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In order to introduce the context of the question, I am a UK citizen with a good credit rating and no debts who currently resides in the UK, and do not currently own property in the US.

In reference to questions such as:

I just moved to the United States. What should I do to develop a good credit rating, fast?

What are the options for a UK citizen who does not currently have a US address, but wants to open credit cards with American banks/businesses? For example, if I wanted to open an Amazon.com Store Card (I already own an Amazon.co.uk MasterCard) and an American Express Card of some kind to build an American credit rating, how would I go about doing so, and would the American companies run checks on my UK file in order to open these, or would they be running checks on my (non existent) American credit record?

I have reviewed the other available questions such as

American credit card with a foreign billing address?

but the answers for them tend to be from people who have lived in the US, then kept their cards after leaving, and I'm interested to know if it is possible to prevent the problems detailed in the first question, or for a UK citizen who does not intend to move to the US to apply for accounts of this type.

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seekingknowledge
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3 Answers3

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To build a US credit record, you need a Social Security Number (SSN), which is now not available for most non-residents.

An alternative is an ITIN number, which is now available to non-residents only if they have US income giving a reason to file a US tax return (do you really want to get into all that...).

Assuming you did have a reason to get a ITIN (one reason would be if you sold some ebooks via Amazon US, and need a withholding refund under the tax treaty), then recent reports on Flyertalk give mixed results on whether it's possible to get a credit card with an ITIN, and whether that would build a credit record. It does sound possible in some cases.

A credit record in any other country would not help. You would certainly need a US address, and banks are increasingly asking for a physical address, rather than just a mailbox.

Regardless, building this history would be of limited benefit to you if you later became a US resident, at that point you would be eligible for a new SSN (different from the ITIN) and have to largely start again.

If getting a card is the aim, rather than the credit record, you may find some banks that will offer a secured card (or a debit card), to non-residents, especially in areas with lots of Canadian visitors (border, Florida, Arizona). You'd find it a lot easier with a US address though, and you'd need to shop around a lot of banks in person until you find one with the right rules. Most will simply avoid anyone without an SSN.

Rob Hoare
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Go to the states on vacation. Get a virtual (or friend's) address. Get an ITIN from the IRS. Open a bank account. Get a secured credit card on your next trip from Capital One – add as much money as you can afford. One year later, you should have a decent credit score.

Chris W. Rea
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mightytravels
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  1. Open a virtual address in the US (ie, earthclassmail, mailboxforwarding, etc ... there are many service providers that provide an address and scan your mail)
  2. Get an Amex in the UK
  3. Get a US skype number
  4. Use Amex Global Transfer and get a US Amex
  5. Boom
littleadv
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user11575
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