Good credit in your home country can still count in the U.S. If home is the United Kingdom or Canada, Chase can use your credit history there. If you’ve held a card from American Express itself abroad for at least three months, Amex can use that account. Check both before you settle for a card that needs a deposit.
A U.S. credit file starts empty, however long your record abroad. So a newcomer with years of on-time payments looks like a first-time borrower, the kind who usually starts on a secured card, backed by a cash deposit.
Chase can use the credit history you built in the U.K. or Canada, through Nova Credit, a company that converts a foreign credit report into a U.S.-style report and score. For now, Chase does this only on the Freedom Unlimited and the Freedom Flex.
American Express uses a different record, the Amex card you hold in another country. If Amex itself issued that card, not a partner bank, you’re its main cardholder, and you’ve had it at least three months, Amex may base its decision on that account’s history. Keep it open and in good standing until you apply, or apply within three months of closing it. You can apply for one U.S. card this way, and for more once you’ve built U.S. credit.
On Chase’s application, check the box asking Chase to consider your international credit history, then follow any instructions Chase sends for your report. For Amex, pick the U.S. American Express card you want, click the Already a Card Member link on its application, and enter your current account number, U.S. home address, and U.S. phone number. Amex takes passport details if you don’t have a Social Security number yet.
Say a nurse moves from Canada with a Social Security number, a U.S. address, and eight years of on-time payments on her Canadian report. Checking the box on a Freedom Unlimited application can get her a regular card, no deposit needed. A colleague with the same record who skips the box spends her first year on a secured card.
Newcomers who fit neither route can open a Chase checking or savings account with at least $250, then apply for the Freedom Rise, a Chase card for people new to credit. Chase says that balance improves your approval odds, and a secured card stays your backup.
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