Building up credit rating

[guettad]

I am reading in here about this credit rating that I think will be an issue to every GC winner....
As some are posting , AMEX history can be transferred in the US...well that's some good news but searching the net I didn't find any official posts from AMEX that will help me with this issue so I have a request :
- for those that are sure about the AMEX history transfer - were did you learned about that? can you please provide a link?
- are there any forum users that successfully transferred AMEX history to the US?
Thanks!

I said it in one of my previous posts, the service is called Global Transfer
http://www.americanexpress.com/global-card-transfers/

 

[alindragos]

Thanks Guettad, I didnt saw the post, I've missed it, sorry

 

[aos13]

NuvF wrote a very helpful post. It is usually easier to get secured credit, or using a credit union. You can also apply for the department store credit cards (JCP, BestBuy, WalMart etc). You can use them only in these stores, they are easier to get, have low credit limit and higher interest rate, but they also build credit history. Chances are you'll need a car to get around anyway, so buying one and making monthly payments towards it is a very good credit builder. It is tempting to buy a very cheap used car from a person but it won't get you credit history, you'll have to buy it from a dealer. You can initially rent places around universities, they are used to renting to people with no credit history. If you have a job offer letter, usually it is enough to show it to rent the place. If you want a cell phone asap, but can't get one because of lack of credit or outrageous fees, you can get one of the "pay-as-you-go" kind of cell phones sold in all stores, they are cheap and you pay very little from month to month. Everything comes with a deposit, rent (one or two months rent usually), water, electric, gas (these three may or may not be in the same bill), landline phone, cable etc. require deposits, so you'll need a good amount of cash. Funny thing though, a lot of them will not accept cash payment so you'll need to open a bank account and get checks. Not all banks will open an account without a SSN but some do, you need to ask around. And as NuvF said, foreign student and faculty communities around universities are your best help.