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DV 2016 OC Selectees

violetion said:
Thanks for all that, Simon. Really great to know all that!

I don't have a job at the moment so I guess I'll have to hold off on applying for another card. Do you know what a realistic credit limit would be after a few months in the country and a short, but decent credit history?

I'll try leaving a small amount on the card at the end of the month as well, so far I've just been paying off the entire thing at the end of the month.
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Your first unsecured credit card will probably have a limit of 2000 to 4000. The limits will be increased as time goes on.
 
Hey @violetion did you have an Amex in Aus? I've only been in NYC for seven weeks, but transferred my existing Amex to a US account, and was given a pretty decent limit (above what @Britsimon mentioned earlier). It's a points-earning card with no annual fee.
 
gemka said:
Hey @violetion did you have an Amex in Aus? I've only been in NYC for seven weeks, but transferred my existing Amex to a US account, and was given a pretty decent limit (above what @Britsimon mentioned earlier). It's a points-earning card with no annual fee.
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Amex "Global Transfer" is arguably the fastest way to credit happiness.... :)
 
Hi guys, we have arrived in the US and are looking to buy a car before we determine where to settle.

We've been to Seattle and are currently in Portland, Oregon. We don't have US drivers licenses or a fixed address.

We plan to go to a dealership to avoid any unnecessary complications and have the funds to buy a car outright.

Does anyone foresee any problems or have experience buying a car under similar circumstances?

Thanks in advance!
 
PaulBunyan said:
Hi guys, we have arrived in the US and are looking to buy a car before we determine where to settle.

We've been to Seattle and are currently in Portland, Oregon. We don't have US drivers licenses or a fixed address.

We plan to go to a dealership to avoid any unnecessary complications and have the funds to buy a car outright.

Does anyone foresee any problems or have experience buying a car under similar circumstances?

Thanks in advance!
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Depending on State rules, they will want car insurance to be arranged, and possibly the SSN. They may want a drivers license to register the car. The rules vary by state - so try, and see what happens. Honestly, you would be well advised to get your SSN, and try and arrange a small loan on a car to help establish your credit history. Even if the loan is tiny, it would help.
 
Britsimon said:
Depending on State rules, they will want car insurance to be arranged, and possibly the SSN. They may want a drivers license to register the car. The rules vary by state - so try, and see what happens. Honestly, you would be well advised to get your SSN, and try and arrange a small loan on a car to help establish your credit history. Even if the loan is tiny, it would help.
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Ok, great! Thanks for the advice, especially regarding the loan. I guess it's a good way to quickly boost our credit rating. We're planning to drive down to Reno, Nevada next week to pick up our SSN's. We had them sent to a family friend, and they arrived yesterday. I assume a SSN is essentially the same as a tax file number in Australia? If so, our friends could just open the mail and let us know what the numbers are, right?
 
PaulBunyan said:
Ok, great! Thanks for the advice, especially regarding the loan. I guess it's a good way to quickly boost our credit rating. We're planning to drive down to Reno, Nevada next week to pick up our SSN's. We had them sent to a family friend, and they arrived yesterday. I assume a SSN is essentially the same as a tax file number in Australia? If so, our friends could just open the mail and let us know what the numbers are, right?
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Yeah - you really only need the number. People rarely ask for the actual card (although an employer might).

You might need to be a bit tough with the car people about the loan. TELL them that you are a ghost (no credit history at all) but getting a loan (even for 10% of the purchase price) is a CONDITION of doing the deal. No loan, and you walk to another dealer. Don't be afraid to be blunt with them. The interest rate will suck, but as long as the loan is small that won't matter. Once you get the loan, pay a chunk off to reduce the interest paid, and then spread the remainder over a few months.
 
Britsimon said:
Yeah - you really only need the number. People rarely ask for the actual card (although an employer might).

You might need to be a bit tough with the car people about the loan. TELL them that you are a ghost (no credit history at all) but getting a loan (even for 10% of the purchase price) is a CONDITION of doing the deal. No loan, and you walk to another dealer. Don't be afraid to be blunt with them. The interest rate will suck, but as long as the loan is small that won't matter. Once you get the loan, pay a chunk off to reduce the interest paid, and then spread the remainder over a few months.
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Excellent advice. Thanks again BritSimon, I really appreciate your time and effort.
 
PaulBunyan said:
Hi guys, we have arrived in the US and are looking to buy a car before we determine where to settle.

We've been to Seattle and are currently in Portland, Oregon. We don't have US drivers licenses or a fixed address.

We plan to go to a dealership to avoid any unnecessary complications and have the funds to buy a car outright.

Does anyone foresee any problems or have experience buying a car under similar circumstances?

Thanks in advance!
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As Simon says, will vary by state but you will probably need insurance to be allowed to drive the car off the lot. We bought our cars on our foreign licenses, also for cash so that bit isn't an issue. I'm not sure about the address issue - you'd need to ask them about this re registering the car ownership at the DMV.

We considered a loan for the reasons Simon said but were advised by the dealership that without a US income we would probably be turned down therefore adverse for credit, so you may want to ask your dealership what they recommend before actually applying. We used credit cards to build up a decent credit history pretty quickly so for us it didn't seem to really matter on that front.
 
What I would also recommend, is shopping around for car insurance. Even though we had no US insurance history and no credit record, we found a (well known) company prepared to give us full benefit of our no claims history and no penalty for the foreign license, and ended up with premiums comparable to someone who'd been living and driving for years in the US - way less than most other quotes.
 
Hi guys! Went on the activation trip this past weekend to Hawaii. Such a beautiful place. Entry went smooth as anything. The staff there were very chill -- the only hiccup came when the officer asked why the hell Chicago was one of our options. He shook his head when I said great things are forged in grand architecture and freezing temperatures.

And I was begging for some cool air after cresting a dead volcano on foot that afternoon.

Now it just remains to tidy up, liquidate the Australian assets and scoot over. Our final destination will be dictated by my wife's work, but guaranteed it'll be somewhere northern, cold and car-free.
 
connectedspace said:
Hi guys! Went on the activation trip this past weekend to Hawaii. Such a beautiful place. Entry went smooth as anything. The staff there were very chill -- the only hiccup came when the officer asked why the hell Chicago was one of our options. He shook his head when I said great things are forged in grand architecture and freezing temperatures.

And I was begging for some cool air after cresting a dead volcano on foot that afternoon.

Now it just remains to tidy up, liquidate the Australian assets and scoot over. Our final destination will be dictated by my wife's work, but guaranteed it'll be somewhere northern, cold and car-free.
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There is a reason why the immigration officers were very chilled. They live in a nice, warm place.

What the heck are you thinking??? :p:p:p:p:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
connectedspace said:
Hi guys! Went on the activation trip this past weekend to Hawaii. Such a beautiful place. Entry went smooth as anything. The staff there were very chill -- the only hiccup came when the officer asked why the hell Chicago was one of our options. He shook his head when I said great things are forged in grand architecture and freezing temperatures.

And I was begging for some cool air after cresting a dead volcano on foot that afternoon.

Now it just remains to tidy up, liquidate the Australian assets and scoot over. Our final destination will be dictated by my wife's work, but guaranteed it'll be somewhere northern, cold and car-free.
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Cold and car- free? If there is such a place, do you want to hang around in the cold waiting for public transport?!! :p. Well, to each their own!
 
Britsimon said:
There is a reason why the immigration officers were very chilled. They live in a nice, warm place.

What the heck are you thinking??? :p:p:p:p:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
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It's my special blend of insanity. I must agree, though: Hawaii is very nice. I was most impressed. It almost spurred me to unleash my inner beach bum. Almost.

SusieQQQ said:
Cold and car- free? If there is such a place, do you want to hang around in the cold waiting for public transport?!! :p. Well, to each their own!
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There are at least three! I've stood on Boston T platforms having my face ripped off by an ice wind from the Abyss... totally worth it to ditch the car. You Cali folks just can't see the golden shackles you're wearing ;)
 
Doing my own activation hop to Hawaii week after next - does anyone know if there's a way for me to find out whether I ticked the "generate my SSN automatically" box way back when I applied, vs having to go and request one in an office? I don't remember - at the time I had no idea of the usefulness or otherwise of either option - and can't find anything in saved emails, etc.
 
innerwestern said:
Doing my own activation hop to Hawaii week after next - does anyone know if there's a way for me to find out whether I ticked the "generate my SSN automatically" box way back when I applied, vs having to go and request one in an office? I don't remember - at the time I had no idea of the usefulness or otherwise of either option - and can't find anything in saved emails, etc.
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You can check your DS260 - it's still there....
 
Hi guys, just wanted to let you know that we successfully bought a car a few weeks ago and have been driving around Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada ever since. This is a great country for driving! Oregon drivers might be the most polite and patient drivers I've ever come across, quite a departure from Melbourne! Buying a car was slightly complicated by our lack of a fixed address or work, but we managed to get it done by buying it outright, using our Airbnb address (with permission from the property owner) and overpaying for insurance with Progressive - the only company that doesn't require you to already have a US drivers license. We'll go for our drivers licenses in the coming weeks and look for cheaper insurance after that.

So, on to our next challenge - medical insurance. I took out a two month Patriot America Plus policy upon arrival, but that will expire in late September. We are both looking for work in the US (I have contract work from Aus to get us by in the mean time,) but until that happens we'll need to pay for insurance out of our own pocket. Has anyone else found themselves in this position? What insurance company did you go with? Any and all advice is welcomed!
 
Sounds great, this is great driving country :)

Btw we had no problem getting car insurance at good rates from geico without a US license - so it may have been other factors playing against you rather than that.

Medical insurance companies differ somewhat by state so what you can get depends where you settle.
 
PaulBunyan said:
Hi guys, just wanted to let you know that we successfully bought a car a few weeks ago and have been driving around Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada ever since. This is a great country for driving! Oregon drivers might be the most polite and patient drivers I've ever come across, quite a departure from Melbourne! Buying a car was slightly complicated by our lack of a fixed address or work, but we managed to get it done by buying it outright, using our Airbnb address (with permission from the property owner) and overpaying for insurance with Progressive - the only company that doesn't require you to already have a US drivers license. We'll go for our drivers licenses in the coming weeks and look for cheaper insurance after that.

So, on to our next challenge - medical insurance. I took out a two month Patriot America Plus policy upon arrival, but that will expire in late September. We are both looking for work in the US (I have contract work from Aus to get us by in the mean time,) but until that happens we'll need to pay for insurance out of our own pocket. Has anyone else found themselves in this position? What insurance company did you go with? Any and all advice is welcomed!
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If the type of work you will do will come with health insurance, you are probably best off waiting for that to get a "proper" ACA policy. You could get it now, but they are relatively expensive and a bit of hassle. When you get a job. you will probably get good ACA coverage for you and spouse, typically at a subsidized rate. In the meantime you can extend the temporary insurance cover if you need to. It isn't perfect, but I am assuming you will have jobs within a few weeks.
 
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