Ladymetis

I'm a Brit who's been living abroad in the U.S. the last several years and I have several financial questions I need help answering, pretty please!
I no longer have any credit history in the U.k. and in fact, when I try to pull credit reports, was informed I don't exist!
We want to purchase a small house here, but so far, I can't even open a bank account without proof of address, which we don't have since we're staying with my parents (this was originally just a holiday that was extended when our youngest daughter had to be hospitalized).

1. How / where can I open an account without proof of address (tried Bank of Scotland, Barclays, and Santander.... they won't accept cell phone bill, only utility or council tax bill or formal letter from DWP)?

2. How / Where can I get a mortgage with no credit history? We've found a small house for $95k we would like to buy, but until we are able to get back to America to sell our house there, we will need to finance it, which seems impossible if I can't even open a current account.

3. Offshore mortgage- yes or no? And if yes, which brokerage?
I've been hunting online for pros and cons and details on who offers the best rates and ease of approval, but it's so difficult to tell what is a legitimate review and what's a hidden advertisement these days.

Any help anyone can offer is very much appreciated!

Oh, and I should mention, we reached out to the owners of the home to inquire whether they might be interested in owner-financing or a lease-purchase, to both of which they said no.

spouse of scouse

Hi and welcome to BE. I'm sorry to hear that your daughter had a hospital stay.

In your shoes, I'd contact a mortgage broker. If what you need can be done, it's a broker who will find the companies who will do it and he/she will supply you with the details such as rates and which companies would accept you for a mortgage (on or offshore). Best of luck.

SanDiegogirl

95K USD ???? for a house in the UK?

Not even in rural Wales/Scotland would one find something so cheap ?

scot47

=£50,000 You can buy a place for that in Scotland.

Lion in Winter

Some of them might need a bit of work, but...

https://www.springbokproperties.co.u...le/under-50000

SanDiegogirl

Wow..... I raised the question as we sold my MIL's semi detached in South Wales in 2003 and that fetched 96K GBP then.......

SanDiegogirl

Must be location, location, location .....

Ladymetis

So sorry! My phone autocorrected my currency symbol. It's £95k, but there are even cheaper homes here that do equate to roughly $50k at the current exchange rate. I'm moving back to take care of my aging parents and grandmother who all live in rural Scottish borders and need to be close to them. We're also renovators. We like to buy project hoses because we spend far less fixing them up than we would to buy the way we "want."
But we currently have all our savings tied up in a business and in our U.S. house, which we can't sell until we get back across the pond to pull our irreplaceable mementos and such. I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the banks since we haven't even been able to open a current account.

nonthaburi

Get a 3 bed terrace in Liverpool for 60k GBP

spouse of scouse

That's the very bottom of the Liverpool market though. No matter what the city or area, not many people would buy at the very bottom unless they had to.

Tr1boy

There's the kicker

vikingsail

There are homes for less than 95K it's a case of pay your money take your chance but some are nice especially if you can get a good rural one. I would start with a specialist mortgage broker - just type expat mortgage into google several come up. You are going to need individualized service not major high street bank 'computer says no' service. It will cost a little more but be worth it.

Ladymetis

I know, I suppose I should have been more clear...I was hoping for names of brokers others had used... reviews/ referrals so to speak. I've found several through my own Google searches, but with everyone claiming to be the "best," it's hard to know which brokerages are the real deal and which are just a waste of time and money.

quiltman

I'm afraid you are going to be struggling to open a UK bank account without the stated documents - all part of the money laundering rules. It's the same here , without a permanent residents visa you cannot open even a savings account! The only suggestion I have is to get yourself on the electoral register at your parents address then get them to do a letter confirming you reside there and submit this to the bank together with a copy of the electoral roll. Alternatively can you get yourself put on the utility bills as a joint account holder?

Without a credit rating , no way will you get a mortgage from the "regular" sources. As others have said, a specialist mortgage broker MIGHT be able to help you. Google may help ,but even so a broker will need to see proof of a regular income. It's a pain in the backside but maybe hang on until you sell your US property and have transferred the funds back to UK - I suppose you could use your parents bank account for the transfer????

Good luck and hope it all finally works out for you and your daughter fully recovers.

Here's just one google listing https://www.corecogroup.co.uk/mortga...es/#/mortgages

scot47

After shocking everyone by suggesting Scotland as a place to buy and live, I will throw another shocking idea in here. You could RENT !