Vestiges of the USA

[mtbc]

While in Eastern Tennessee, I built credit that got me a good mortgage. I still hold a US credit card, through which I pay for US landline and cell numbers, which still reach me. However, it looks as if I am to be settled in Scotland for the foreseeable future so, what's the point? I am not sure, and they cost a little ongoingly, money that could be spent elsewhere. The advantages I can think of are but abstract possibilities.

I could just get rid of the US credit card and telephone numbers, and switch to being UK-based only but, once I do that, it's probably a difficult decision to reverse, given that such things are far easier to set up as a US resident. It's not as if I have found a UK-based VoIP provider who will give me a regular US number cheaply, especially one that can receive SMS. Still, if I do not think of compelling advantages soon then I may reorganize away from maintaining any US-based presence.

Comments

[mindstalk]

Why not keep the credit card? Does it have a high annual fee?

Dropping it risks reducing your credit report for whenever you might move back to the US.

[mellowtigger]

Having the credit card but not using it (going into debt) every month also results in a lower credit score than using it continuously. The whole industry is a giant and mostly unavoidable scam. :(

[mtbc]

Yeah, this. Paying the telephone stuff keeps it active. Though getting rid of the phones would make it hard to have a US contact number for the card anyway. (Of course, optimal is having the active cards be a proper subset of the total.)