UK Debt (as in money)

[rlogan 2,036]

He has no judgements against him, just money he needs to pay off.

Good.

However, my guess is that he's got a terrible credit rating due to circumstances (very long story, very underpaid, hard luck, etc). I think that's my biggest worry because I don't want anything to affect our future.

My ideal would be to have merged our accounts straight off (and he can keep his UK account too), but I am worried about credit ratings and our future. I don't want to inherit any possible bad marks he has from the get go as we want to get things straightened out and settled so we can buy a place of our own eventually. I also would like any debt off our backs just 'cause! We've come up with some ideas about which salary will go to bills and which will be saved, and worked into this is the goal of paying off his debt in the UK from the US. If he gets the sort of job/pay I'd expect once he's able to work here, I think it could be paid down steadily while we save for other things.

I'm thinking it's safe to get him an ATM card on my account from the get go (and he'd do the same for the UK account for me), and then just wait a while till things are paid down for him till my account is made a joint one and till he's on my credit cards. Is this a reasonable sort of plan/worry, or does it not even matter? I'm pretty clueless about the ins and outs of these things, but again, my concern is the future and getting things squared away without anything that can cause hassles later on.

It isn't quite right to say his record is swept clean by moving. But it is accurate to say he has no credit history in the US. So he needs to start building that credit rating here and the most important thing is not getting into trouble right out of the gate. On the one hand you need to use credit in order to prove up on it, but it absolutely cannot be credit that depends on the theoretical best case scenario. Get the employment first. Once you get behind - it is way more difficult to dig out of it.

I have a sense of uneasiness about the "long story" of bad luck and the unclear employment background. But you know a lot more than we do. The economy is not in very good shape right now so I would be sober about planning. You need to be able to withstand a substantial duration of unemployment.

[orangeneko 1]

Just posted a reply and it disappeared after I clicked post. If anything reappears later and this posts twice, I apologize!

I'm trying to not make mistakes with the planning before he's even here as I really just want things to be as hassle free as possible and for us to set things up sturdily. I would imagine he'd inherit my credit rating if he goes on my cards and account right off? I only think that as years ago my mother put me on hers, and when I applied for my first own card, they denied me due to my age and the money they claimed I owed (which was what she owed). They gave me her credit rating by default. I had to contact some places to get it fixed, but they did eventually.

The bad luck that I alluded to is something I'd not want to write about in a public forum, but it's a mix of tragedy and literal bad luck. He's always worked, sometimes more than one full job at once, and he's one of those people who goes above and beyond yet never gets his due. He was promoted recently to a new position, which should look good on a resume when he's here, and he's making a bit more than in the past, though still quite underpaid unfortunately.

[Boiler 46,141]

Not quite but it is a start.

[N M 96]

Any debt that he has in the UK will not affect you or even his credit rating in the US. He basically starts fresh with US credit and will need to work towards building his US credit. It will almost be like a fresh start for him as his UK credit file does not follow him. But, he will need to keep paying back the debt from the US if he would like to avoid UK penalties.

You need to figure out what works for you both and how you'll make it work. Basically you can be as involved or uninvolved as you want to be with his UK debt but ultimately your name is not affected in the US.

You can most definitely have a joint account with him in the US and not be connected to the UK debt. I'd recommend keeping your own separate accounts and also having joint accounts (mingling of finances is important for immigration). You can both contribute a set amount to the joint accounts and also keep some money for yourselves to take care of your own debts. He can send money to the UK from his own account and not involve you OR he can send it from your joint accounts. Either way, it doesn't affect your US credit.

I would also advise him to have some savings for when he moves over so that he can continue to pay down his debt while he is not working when he moves. But again, you need to make your own arrangments and decide how to pay down his debt. Every couple has this own way of doing it, some share the burden, some don't.

That's not always true. Individuals need to be very careful about which credit cards they apply for in the U.S.

I applied for a U.S. issued AMEX card in 2010. AMEX noticed my short U.S. credit history and (realising I was probably a recent immigrant) contacted me, to ask which country I had emigrated from and whether I had previously had an AMEX account there. They explained that they could link that former UK account to my new American account - effectively importing my credit history with AMEX. That's wonderful if you've had a great history in your former country - but horrific if you didn't, and do want to start fresh.

My advice would be - if he had accounts with AMEX, Barclays, Capital One etc in the UK - avoid these providers in the U.S.

[Fandango 1,440]

I think one of your biggest pitfalls is assuming he's going to get this great paying job right off the trot. Most times, it doesn't work that way. Americans graduating from prestigious unis are working as baristas as Starbucks.

I think instead of worrying about the account info, he should work on his CV, and start contacting viable employers in your area. When I was engaged to my beneficiary, he was shopping his resume around and setting up meetings every time he came here. He had a job to come to, and they knew of his situation as far as waiting for his work permit, etc. He also had an idea as far as how much $$$ he could legitimately expect to be bringing into the household.

I must ask, not to be snarky...but your title...UK Debt (as in money)...what other debt is there? Perhaps my brain isn't working yet, but for some reason I've been racking my brain as to what else debt can be, if not money. Not being pedantic at all...I'm just stumped. lol.

Anyway, good luck!

[orangeneko 1]

If I put him on my cards right off though, that would mean he attaches to me and wouldn't be applying for any of his own....would that be wise? He found something about an international bank account with NatWest which allows him to keep two currencies at once. He has no credit cards now and I doubt would sign up for any here unless I gave him one. Even then he'd not use it out of habit I'm guessing, or unless I asked him to use it for something.

I'm in NY, and there's been a pretty decent job market here despite what they say, so I have good faith that after that three months he'll find something, even if it isn't great at first. I figured during the first months he's not allowed to work that besides getting used to things here that he'd work on the resume plus speak to some people I know and do research. He was thinking about seeing if he could go to the NY office of his current company if possible. I'm not encouraging him to start looking around now only because I want to keep as straight and narrow as possible with this and not have anyone accuse him of looking for work when he's not allowed to yet. A friend suggested that he works off the books (more than once) and I say NO, NO WAY. After everything and all the work, there's no way I'd put anything in jeopardy. I think if he could get a job with his NY office that they'd be the best bet he has for understanding the time delay issues.

As for the title of the post, I put "as in money" as I figured there's always one person out there who'll start making jokes about debt to the UK for this and that in history, so I wanted to be clear. I also figured the more precise I was, the more maybe others who'd had to figure out the same things as me might spot the post and let me know what they did.

[Kajikit 65]

Debts are not usually pursued internationally, and your credit history doesn't transfer from country to country. You only need to worry about your husband's debt in his home country if you want to go back there to live. It's pretty irrelevant once he moves here. You can pay it off or ignore it, but it doesn't make any difference while he's in the US. I have a ton of student loan against me in Australia, but I don't have to do anything about it unless I move back there to live.

Keeping a bank account in his home country is always a good idea - it can be easier just to transfer money directly from one account to the other when you want to go back 'home' for a visit than to mess around with international credit cards.