Possible FTB ramble & should he take out a credit card?

MrsMopFace

My husband and I decided this weekend to go down the route of buying a house. Due to my previous debts and me now working on an ad hoc freelance basis we are opting to just apply in his name.

We aren't looking for a big place somewhere in the region of £80k and the in laws are offering to give us a £10k deposit and we intend to save £7-10k in the next year with about £5k going to the deposit and the rest for moving costs/legal etc.
Currently my husband has no debt apart from student loans and an overdraft which we're going to clear this month. In '06 we had a CCJ threat letter for unpaid council tax which we then paid immediately - would this cause problems?

He earns 35k on his own so could easily make the repayments on a this region of mortgage. However we've been wondering how his lack of debt will fair, he has never had to pay anything back apart from this overdraft. Should he take out a credit card and occasionally spend then pay back or just stay clear? Would his lack of credit history cause a problem in applying for a mortgage?

I know this is really a real ramble but I just like to have things ironed out in my head and my notebook so I know what to expect.

Thank you for reading.

kingstreet

If it's six months in future, or more, a credit card, well conducted and repaid each month, will help and won't incur any interest costs.

MrsMopFace

kingstreet wrote: »

If it's six months in future, or more, a credit card, well conducted and repaid each month, will help and won't incur any interest costs.

Thank you Kingstreet that is good to know. I'll have him look at credit cards tonight. We actually need to buy a new bed so maybe he could use the credit card for that and then pay it back in full the second the bill comes in.

CLAPTON

best to look at his credit files to see what they show

MrsMopFace

Thank you Clapton, I'll get on to that ASAP. Is it true we need to check 3 different sources?

ValHaller

MrsMopFace wrote: »

In '06 we had a CCJ threat letter for unpaid council tax which we then paid immediately - would this cause problems?

Unpaid council tax goes to the magistrates court for a liability order. As it does not go to the county court, ccj's are never ordered for council tax arrears.

This may appear pedantic, but the corollary is that if there is no ccj, there is nothing to go on your credit record.