RainyDays

Perusing some other threads here has raised some interesting questions for me. I had a 'green card' 14 years ago before I surrendered it and returned to the UK. While I was a US resident I bought a house and had several credit cards (and good credit). If I return, will I still have a credit history?

Obv. I'll be using my old SSN. My (USC) husband also had good credit when we lived there.

The main reason I'm asking is that we'd like to buy rather than rent ASAP.

MidAtlantic

I believe general information remains for up to 10 years from the date of last activity. For negative information such as accounts not paid, collection accounts etc. it is 7 years.

RainyDays

I've been gone too long then. Thanks for the info.

dj6372

My good lady wife (USC) left the USA with good credit, we lived in the UK for 4 years, when she returned her credit was poor, so my guess is your situation will be similar.

RainyDays

Damn! One of the perils of moving too much! (Another one being trying to remember the addresses of all the places you've lived since you were 16 - my God, that was near impossible!)

agent welsh

We are in the same boat. The only difference is we keep the checking account and credit card active (in the US) this 11+ years here. Your Dh is entitled to his
credit report as a USC. They will send it here to the UK, you just need to write something up saying you live here. I have used Experian.

petitefrancaise

You may be able to get an "ex-pat" mortgage - Wells Fargo do it - they have an international team that will assess your income from outside the US and make a decision based on that and not your US credit history. I've recommended them a few times to new USA arrivals who have got a mortgage through them and at a very good rate. pm me for a contact.

username.exe

Depends on what the USC had been doing in the intervening period (financially speaking).

My USC missus was away right years, but kept a couple of credit cards going that she used sporadically to buy gifts for family over there. Also, continued making payments on her student loans.
When we moved over here she had great credit which I was fortunate enough to inherit add an authorized user on her credit cards

RainyDays

We didn't keep anything active in the US unfortunately. Until a couple of years ago we had some shares, but my husband 'gifted' them to his dad. Our UK credit is also good, and we have 75% equity in our home. I'll definitely look into the Wells Fargo expat mortgage thing. Thanks.