It is difficult and frustrating to build a credit history in US if you are an immigrant. The three CRAs namely: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, are the major credit reporting agencies in US. They aren’t Government Organizations and they do not share information with each other, which means that they are in competition with each other.

If you do have a credit history in your home country, you won’t be able to transfer that to the CRAs in US, because they won’t accept information from other overseas countries due to some legal/privacy issues. So, this means you’ll have to start from the very beginning.

Here are some tips which will make this process easier:

1. Obtain a Social Security Number

First of all, you’ll need a Social Security Number for establishing a credit in US. In the past, International Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) would have been useful, but they are no longer compatible with CRAs system. An address in United States will also be required to fill in the credit applications.

CRAs can definitely create an account without Social Security Number by matching your other identifying information but you’ll have to bear its consequences afterwords.

A SSN is important, as most of the lenders will require the number in order to check your credit report when you apply. It might be possible that you get credit without the number, but the reference of that credit won’t show up in your credit report.

2. Getting the Credit

Credit reports in US contain all of the negative and positive information of how you’ve handled the credit. Officially the history starts building when you get a credit from the lender, who reports to your account and provide payment reports to one or all of the CRAs.

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When did you last check your credit report? If it’s been a long time then check your credit report now for free of cost from annualcreditreport.com. If you don’t know about what type of website it is, then for your information, this website is designed by the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) on the basis of the requirements directed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. By using this site, you are allowed to connect with three agencies, and one time in year you will take the copy of credit report.

Remember, after getting connected with any of these agencies don’t fall prey for their lariat which they use to attract you to pay for other products. These products include credit score; customized reports, etc. don’t pay attention to them. Don’t deviate from your main focus, which is to get your free credit report that you can gain by following simple things. Always save your report in pd f format.

Be wary about unauthentic websites as freecreditreport.com

As you know, so many websites tried you to purchase their credit report. Federal trade commission says something about unauthorized sites for your benefit

“Many other websites claim to offer “free credit reports,” “free credit scores,” or “free credit monitoring.” But, be careful. These sites are not part of the official annual free credit report program. And in some cases, the “free” product comes with strings attached. For example, some sites sign you up for a supposedly “free” service that converts to one you have to pay for after a trial period ends. If you don’t cancel during the trial period, you may be agreeing to let the company start charging fees to your credit card.

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Those who applied for loans or mortgage recently knows that unless their credit history is as clean as glass, it is very hard to borrow any money. Even people with perfect credit scores are being turned down by banks and lending institutions. Banker has tightened lending standards due to two reasons, first being a large number of customer defaults and second because there is simply not enough money out there for banks to borrow.

These difficult times call for extreme caution and it is very important to check your credit score regularly and monitor all those transactions that go into your credit reports. we should also take good are that we do not engage in behaviors that that triggers a chain of events that eventually will throw us against higher interest rates, reduced credit limits and eventually non availability of credit. Lower credit scores on credit reports can do exactly that.

Preventive Measures

You should check your credit report and credit scores regularly. Three major credit rating agencies called credit bureaus are EquiFax, Experian and TransUnion. All of them track individual’s credit history and compile detailed credit reports that reflect great deal about your credit behavior. Each of them have a separate formulae (a very secret one) to calculate a three digit number called credit score. these credit scores and detailed credit report help lending institutions and banks to decide the level of credit risk they indulge there self in before they lend you any money.

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