Buying a home when married vs before marriage

[sweetswinks 400]

Not sure about her situation, but we're closing on a house in a few weeks. My husband has been in the US since October 2013 (18 months) and had his green card less than a year (9 months...he had his EAD card before that). We started building his credit as soon as he landed (credit card with a low limit, another credit card when allowed, name on all bank accounts, electric bill). We're both on the mortgage loan (he may even be the primary) for this house. Sadly, none of his UK credit or previous home-ownership matters here, so we had to start over and build his credit.

I think the loan situation comes down to how quickly and effectively the immigrant builds credit and also on the lender. We have a good relationship with our bank and have done everything through them, partly so that this process would go smoothly.

That's great to know! I've been here since August 2014, I've been working since end of Jan 2015. We want to get a mortgage end of next year/ beginning of 2017 but i'm unsure about the length of employment and such for me, I should have my green card by October (1 year since application of AOS).

Did your husband have any issues with his employment length in the US? my husband just started a new job after a long length of unemployment so he's basically in the same boat as me in terms of employment history.

I just got a secured credit card and i'm building my credit history and credit score now.

[ChicagoSarah 127]

He started his job in the US almost exactly a year ago. They just want to see steady income. They only require to see the last 45 days of pay stubs. They also wanted taxes from the last few years. 2012 he wasn't on my taxes, 2013 he was (but we filed the earned income exclusion), and 2014 was our first normal year for taxes (but he didn't even start work until Mid-March).

The credit cards and credit history are the most important.

I'm sure each situation and each lender is different, but we've had everything go really smoothly. My credit history is in good shape, and we've spent the last 18 months building his through 2 credit cards.

[rob999 51]

Not sure about her situation, but we're closing on a house in a few weeks. My husband has been in the US since October 2013 (18 months) and had his green card less than a year (9 months...he had his EAD card before that). We started building his credit as soon as he landed (credit card with a low limit, another credit card when allowed, name on all bank accounts, electric bill). We're both on the mortgage loan (he may even be the primary) for this house. Sadly, none of his UK credit or previous home-ownership matters here, so we had to start over and build his credit.

I think the loan situation comes down to how quickly and effectively the immigrant builds credit and also on the lender. We have a good relationship with our bank and have done everything through them, partly so that this process would go smoothly.

When you start building credit what's the starting number? Do they wait for 6 months or so before giving a credit rating?

I find it really hard to know how long it takes to develop credit, I guess with everyone's circumstances different it's hard to calculate. Is this a huge long haul to get to an average credit rating? Like a good few years? I have a UK AMEX card for 8 years and researched that I can transfer if to the USA with credit history, it's a small thing but it counts thankfully.

Sorry so many questions in one

[ChicagoSarah 127]

I am by no means the expert, but I believe we were told it takes about 6 months for it to even be reported on the credit report. Obviously the longer, the better. You have to be sure to use the credit card, too (about 20% of your limit) to build good credit. Having one and not using it is useless. And maxing it out is also detrimental.

It's hard as an immigrant. My husband's car is in my name since he couldn't get the loan (at the time he only had his EAD, and they understandably couldn't give him a loan with a temporary EAD). But it's nice to see that all of our immediate attention to building his credit are paying off. He has a bank CC, an airlines (through the bank) CC, and now a mortgage on a house. I think if we were buying a house in yet another year, his credit would be even better (although it's pretty good right now). Unfortunately with a baby coming in September, our 1 bedroom condo isn't going to cut it pretty soon!

Oh, and I've failed to mention that he (of course) has a temporary green card. We'll have to do ROC in 2016. That was never even mentioned through the mortgage process. Maybe because I'm on the loan, too, but the bank didn't seem the least bit bothered about his immigration status.

[jjbandero 39]

When you start building credit what's the starting number? Do they wait for 6 months or so before giving a credit rating?

I find it really hard to know how long it takes to develop credit, I guess with everyone's circumstances different it's hard to calculate. Is this a huge long haul to get to an average credit rating? Like a good few years? I have a UK AMEX card for 8 years and researched that I can transfer if to the USA with credit history, it's a small thing but it counts thankfully.

Sorry so many questions in one

I don't know the exact amount of time, you may wish to call the credit bureaus to see if there's any information they can share with you. For me, I was not able to carry across my financial history for Australia even though I was using global institutions i.e. HSBC and Amex. I am hoping Amex has changed their policies, then you should be in better shape.

It took me almost 6 months to get my first "credit card", it was a Macy's store card and they gave me a $200 limit, I basically used the card, and immediately paid it off each time. I also built credit through a car loan, I chose to get the loan and slowly pay it off in order to build history of on time payments, so in essence, the interest on the loan was what I paid to get my credit score.

In terms of getting a mortgage, the lender we worked with was not concerned with my LPR status, but what they had said was since we are getting the mortgage together, they will base the interest rate on the lower credit score, which was mine, since I had less than 7 years of history. This is the lender's way to charge you more, but we didn't have the option of only using my husband's income. If you are going down this path, please make sure you know which factor will influence your interest rate the most, as an average credit rating will not get you the best deals.