Building a Credit History for a Non-Citizen

graemeuk_2

Apologies if this has been asked before; however I could not see any similar questions.

My wife has lived in the country for two years however as she is not a British Citizen (though that might happen in the future) she is not able to be on the electoral role.

At some point in the future (3 years or so) we are going to want to apply for a joint mortgage; by that time she may be a British Citizen so that will be less of an issue.

However is there anything that she can do in the meantime to start building a credit history. She is in full time employment however currently she cannot even do things like obtain phone contracts in her own name.

Thanks,

Graeme

jonesMUFCforever

If she is not a UK citizen then she will not be granted credit facilities and your mortgage application will fail.

If she is in full time employment can I ask why she cannot go on the electoral roll?

graemeuk_2

To go on the electoral role you need to be able to vote in the United Kingdom; only British Citizens can vote in general elections and EU Citizens can vote in other elections.

Being a citizen of the United States albeit living and working legally in the United Kingdom she is not entitled to vote and thus be in the electoral role.

I am sure she will be a British Citizen by the time we are ready to apply for a mortgage; however it is really having some credit for incidental things like phone contracts.

Thanks,

Graeme

chexum

I've seen a few people reporting no particular differences in getting credit despite not qualifying for the electoral roll. The key seem to be having a bank account, paying in a reliable stream of salary, and a year on, asking the bank for an overdraft (even if nominal) and/or credit card. If they say no, appeal, and/or try again in 6+ months.

The electoral roll is a key piece, but not a requirement - most banks ask for nationality anyway, and "should" recognise if a particular one is not eligible for any voting, and there are quite a few people who won't register on principle despite they could (and must). The most important requirement is patience and stability - if you have not moved around too much, and in particular in the last 12 months, it should not be too difficult to get credit lines from your own bank, or even opening a new full account.

You can even try opening savings accounts with banks that have credit facilities, and then use that relation to open a current account/credit card - like with the now defunct egg, they had savings and credit cards.

Another difficulty that may pop up is that if you have been in the UK for less than 3 years, most online applications don't even let you get past the addresses page (some do if you had one more previous address).

malcolmffc

My wife is from the US and been living here for 3 years as a non-citizen. It was a struggle to get her credit at first but she now has several prime credit cards and a phone contract, despite not being on the electoral role. Why is true however is that she will need Indefinte leave to remain in order to get a mortgage with you - the banks won't give out a 25 year loan to someone on a temporary visa. But if shes been here for two years then you may have already applied for that? Good luck with the immigration process - it's an expensive nightmare that most Brits are blissfully unaware of!

malcolmffc

Also, why would anyone not be on the electoral roll "on principle"

chattychappy

3 mates of mine, all from the "far east" and non-citizens got credit.

No. 1: Got householder to put her down on the electoral roll form even though not entitled. If challenged, plan was that householder could say she didn't realise she wasn't British. Mate could say she hadn't realised she had been put on and had never voted. She got credit. Later agreed with householder that she would be taken off roll. Continued to get credit no problems. Illegal of course. Later decided to leave UK. Got citizenship so it would be easier to return one day if she wanted to plus work elsewhere in the EU.

No. 2: High-flyer. Arrived in UK and used HSBC transfer service from home country. Got set up with a credit card immediately. No problems getting further credit though never wanted to buy property. I remember his saying he could have got a mortgage if necessary once he got ILR. This was pre-crunch.

No. 3: Got ILR by which time had credit cards. Got mortgage with gay (British) friend, no problems.

Agree with general proposition. Citizenship isn't necessary for a mortgage. Credit history and ILR (at least) probably are. ILR is irrelevant to getting CCs, but you must at least be resident. It will be more difficult to get started.

jonesMUFCforever

chattychappy wrote: »

3 mates of mine, all from the "far east" and non-citizens got credit.

No. 1: Got householder to put her down on the electoral roll form even though not entitled. If challenged, plan was that householder could say she didn't realise she wasn't British. Mate could say she hadn't realised she had been put on and had never voted. She got credit. Later agreed with householder that she would be taken off roll. Continued to get credit no problems. Illegal of course. Later decided to leave UK. Got citizenship so it would be easier to return one day if she wanted to plus work elsewhere in the EU.

No. 2: High-flyer. Arrived in UK and used HSBC transfer service from home country. Got set up with a credit card immediately. No problems getting further credit though never wanted to buy property. I remember his saying he could have got a mortgage if necessary once he got ILR. This was pre-crunch.

No. 3: Got ILR by which time had credit cards. Got mortgage with gay (British) friend, no problems.

Agree with general proposition. Citizenship isn't necessary for a mortgage. Credit history and ILR (at least) probably are. ILR is irrelevant to getting CCs, but you must at least be resident. It will be more difficult to get started.

When was this please?
Things have changed drastically in last couple of years.

chexum

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

When was this please?
Things have changed drastically in last couple of years.

A friend of mine got a mortgage (middle of) last year. In his own name only, and he's got a (single) nationality not eligible to apply for the electoral roll. I still maintain that people who have the right of work and are actually working, will have no great problems getting credit, regardless of nationality. If they do, they probably see the same "getting credit without credit history" problems that everyone did when they started banking...

Ben8282

A US citizen cannot be on the electoral roll. I would not advise putting your wife on the electoral roll as this would be illegal. Although the chances of getting caught are probably slim, a criminal record would not help your wife to obtain indefinate leave to remain and may be a serious bar to obtaining British citizenship.

If your wife is in full time employment then I assume she has some sort of bank account for her salary to be paid into?

I am aware of a case in which Lloyds/TSB accepted inclusion on the council tax register as an alternative to the electoral roll (i.e. proof that the individual was registered for and paying council tax at their address) for a non-Commonwealth/non-EU person. This did however take some patience and persistance as the staff member did not originally quite understand why he could not be on the electoral roll and needed to have it spelt out for her slowly and patiently.

jamesd

Her bank is one place to consider. It's long been suggested for those looking to establish credit records in the United States that they do something like this:

1. Deposit £20,000 with a bank
2. Borrow £20,000 on a personal loan from the same bank, with the bank using the deposit as security.
3. The granting of credit and stream of repayments then starts to establish a credit record.

UK banks often have internal credit scores that are used for lending decisions so a discussion with the bank can prove useful.