British Expatriate Network

Hi, been here 5 months have noooooo credit history but have just managed to get a mortgage and complete on our new home..... can't even get a mobile phone on contract but managed $148,000, strange country lol

2 months.

3 years and still cant, wtf am I doing wrong? lol

We got one after 18 months but had to put down a substantial deposit. Different states govern what they will accept and not accept and different mortgage companies and banks the same. My husband's company had to write a letter to the mortgage company about his employment.

vapochilled - shop around and check all the banks. I know at least one expat here suggested trying local banks rather than the big ones. Did you have a mortgage in the UK? Credit cards etc? If so, get together a file of all your statements and maybe even a letter from your mortgage company in the UK.

I got a credit card, then bought a car and then got a mortgage in that order. Took about two years.

Mortgage terms were crap but I refinanced later and got something much better.

Ah the good ole mortgage, or car loan is a great way to build a line of credit. Maybe cos there'e somrthing to grab back if you default :smile:

We bought and moved in to our first house here 5 weeks after arriving. Must say it helped marrying military as the 4 years he was out of the US didnt count as being out of the country.

What are you doing? How much credit have you applied for/been turned down; how much credit do you already have? What credit history did you have in the UK? What about your wife?.......

Whatever it is you're doing, I must be doing it too! No luck here yet either. I'm assuming those of you who managed this in record time had funds to put down a sizeable deposit. We can't afford to so I guess we just wait and line someone else's pockets meanwhile. :cry:

We weren't looking until my wife was out of college but we had an offer accepted about a week after first visiting an estate agent.

No. We brought proof of good credit history in the UK and a letter from beest's company confirming his employment and salary. That's all. No huge deposit. 10% I think, the standard.

No deposit , no credit history from UK .....just had to convince the builder to pay the closing costs, everything else was added to the loan including the deposit

I still can't get a credit card, but got my house on a student visa, 10% down and no proof of UK credit report.
I think its all about who you apply to and what their residency requirements are.
I went with AB-AMRO and it was easy peasy.
M

My union got me a good credit card. My credit union gave me one after a year or two of banking with them but it has a high-ish interest rate and only $1000 limit.

I probably could have had this raised a while back but I like keeping it quite low and don't pay interest anyway so that is irrelevant.

I'd recommend folks pull their credit report regularly and if you are really puzzled, pay a little extra to the bureaus (hard as that is!) and see what their advice is for raising your credit score.

Too many, too few accounts, too many credit look-ups (by others - you can look as often as you like/can afford) etc. can all hurt. I know I got turned down for credit cards in the first year as I did not have enough credit history so build that up one way or another.

Don't forget you can get your report from all three bureaus annually, at https//www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

I just printed mine off again at the weekend and all is well.

that's who we are with too :)

I know a british couple who got a 100% mortgage on a brand new home within days of moving to this country. You really have to shop around and sell yourself. Do the legwork yourself and don't use a mortgage broker. That was the mistake we made but we were recommended them by a realtor here and made the presumption that that is what you do.