Thursday 10 April 2014

Credit card, my arse. The clue is in the name!

http://www.reactiongifs.com

So, my credit rating in the UK is pretty good, but that's not good enough for a Californian car company (despite printing out my Experian report), so it's time to build some US credit.

First task - find someone to take a chance on this gal and give me a credit card.

Denied - I am on a H4 visa, so no Social Security Number and, subsequently, no credit card (seriously starting to feel very unwelcome right now).

New plan - the husband is welcome in this country, and working for a lovely big company, so, armed with an SSN he should be able to get a credit card, a cuddle and perhaps even a blowie. Not quite that simple - still no credit record in the US, so he has to start at the bottom (husband is not a 'start at the bottom kind of chap. Not 'appy).

Someone should really explain the notion of a credit card to the people we dealt with. We are now the proud owners of a 'secured credit card' that involves $x being taken from our current account and put on the 'credit card' each month. That, boys and girls, is not a credit card. The clue is in the name. There is no credit involved. That's my effing money that you just moved. I could have done that myself. I'm giving myself credit. And by that reckoning, may I ask why you want to CHARGE me for this service that I can provide myself. Oh no, my love, you can take that charge off, post haste.

On the plus side, negotiation seems to be a standard approach here, so kicking up a bit of a fuss over the charge worked well. They have some leeway, and don't seem to get offended, which is a very different to the UK.

Anyhoo, it's not a problem, because we only want to use this damn plastic to prove that we can be trusted with this Monopoly money we call the dollar in order to give ourselves a credit rating in the US, which you will need if you want to do anything (rent an apartment, lease a car, get a loan for a car etc).

I'll report back in 6 months, when we should, apparently, have proved ourselves worthy of a credit rating of some description.

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