blokeandbird

Hi,

Managed to rent a house before moving back (paid 3 months ahead, and deposit), anyone have any recommendations for getting TV?

Plusnet offer internet, and I have just set up with them. They do not run a credit check, so perfect.

I would like it for 22nd May which is date we are back in UK and move into rental. Places I have checked so far all run credit checks. Been out of UK 14 years so have zero credit rating.

christmasoompa

You don’t have to pay to watch ‘normal’ tv (other than a tv licence which doesn’t need a credit check either).

But if you feel you need more then Plusnet also do tv. And I don’t think things like NowTV or Netflix will require a credit check.

robin1234

Yeah, surely all anyone needs is a smart TV and the ability to access Freeview. With the smart TV, you can get iplayer, YouTube etc. etc.

durham_lad

When we moved back we didn't buy a smart TV. A regular 50" LED TV was MUCH cheaper. We then bought a FIRESTICK which plugs into one of the HDMI ports and provides all the free apps needed to watch TV live or access their recorded programs, movies and box sets. BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and others all provide their programs via apps. Our son also did the same the following year when he moved back.

Of course there is the mandatory licence fee of £155/year for owning a TV.

spouse of scouse

Have you actually checked if you have a credit rating? I'm only asking because my husband had lived in Australia for 25 years. When we moved back to the UK we ran an Experian credit check on him, with no expectation that he'd have any sort of rating. His score was 97/100!

robin1234

Hmm, I wonder if the same applied to me. I’m afraid I’m oblivious to credit, never ran a credit check, don’t even know what it is. I was in the US for 25 years, then came to England and got BT phone/internet, electricity, water (etc. etc.) immediately with no problems. Maybe I had a credit score too??

mikelincs

Just get a 'smart' TV, has Freeview and will have everything, except SKY, and will give you catch up TV for most things except SKY and Virgin and only needs a normal ariel, that's what I have along with Netflix

spouse of scouse

You could well have had one (credit score) Robin. I don't know if scouse's rating was carried over from 25 years previously, although that seems unlikely. We brought our UK house for cash so that might have had something to do with it, or the fact that we had the savings required for my spouse visa in the bank. In any event, we didn't use any credit facilities while we were living there, I was just being a sticky beak

lauraloulou

Did you have to have a UK residence address to run the credit check? Annoyingly I have perfect credit in the US and used to work for Equifax and I'm so annoyed that my credit is likely to be non-existent in the UK. That being said, I have had bank accounts in the UK since I left 25 years ago so perhaps it will be better than expected. I tried to run a credit report a month or so ago and nothing showed up, or they couldn't confirm me or something.

scot47

It seems that most people need access to TV. Is "the idiot box" that important ?

lauraloulou

To us, clearly yes. There are many reasons why a TV is nice to have... any suggestions how to help answer the question rather than judge our reasons?!

spouse of scouse

Hi I mentioned that my husband and I checked his credit rating while living in the UK, and it was excellent despite him having lived in Australia for 25 years. We used Experian, although I know there's other sites as well. We did have to input our UK address and I seem to remember other posters reporting that they've been unable to use any of the sites due to lack of a UK address.

I'm guessing you're planning to move back to the UK? It's a bit annoying that you can't check your credit rating before you move back, but once you have a UK address you shouldn't have any problems getting your communications (cable TV, internet, home phone) set up. Providers are aware that expats may not have a credit rating.

durham_lad

When our son moved back in 2017 after 29 years in the USA he could not get a mobile phone plan without a credit check but had no problem getting broadband internet, he uses Virgin. He has never had cable TV and still doesn’t, just uses a Firestick to get live TV using the various apps plus catch-up. Like us he didn’t bother paying extra for a smart TV.

it took about 6 months before his credit was established to get a sim-only mobile plan. During that time we added him to ours and he paid us the difference.