Oh but how naive I was. Having a SSN is only the first step towards making life a bit easier here. We still have no credit history so getting a credit card or a cellphone is still a pain. It seems so stupid. I have absolutely no credit problem in Singapore and banks kept sending pre-approved gold, black and various colored credit cards which I promptly dismembered and threw away, sometimes even giving the banks a hard time for trying to get me to spend and build up debt.
And without a driver's licence, I cannot get auto-insurance and therefore get to buy a car. Even though I have 30 years of safe driver record in Singapore. Such are the learnings we go through when we make a major life change.
We went to get Bert a cellphone and was asked to put down a US$500 deposit for a year. Hell, no, we said and walked away. At some point, we may well relent but for now, the better half says he has no friends here, no contacts so no cellphone is no big deal.
So my highest priority now is to get that driver's licence since I now have the SSN pre-requisite and then start building up some credit history by taking out a car loan even though we really do not need to and did not originally want to so as to avoid interest charges. Oh well, we learn as we go.
At least the housing front is now stable with only the signing of the rental agreement to go. Hope to get that done within the week. And to sign up with the company medical and dental plans for the family now that we have the SSNs.
And family - if you plan to come spend some time with us at year end, please check "The Happenings" link on this blog cos I added the kids' school breaks information to help you plan.
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