UK Credit Rating to US?
 

Hi Folks,

I'm the American side of our marriage, and have a good credit rating in the UK. I also had/have an excellent credit rating in the US before I moved to the UK 9 years ago.

We're in the process of emigrating back to the US. Will my credit rating in the UK follow me to the US?


Cheers!

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

no. no chance. its start all over

Experian USA told me they don't talk to Experian UK !!!

even worse they wrote to me saying my address didn't exist.
I wrote back asking how I got their letter if it didn't
they wrote back again saying having checked it didn't exist

all letters went to this non existent address...!!!

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

+1

BUT... Sometimes you can get them to consider specific things. I managed to get them to consider my UK mortgage as part of my creditworthiness when I got a mortgage here in the US. It was a bit of a pain; needed a letter from the bank stating how long I'd had the mortgage and that it was in good standing etc and a copy of my UK credit report also showing payments being made and everything in good standing.

So although they wouldn't look at my UK credit score, it did at least contribute to me getting a mortgage. I had no luck with credit card companies etc trying this approach though, they just weren't interested.

And yes, Experian US and Experian UK don't talk. I queried why this was and they just said credit worthiness is measured differently in different markets around the world and so they viewed them as completely separate and weren't interested in trying to combine them.

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

Your US credit should be in tact as long as you didn't do anything dumb to harm it. Like default on credit cards or loans, stuff like that. And assuming you have been keeping an eye on your reports to make sure no one has stolen your identity.

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

Do you have a UK Amex card? You should be able to transfer that across to a US Amex which would give you some recent credit history. We managed to obtain a mortgage from BoA a couple of months after arriving here based on our UK credit history.

You should at least have some history from when you were in the US previously, which is better than starting completely from scratch.

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

Hi NatashaB,

Yes, I/we have a UK Amex. So that will be good for establishing US credit for my spouse? My credit is still in tact in the US as I never closed any bank accounts or credit cards (only had two).

This all sounds like really good news....


Cheers!

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

Yes, you should be able to call Amex and request that they transfer your account from the UK to the US.

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

But after 9 years? I thought it pretty much withered to nothing after 7 years.

Anyway, the wiki up top is a good place to start on re-building a credit history.

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

If those cards are still open, they will be reporting. Any further history will be gone after 7 years.

Re: UK Credit Rating to US?
 

Normally you can add her as a "authorized user" and your credit history will become part of her credit bureau history. This normally happens shortly after (maybe a month or two) she becomes an "authorized user". For the UK Amex card, I'd wait until your history shows up in credit reports. You can check your credit report for free for each of the credit bureaus once a year at the following government authorized site.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action