Moved to Australia recently from USA - What are the differences with the credit score/history?

Credit Cards & Credit Card Programs
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Hey mates,

I’ve just moved to Australia from the US. I was pretty active in credit card churning and gift card arbitrage back home. What options are there for us here?

Few questions:

  1. How will my credit be here for opening new cards? Will any of my US credit be helpful?
  2. In the US there are some credit card providers that limit how many new cards you can have. For example, Chase will only give you a new card if you don’t have more than 5 cards in the last 2 years. What are the limits here?
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Hi quru,

Unfortunately, the credit score system in Australia is not as conducive for ‘point hacking’ compared to USA.

Currently, positive reporting has not become mainstream yet. It has recently been announced that it will become mandatory for the big 4 banks by July 2018.

So under the current ‘negative reporting’, mainly the negative impacts on one’s credit file will be recorded. E.g. credit card applications, credit card defaults, etc. Best to keep the time between negative entries on one’s credit file longer is possible.

In the US, I believe the utilisation is one of the component in calculating one’s credit score. I don’t believe there is such a thing in the Australian system.

I doubt there is a limit as you have mentioned. However, there are cooling periods for being eligibility for signup bonuses.

**Please seek out professional financial advisors if you need more specific advice. I am by no means a professional financial advisor.

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