prdurrant

Hi Guys,

I have read in multiple places about this, but cannot seem to get a concrete answer.

I am a UK citizen getting married to a US citizen in August this year. My intention is to convert my H1B visa into a Greencard shortly after that.

Once we are married, we would like to look at buying a home, preferably a condo / co-op. The issue we are having is finding a mortgage lender.

Within our household, we would like to base the mortgage on my salary primarily as I am the higher earner. The issue we have is that I only have one year of tax returns in the US (the other 2 years have been either in Canada and /or the UK). My question is, does anyone know where we can:

1. Get a mortgage based on 1 year of tax return for someone who is on a H1B / Greencard
2. OR get a mortgage based on 1 year of US tax returns and 1+ year of tax returns from another country (Canada / UK).

I own a property in the UK and have cash reserves for a down-payment, so I am not anticipating the financing aspect (debt / equity ratio) of this to be an issue.

Any help would be massively appreciated.

Cheers

Paul

p.s. We have already contacted BoA and couldn't get approved because of this reason

p.p.s We do not want to get a loan solely based on my fiancees earnings

Bink

Hmmm, this may be difficult. But there are things that you can do to start the ball rolling. If your US wife-to-be has a credit card, see if you can get added to that as soon as possible.

The hurdle that you will face is not only tax returns but credit history. I got an FHA insured loan after 18 months of credit history as they looked at my UK mortgage history and credit. Even then, they require a minimum of a years US credit history and you can't borrow more than approx $272k (in Texas but I believe it's very similar for most parts of the country).

I know of people that have done what you have asked (got a mortgage as soon as they came over) with a minimum 20% deposit and by having a corporate relationship with the bank they got their mortgage with.

You may have better luck with a smaller lender where you can get information in front of an underwriter to persuade them of your credit worthiness.

In either case, do a search on here for building up credit and follow that advice - it will set you in good stead in any case. Building good credit here is unfortunately quite time consuming, you'll get there though.

Good luck!

prdurrant

Thanks so much for your reply.

We started trying to build a credit history about 3-4 months ago by adding me as an authorized user on her cards and I have just got a secured credit card from BoA with $1K down as down-payment. So this is a work-in-progress. I know that I have a rating now with 2 or 3 agencies and will work towards trying to improve this (using the excellent advice from these forums).

I wasn't aware that the credit history and mortgages were so tightly aligned. I believe I could put down a larger down-payment (from 20%-40%) if needed as well.

We dont want to rush ahead and get a mortgage with a 'crazy-high' interest rate, if we can be more prudent and rent for a little while longer and go down the 'conventional' route at a much lower cost.

Michael

The FHA loan limit varies by area to a maximum of $729,750 for a single family home. Use the following link to determine the limit for any area (county or state) in the US. Use the default values and click "Send" to get a list of the limits of some common counties throughout the US.

https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm

Bob

She be the primary, you be the co-signer. Sorted. Crap history is better than no history, if that's your concern.

That and massive deposit.

Bob

Won't do shit as a authorised user, you need to be co-signer to the card. The authorised user piggy backing trick died a couple years ago.

prdurrant

Thanks Bob. Luckily, I have the secured card which should build some credit as well.

Assuming that my credit is okay, does anyone know of a lender which could help with the lack of tax returns in the US or will accept a foreign tax return?

Bob

It's not so much the credit/score/tax, it is just the lack of history that is hurting you.

You might have more luck with a local broker or credit union who might be willing to look at your UK history as chances of the big players are slim, they don't need to bother with the extra time and hassle.

You're better off just renting for a year anyway and build up your credit history as well as getting to know the area better.

Bink

Sorry, I was on my phone and didn't fully check it. There are very few areas where you can get $700k though.

prdurrant

I think we would need to borrow around $250K and could put down around 20%-40%.

We are both familiar with the area. I have been here for 4 years (on and off) and would like to settle here.

When we discussed this with BoA, they mentioned that the credit history shouldnt be an issue, due to my good debt / equity ratio but did say that they didnt deal with anyone who hadnt filed 2 years of tax returns. They suggested looking for lenders who would either accept a foreign return or just one year of returns. They also said that my visa status didnt matter to them.

mikechristina

We are in exactly the same boat as you, I just realised I need to get a secured credit card, tried getting a pre approaved mortgage, they looked at me like I had a disease

I read Fat Brits guide on building credit and have printed it out for reference.

My house is for sale in the UK, but I am now thinking I should just hold off selling it until we are able to buy a place here.

We are only looking to borrow around $100k and will put down $380k, but that does not seem to matter one bit!?!

prdurrant

The secure credit card was pretty easy to get, I just went online and completed the form. You should get this within 7 business days https://www4.bankofamerica.com/credi...process.action

I have contacted a Realtor who is extremely bullish about our chances of getting a mortgage (although I am extremely skeptical). She has given us some contacts to speak to. I'll update the forum if anything works out.

The reason I am holding off selling my UK property is due to the capital gains tax implications (another thing to work though). What we do for love