The craziest thing about the US system is that you have to use credit (and pay it back punctually) as opposed to debit just in order to convince future creditors that you're a good customer. Migrants to the US can run into a Kafkaesque situation where they need a credit score to get a credit card, but they need a credit card to accumulate a credit score first...
It's especially crazy because in most of Europe I am pretty sure a mere possession of a credit card is correlated with being more likely to get into financial trouble.
I never had a credit card. Among my friends who do well financially most don't have a credit card or just got it because their bank offered a crippled debit card that wasn't accepted at hotels and car rental. They never use the credit line. On the other have out of the financially irresponsible people I know most have multiple credit cards and use them as a credit line in regular basis.
Most people around here only have a credit card to deal with USA focused internet shops. I never used the credit possibilities of mine, felt worried when using it, and cancelled it when iDeal etc became more common on the net.
Can confirm your experience. Although in my circles credit cards are more common due to kickbacks - big discounts at places you'd normally go to anyway, or straight up financial incentives. Everyone prefers debit however, and credit cards are definitely not the norm.
If you already have an Amex card from your country of origin, Amex will get you one based on the score of your country of origin, or at least that is what I had heard
They'll also let you get a secured loan for something you were planning to pay for in cash (e.g. a car), but instead you dump that cash into an account which automatically pays down the loan balance every month. I did it. The interest rate for the loan was a fraction of a percent higher than the interest on the account.
It's monumentally stupid, though, and says nothing about my ability to pay off future debt.
It says you're able to manage your cash flow well enough that you were never tempted to prioritize something else over the repayment, for months, probably years at a time.
IMO that says a lot about your willingness to pay off future debt.
Does this really happen? I migrated to the US and had no problem getting a CC. The limit was low, just a few Ks at first, but it gave me a chance to start building credit record.
It certainly does, depending of course on where you migrated from. Someone from a first world country and who has established assets is going to be in an easier position than someone who doesn't. And unfortunately, in this country credit isn't really an option, everything from potential landlords to employers can use it against you.
