UK debts and credit history
 

Hello everyone,

A small background....

I met my very sweet girlfriend in Liverpool last year, she lives in Cincinnati. We've both visited each other a couple of times and have now made the rather scarey dicision that I will move over there. I love the place, but more importantly, I love the girl and that doesn't happen many times in a lifetime if ever. I am in the fine wine trade and think that I have now got someone to sponsor my work visa over there. Good :)

The following has been troubling me.
I have a county court judgement from a bad debt from five years ago and a few other defaults. The CCJ was left unsatisfied. I got into debt problems due to ill health (and a touch of youthfull stupidness)...it all snowballed a bit. I no longer use credit and have got along very happily without it. I save for the things I want these days... it's much nicer to own them without a debt hanging over your head. I digress.

So I wonder...

Will I have to disclose my credit history on the visa forms, if so could I get refused entry? Also will I have difficulty opening a current bank account in the States? Do the banks look at UK credit histories?

Given the number of people with adverse credit histories in the UK these days, I was hoping that someone might have been in the same boat and may be able to advise me.

Thanks in advance (even if nobody has a clue!)

Ant

Thanx Florida... I'm going to go and check out that form now. I will be taking my life savings (all 27 years worth) with me which ought to be more than enough to get me settled. I have a job almost organised, the fine wine trade is quite specialised, so the sponsorship ought to be enough to get me in; If not, we have talked about marriage. It's something that we want to do eventually anyway but I'm a bit traditional about these things so I'd rather wait. We've given it lots and lots of thought. Moving country is not something I'd do lightly on a whim.

PS. The nearest I've come to being a hardened criminal is tell some really bad jokes :rolleyes:

Get married ASAP! I wish my wife was an Americian citizen!
Your bad credit in the UK won't account for much in the Us as is the case with most things.

re Genocides etc
 

Intresting point, the USA will not let you in if you were involved in the nazi genocides, but the former Rhodesian genocide is not a problem as far as I read.

US and UK credit
 

your UK credit will be unknown to anyone in the US. The only thing I would say is your future US mortgage lender or landlord may want a rent/mortgage statement for reference but that is about it. All of it is company related so if you had a bad time with an Associates visa card in the UK, they probably wont give you one in the US, but even so they have no proof that the Jim Smith on a UK account of theirs is the same Jim Smith that is applying from Atlanta, GA for example. The UK and US also do not have an extradition treaty so no one can chase you between those countries for anything. Amex tried that with me but they have no proof that I am the same person. Only Amex UK Ltd can require money from me here (UK now) , and my account was with Amex Corp USA.

For example, If you had a bad time with Associates in the UK, and applied for a CITIbank card you still might get turned down b/c Citibank own Associates if I remember correctly. But if you applied to Shell for a Shell mastercard you just might get it.......you never know. But whoever said it was right about the US not knowing about credit elsewhere in the world - they are a different sovereign state.

Re: UK debts and credit history
 

Beware! - it is the INS that decides whether you have skills in short local supply, not your would-be employer. Your visa is not assured!