UK/US banks

[rebeccajo 14]

Does anyone know of a bank with feet on both sides of the pond?

In other words - a bank you could get a credit card from that would build a credit rating in both the US and the UK?

[TayRivers 4]

Does anyone know of a bank with feet on both sides of the pond?

In other words - a bank you could get a credit card from that would build a credit rating in both the US and the UK?

Hi Becca

My parents are just about to move over and they have been able to get their American Express account made worldwide so that their good standing in the UK will follow them to the US.

I dont think any of the Banks do any cards that would report to both the US and the UK as the credit laws and reporting laws are so different. There is no such thing as a credit score like there is here in the US. The Credit reporting Companies give details to finance companies about your payment history but it does not effect other aspects of your life.

I find it amazing that your credit score in the US can effect the amount you pay for insurance and it can also have a effect on your ability to rent property.

Good luck with your search.

[reeses16 8]

HSBC has both US and UK accounts. But I'm not sure how they report their credit scores. I suspect it would only be to the bureaus in the country where the credit card was opened. Might be worth a phone call. Edited July 2, 2009 by reeses16

[English Muffin 59]

I looked into this before I moved and the only credit card that will consider credit ratings on both sides of the pond is Amex. I had one in the UK and they gave me a US one as soon as I moved here based on my UK credit rating.

I haven't tried it going the other way though, from US to UK.

[rebeccajo 14]

Thanks.

The plan would be to transfer balances to the 'new card' now. We could keep using and paying on it while here, and then (if we move) would be able to continue paying off the balance after arrival in the UK.

My main concern is building enough of a rating that we would be able to rent a house shortly after arrival in Northern Ireland. Wes rarely used credit during his life there, and what he did have might not be stellar. Or he may have no credit history at all - he's been here four years.

Our credit ratings in the US are in the 750 range.

Edited July 2, 2009 by rebeccajo

[TayRivers 4]

Thanks.

The plan would be to transfer balances to the 'new card' now. We could keep using and paying on it while here, and then (if we move) would be able to continue paying off the balance after arrival in the UK.

My main concern is building enough of a rating that we would be able to rent a house shortly after arrival in Northern Ireland. Wes rarely used credit during his life there, and what he did have might not be stellar. Or he may have no credit history at all - he's been here four years.

Our credit ratings in the US are in the 750 range.

I have never heard of anyone having a credit check done to rent a house in the UK. Local authority housing does not need credit check and private landlords do not have access to that information.

[Leenie 15]

I would recommend Citibank entirely based on the presumption that they have branches around the world, so they may also have a fairly well-integrated card system. The problem is that they tend to cater to a slightly wealthier clientele, so unless they have cards specifically for building credit, it might be hard to get in with them.

It might be something to look into, though.

[rebeccajo 14]

Thanks.

The plan would be to transfer balances to the 'new card' now. We could keep using and paying on it while here, and then (if we move) would be able to continue paying off the balance after arrival in the UK.

My main concern is building enough of a rating that we would be able to rent a house shortly after arrival in Northern Ireland. Wes rarely used credit during his life there, and what he did have might not be stellar. Or he may have no credit history at all - he's been here four years.

Our credit ratings in the US are in the 750 range.

I have never heard of anyone having a credit check done to rent a house in the UK. Local authority housing does not need credit check and private landlords do not have access to that information.

Hmmmm.

I keep reading members on BritishExpats talking about needing a credit rating to rent a house.

[TayRivers 4]

Thanks.

The plan would be to transfer balances to the 'new card' now. We could keep using and paying on it while here, and then (if we move) would be able to continue paying off the balance after arrival in the UK.

My main concern is building enough of a rating that we would be able to rent a house shortly after arrival in Northern Ireland. Wes rarely used credit during his life there, and what he did have might not be stellar. Or he may have no credit history at all - he's been here four years.

Our credit ratings in the US are in the 750 range.

I have never heard of anyone having a credit check done to rent a house in the UK. Local authority housing does not need credit check and private landlords do not have access to that information.

Hmmmm.

I keep reading members on BritishExpats talking about needing a credit rating to rent a house.

Never needed a credit rating to rent any houses that I rented in the UK. If I had then my ex-husbands debt that I ended up having to pay would have stopped me from renting anything.

[Yvie_and_Brett 0]

I have never heard of anyone having a credit check done to rent a house in the UK. Local authority housing does not need credit check and private landlords do not have access to that information.

It's actually pretty standard these days and is done by the Letting Agents rather than the private landlords.

To the OP - They're usually only looking for County Court Judgements (CCJs) and serious defaults, so unless your other half has been racking up credit cards and not paying them off, he'll be fine. Additionally, when my then-boyfriend-now-husband (USC) and I started renting the house we're in now, he had no problems. They're looking for things that went wrong with your credit rather than things that went right. If you have no history then you have no reason for them to decline you

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Yvie's right -- it's the big stuff, not the minutiae of credit scores. If you don't have any recent history, they may ask you for a larger than average deposit (this happened to my brother and sister-in-law). After you've lived there for a while, any subsequent lettings won't require this. Also, many private landlords won't bother to run such checks.

[Lioncub4 4]

Does anyone know of a bank with feet on both sides of the pond?

In other words - a bank you could get a credit card from that would build a credit rating in both the US and the UK?

Wells Fargo have a International Personal Banking base in London (currently in Canary Wharf but they are moving soon to offices in the City) and are able to open a checking account and secured credit cards while you are in the UK. You can then manage the accounts online for paying your credit card from your checking acct. This will build your US credit rating while in the UK. I made the journey down to London in January to open the checking account and was dealt with by a really nice guy. The credit card was opened after being a customer for 30 days - secured to the limit you request.

This is their website with contact details for the London office.

https://www.wellsfargo.com/inatl/consumer_s...ersonal_banking

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

And as an added point: when my husband and I were living in the UK, neither of us had stellar credit pasts (and he had an ancient CCJ from the early 90s) and we had NO problem passing the credit checks on what was quite a nice place in London. There was much more emphasis on landlord references and current income.

When my brother and his family moved to London, they obtained a letter from their US mortgage lender stating that they had always made their payments on time. They used this in lieu of a landlord reference. Wes probably will do better than they did seeing as he has lived over there before and at least has had a bank account there. It is not as easy to open an account there as it is over here, and that held them back a bit -- several agents wouldn't deal with them until they had a UK account.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Letting Agents only care about defaults etc. I had very little credit ( a 1000 pound credit card) and was able to get a two bedroom flat. You probably want to stay away from them anyways what with the extra fees you have to pay etc. Go private when you can!

[featherB 1]

I had my credit checked by a letting agency in (I think) 2002 when I rented my first flat by myself. After I'd seen the flat, decided I wanted to rent it, and went to the letting agent's office to sign reams of paperwork, one of those pieces of paperwork was a form giving them my permission to run a credit check on me. At that point I also had to pay some kind of "application fee" that would be nonrefundable in the event the credit check (along with the "checking I really had a job" phone call, etc) didn't come back to their satisfaction. As far as I know, that was the first and only time that happened though - I'm pretty sure none of my other landlords checked my credit.

I would guess, though, that they'd be checking credit more to make sure that the prospective renter isn't in huge amounts of debt, rather than looking for a "credit score" as such. I would imagine (and this is just my opinion, obviously!) that even if there was little/no credit info to pull, they wouldn't care - it'd just be if they saw a credit report full of defaults and judgements and numerous unpaid bills that they'd think "thanks but no thanks". Possibly even taking a hard copy of a credit report from Experian or Equifax (not Transunion, as I don't think they operate in the UK so the landlord might think "who?") in the US as evidence that yes, you do pay your bills on time, would make them happy. Banks might not care about your credit in another country, but I'd think all but the most uptight letting agencies would be happy with that.