SilverSpring

Hi everyone,

Apologies, as I am sure this has been asked before but I wasn’t able to find the answer to my question.

My husband moved to the UK on a spouse visa in Feb 2020. We are trying to get his credit score up and running, as he is obviously starting from 0.

He’s set-up a bank account with Monzo, as at the moment we are not able to get into the main banks to open an account, but will as soon as we are able to.

He has a job, full time and so is earning a regular income.

We set up a Loqbox account for him where he is saving a certain amount each month, which is designed specifically to boost your credit score.

Last night we tried to apply for a SIM only 12 month contract, however this was declined due to his lack of a credit rating.

He isn’t able to register on the electoral role, as he is not from a European or commonwealth country.

Advice please on what else we can do at this stage to boost his score, and how we can get him approved for things like a phone contract or maybe a credit card (we haven’t tried this option yet).

Thank you in advance

durham_lad

It can be tough. When we moved back in 2016 I put my wife's name on my credit card, utility bills etc. When our son moved back in 2017 we had to add him to our mobile phone plan for him to get a sim only plan. Like my wife it took at least 6 months of paying utility bills and Council tax before he got a credit rating good enough to get his own mobile phone plan etc.

SilverSpring

Thanks for your reply! I will see if I can get him added to one of my credit cards, as I hadn’t thought of that!

I think it’s going to be a long winded process, but anything I can do to move things along would be great.

Thanks again!

mikelincs

I thought everyone, even if not elegible to vote, had to register. Are you certain he can't go on the electoral roll as this is usually the first port of call to be checked for anyone wanting credit.

SilverSpring

Thanks for your reply.

When I go to the “register to vote” page on .gov.uk it states the following:

“Who can register

You must be aged 16 or over (or 14 or over in Scotland).

You must also be one of the following:

• a British citizen
• an Irish or EU citizen with a permanent address
• a Commonwealth citizen who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need permission”

Therefore it doesn’t seem he is eligible as he doesn’t come under any of the above categories. I did read online somewhere you could apply for a notice of correction on your credit file to explain the reason you are not able to vote, but in order to do this he needs a credit score, and at the moment he has no score at all, so as soon as we can, we will try to apply for the notice of correction.

Thanks

durham_lad

This was one of the first things our son did, he is a UK citizen, but that didn't appreciably help his credit rating which is based on a history of paying bills. Took him 6 months to do things like get a mobile phone plan in his own name.

blokeandbird

Get a broker and get a mortgage if you can afford to. Down payment is higher but starts building a solid credit score.
The cars you may have being paying cash for, dont. Put down more than 50% and then make 6 months payments, then pay off.
Currys may let you buy a tv on credit as high interest. If you can pay 6 months then pay off.

As for credit cards, if you google you will find there are ones out there just for the purpose of building credit from zero.

scot47

Do you NEED credit to live ?

durham_lad

A credit rating is quite different from needing credit. The example above about a sim-only mobile phone plan is an example. You are paying a monthly fee for their services, not borrowing money to buy a phone.

Without a credit rating it is extremely difficult to rent a house or rent a car. When we moved back in 2016 we found it very hard to rent a house and had to stump up 6 months rent in advance plus the usual security deposit. I was able to rent a car because I had a US credit card to put up as security, even though I actually paid the bill after the 10 days rental with a cheque from my UK bank account. We had kept our UK bank for the 29 years we had been out of the country and had my UK private pension going into it plus transfers from our US account. However, owning a bank account does not build up a credit rating as we had not proven that we could pay bills in the UK for many, many years.

To get a credit rating you do not need to have any credit just proof that you pay bills on time and in full.

mikelincs

It may not have helped his credit rating, but they do use it to prove you are actually living where you say you are.