cityboys1911

When we came to the US we had no credit reports and they would not accept our UK ones, is it the same when we go back to the UK to live

durham_lad

Yes, it took us time (6 months or so) to build our credit reports on returning.

cityboys1911

thank you got your reply, even thought we still have a bank account doesn’t make a difference

durham_lad

We kept our bank account for all 29 years we were living in the USA, but with no record of paying bills on a regular schedule the credit score goes down the drain. It’s not necessarily a disaster. I expected to have to pay 6 months rent in advance when we got back, but the letting company accepted pension statements as proof of income and ability to pay so we only had to pay 2 months in advance plus the 1 month deposit, which we got back in full when we moved out into a house we bought.

blokeandbird

How long have you been out of the country? If only a short amount of time you may still have a UK credit score.
If you lost them due to being gone so long you will have to start from scratch (yes it is a pain again).
Covid 19 has changed a few things too. We were approved as long as we had 20% down (couldnt buy as the market was closed, so we had to rent). Called broker as we have now done 2 weeks isolation. Now we need a credit foot print to be approved by the same company.

So as soon as you have UK address, register to vote.
Then you will have the fun of getting internet with no credit score, and mobile phone plan.
Internet and home phone we went with plusnet, no credit score check. Took pay as you go plan, and will be calling them to see about flipping to monthly plan.
We have cash to buy cars but will be seeing if we can get on HP just to get a credit score.

Brightongirl

What about getting the basic utilities with no credit score? electric, gas, water ...

durham_lad

once we got a rented house sorted then the agent simply transferred them to us. I guess with utilities they won’t cut you off until you’ve not paid some bills, same with Council Tax.

spouse of scouse

Same here. We wanted to stay with the same providers the previous owners had used, so the solicitor we had for the purchase got them transferred to us.

lauraloulou

Did you have any luck getting HP? I'm going to be moving by the end of the year, have had a UK bank account for years and years but my perfect US credit is clearly useless. I want to setup HP so that I can build credit. Did you find any easy store cards to open to help with that?

Brightongirl

Just out of curiosity, what's HP?

durham_lad

Hire Purchase I think.

scot47

In my youth this was the main form of buying things on credit. Hire Purchase. Technically what you are buying is not yours until you make the final payment. Restrictions on HP used to be a favourite weapon of The Chancellor Of The Exchequer. A thing of the past ? Like Provident Cheques and Coop Dividends !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hire_purchase

In The USA (and Canada ?) the term is "Installment Plan", which reminds me of a book by an outstanding French author (who was luck to escape execution for collobaroting with Vichy) - https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/S...QaAjCZEALw_wcB

lauraloulou

Update on credit scores - mine is still laughably low but I recommend Clearscore for helping get pre-approved cards, track the score, get advice etc. I'm happy to play the game but it is super annoying. They give you cards with tiny limits (compared to the US ridiculously large limits) and then tell you not to use more than 20% of that limit lest it lower your score.