LauraMunroBruce

My partner went in to apply for a car loan the other week and even though he has paid off a mortgage and a big car loan years ago they refused to give him the loan as they only check back 5 years and in that time he has no credit history.

It got me thinking though that in the future we will want to buy a house together and have kids etc. I have been in oz for 2 years on a WHV, will spend at least the next 2 years here on a student visa then it may take over a year to get pr so in that five years plus I wont have credit history.

Is there ways as a temporary visa holder to start building my credit rating? I've always believed in saving and waiting until I had enough money to buy something and that is how I financed my trip here and I work incredibly hard in order to be able to pay my school fees but that may have to change in order to give us a chance in the future.

Do I start small as in phone contract (always had payg) and then work up, but what are the limits in terms of temp visa holders? My partner suggested getting an international credit card such as an AMEX or even a store card here in oz but how did other people go about it?

Thanks for any help
L

spottydog

My understand in Oz is that you don't get a credit rating, you start off with a good one and then make it worse with every bit of credit you apply for. As far as I know only credit applications and non-payments get recorded against you rather than the UK where repayments are also recorded.

As a temporary resident you are likely to be turned down by many companies as most will only lend to PR & citizens

Sherlock Holmes

The only thing they wanted when I was going to borrow at Harvey Norman, purely to get a credit rating, was a tax return.

I ended up not bothering. All my proofs of address, paid up utilities, my humungous unused limit on my UK debit card was of no interest to them at all.

Sorry to be negative but there just doesn't seem to be any interest in your previous ability to pay but you present one.

Icecube

Same issue when applying for a Wizard Credit card recently. Before issuing the card they were most interested in getting id verified which (surprisingly) required a passport as a primary document and either a letter from centre link and or utility bill as a secondary document. No interest in the ability to pay by way of requesting previous pay slips etc.....

Dorothy

Start small. Get a phone on contract. Get a credit card - we got one with Virgin - with a low credit limit, and use it. Pay it off immediately so you have good credit.

Your partner...Is he PR or on a temp visa as well? That may be why he had trouble getting a loan. It may also help your visa situation if you have been/are living with a PR or citizen. You could be eligible for a spouse or defacto visa.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Well the Comm Bank gave me a mortgage while on a 457... no limitations that I could see.

Dreamy

We had no problems getting a mortgage on a 457 either - but when we went in to verify our accounts with Commbank, and had the obligatory 'chat', they weren't sure if we'd be able to get a short term loan to buy a car.. but did say they'd be able to wangle something on the home loan (bizarre).. in the end it didn't matter because we paid cash, so I don't know how difficult it would actually have been.

A friend had a problem getting a credit card on a temporary visa, but I don't know who that was with, we made a conscious decision not to go anywhere near those evil things again

Dorothy

But the OP is not on a 457. She's on a working holiday visa.

pink13

So does this mean if you went bankrupt in the UK, it doesn't count here, without going into to much detail i had to 6yrs ago lost my business blah blah blah, but hadn't started to build my credit up again in the uk as i used to just save for what i wanted needed etc,

will i have to declare this when going for a mortgage, loan etc here?

I am very good with money so don't have any worries there just not so good with getting screwed over by business partner

Dorothy

Your UK credit rating means bugger all here. You start fresh in Australia.

markbhx

I'm on PR and can get a mortgage with commbank, but Citibank refuse to give me a credit card!! Anyone had trouble with citibank?? I only want it for the emirates points :-D Maybe I will need to open an account with them and put my savings in it.

haodjihao

You start fresh in Australia.


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Buyer and importer of lighting products

markbhx

Thanks for answering the question

Dorothy

Take a look at that card, though. Here's a Choice magazine guide to credit cards with rewards attached. http://search.choice.com.au/search?w=credit%20cards

hoofie2002

Banks etc here use central credit agencies. All the agency has on file is credit applied for and defaults, judgements etc. If you don't have a file when you first apply then one is created for you.

The banks run their own individual scoring systems to determine whether to lend to you or not which refer back to those central agencies. When they put all your info in [age, job, education, number of kids yada yada yada] that provides them with a score. That is then fed into other things like the amount of spare income you have, how many times you have applied for credit in the last six months.

One point - if you have a number of credit applications in a short time [6 months] that can lead to an automatic refusal also.