Cards, Cars and Gold Czars

"Lucky you; a Credit Card in hand fresh off the boat!" or words to that effect. Thus went the refrain, notably from friends having made a similar India-to-US move mid-career; and thereafter grappled with the task of rebuilding a financial profile from scratch.

Fact is that, absent a Bureau score, many of us who wash ashore have to face the rather mortifying experience of credit denial(s). Some are forced to resort to Secured cards to build payment history. Therefore, the modest $1500 limit from BofA (I had higher in my first credit card as a mere student graduating from IIFT 20 years ago) felt like an occasion to celebrate!

Part of the distress, to be fair, comes from the dissonance between the erstwhile financial standing in India (while no HNW, one had the pick of financial products; and a feeling of being chased rather than chasing) to newbie status in the US of A. Mind you, this would be equally true even with a global bank; one you had used in India for years; and carried some priority status. Your creditworthiness is reset perforce.

So, with prospective landlords looking askance and utilities insisting on bank auto-debit of monthly bills, a credit card felt much like being granted the Moon. Why not use your India plastic, you ask? Unfortunately, that would be akin to kicking the can down the road. Even if you found a way past the international usage surcharge with an appropriate card, it would still not solve for the need to have usage and payment history domestically to build your credit profile (circular logic, did you say?).

Thankfully, there is a potential hack, and a doubly sweet one at that. AMEX, as I found out last week, could give you a charge card based mostly on your India relationship (albeit driven more by their customer service ethic than hyper-connectedness of the world)! Equally, this 'no limit' card saves me from needing to pre-pay my original credit card multiple times intra-month (when paltry limits meet large household set-up expenses). Note, therefore, my unequivocal endorsement for the 'Gold' in its name!

Next pit-stop in the finanical reset journey, is a car. Once again, as I shortlist, it is evident that usurious rates of interest await me on the loan. Neither will the humbling experience end quite there. Given recency of relocation, a lack of intimacy with domestic stocks is only to be expected. Ergo, I have miles to go to attain the next goal (of high-conviction stockpicking ideas). Till then, we soldier on, as we must.