who is thinking about moving to the United States, you likely know the obstacles that you are going to face. This could be quite overwhelming. However, with the help of a good immigration attorney, you will be able to focus more of your time on preparing for your life in the United States once you make it through the immigration process. One key thing that you will need in order to be successful in the United States is a good credit score. This can seem abstract to many people because they did not have one in their own country or because they are young and did not need one before the immigrated. A good credit score will open up additional sources of funding, make it easier to get insurance, phones, and internet, as well as allow you to make bigger purchases. Here are some steps that you can take while waiting for your immigration application to go through to make it easier for you to build credit in the future.

1. Start Looking for Places to Stay Where Your Rent Will Show Up On Your Credit Score

You need to make sure that you have positive marks about your ability to make payments in full and on time. The easiest thing that you commonly pay for is rent. Rent will be one of your largest purchases for the month and is difficult to forget, since your landlord will send frequent reminders. However, not all landlords will report your rent to credit reporting agencies. Do some research before the immigration process is completed and find a landlord that will be willing to work with you and help you set up electronic rent payments that can be counted towards building credit.

2. Have an Existing Family Member Get a Credit Card

If you have family that is already living in the United States, see if they would be willing to get a credit card that they could put you on as an authorized user once you make it through the immigration process. This will allow you to raise your credit score, as long as your family members is regularly making payments. 

3. See If You Can Leverage Your Current Card

Finally, see if you can leverage the credit card that you have now (if you have one). Your bank might be able to send your credit history in your home country over to the bank of your choice or a branch of that bank in the United States and be able to get you a credit card that will allow you to build up your credit by making payments regularly.

For more information, talk to an immigration attorney, like Tesoroni & Leroy. They might have additional resources that you can talk to.