New to the U.S, new to Credit....

New residents in the U.S have an important task ahead of them once beginning a life in America. Building a credit score and history. The article below shows how to build a strong credit score by opening up lines of credit and forming a strategy to start a new life in America on the right financial footing.

So you have a new start, but how do you start?

Starting a new life in America is an exciting but daunting task. Besides all the other things involved with becoming a resident in the U.S there's the hurdle of building a credit score with no history. Having no credit history can of course result in banks etc not wanting to grant you lines of credit. Its a vicious cycle, you can't get credit because you have no payment history and you can't build a history because you can't get credit. This article is going to show you how to advance out of this cycle. Prepaid Credit Cards. Firstly a great way of building a credit history is with a prepaid card. How this works is very simple. You apply for a prepaid card and send the company involved a check or money order for an amount, $250, for example. The company then sets up an account and sends you a card with an available balance of $250. You can use this card in all the normal ways you would use a credit card. Once a month you will get a bill, you make a payment as you would on a normal credit card, and the process goes on from there. While you are doing this over a length of time, usually 9-12 months is a good time frame, you are building a payment history. The money you sent the bank as security is also put into an account for you and it gains an interest rate while it sits there. You can always opt to raise the limit on your card by sending in more money to the bank and they will deposit it into the account for you. After the term is done and you have built a history enabling you to qualify for a standard credit card, you can either continue running the prepaid card or cancel it and have your money returned to you with any interest you may have earned.

Car Finance Loans.

A great way of establishing a credit history is with a car loan. Reliable transportation is a crucial part of every day life but buying a car is not something many people can just fund straight out of their bank account. So the vast majority of people buy their car with a loan. Car finance is considered one of the easiest forms of credit to obtain and looks great on your history as its usually a long term payment plan. Car finance company's often help people with less than perfect credit history's to obtain finance on cars. They also are very helpful to people new to the U.S  who are trying to obtain finance for their first car in America

Checking Accounts

A checking account is a solid way of establishing a financial background in the U.S. With a checking account in place you can arrange for all your bills to be paid direct debit from one source. Day to day bills such as, power, gas, rent, cell phone bills, internet bills, all the usual living expenses, can be debited from here. The payment of these bills gets listed on to your credit history and starts to give future lenders a track record of your reliability. Also a checking account allows you to have peace of mind that your money is in a secure place

Other things you should consider when starting out in America are. Personal Savings Accounts Identity Protection Other Articles of interest. Credit Score Personal Finances Personal Savings Credit Cards