ex pat with a thin file (in fact no file).

expat76

Frist post

In very brief, in 1998 I moved with work to the US for a year, long story short I stayed until June this year.

OK now back in the the UK.

I have owned my home since 99 when inherited it from my grandparents.

I have no credit file in the UK FULL STOP.

My UK bank is in the Isle of Man and does not report to any UK credit reference services.

So I find myself at the age of 37 having to pay for everything in cash or out of my current account, which is beyond a pain. The final straw this week was i have had to buy my car for cash when I intended to cover the cost of a lease via my mileage payments from my employer.

So now I am on a mission to sort this.

So far, I have enrolled to vote today.

I have taken a mobile contract out with three (the cheapest they do sim only as I have a phone from work).

Moving my gas and electric accounts to British Gas as they report to the CRA.

I would welcome any input into small things I can do.

This is not the case that I want anything it just not having the ability to take offers etc that really annoying. A case in point I got a new TV a few weeks ago, and I was offered 0% over 12 months for something that I was buying anyway and when I applied I was refused again, lol.

Any help thankfully received.

CLAPTON

which UK bank do you have?

can you open a main land branch with them

otherwise try HSBC who seem comfortable dealing with 'foreigners'

expat76

thought the same, just applied with Natwest over the web for a savings account, plan is this, TSB turned me down for a current account and I think it will be same everywhere. So a savings account should be easy to open and I will make a large deposit and then go into branch to open a current account and see if I pass internally or if the bank employee can override once we have some trading history.

expat76

just thought about water.

a quick search on my water suppler dug this up.

Changes to how we manage your personal details
Your personal information is very important to us and should be protected. This is why we’re very careful about what we do with the information we need to process about you.

We want to be able to identify who our customers are, make the best and fair decisions we can about the extent of their responsibility and their ability to pay for the services we are required to supply. We want to be able to place them on the best payment arrangement or payment assistance scheme with a view to helping them avoid water debt or become free of water debt. We are also aware, due to the way our industry is set up, that we need to seek out sources of accurate, up to date and relevant information about our customers in order to meet our DPA compliance obligations as well as our business responsibilities.

We’ve recently decided to share information on all new and existing accounts with Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) and, when fraud is suspected, Fraud Prevention Agencies (FPAs). These are highly reputable organisations that help to trace people who don’t pay their bills. They strictly safeguard the personal information we share with them about our customers. CRAs or FPAs won’t use your information to send you sales or marketing material you haven’t asked for.

Our new relationship with CRAs and FPAs means if customers move home and owe us money, we can trace their whereabouts.

If you owe us money, but don’t repay it on time, we may write to let you know we intend to file a ‘default’ with the CRAs. If you still don’t pay within 28 days of the notification, we’ll let the CRAs know. This could negatively affect your credit rating. It's worth remembering that records stay on CRA files for six years after they are closed, whether settled or not.

This information may then be supplied to other organisations by CRAs and FPAs so other organisations can carry out similar checks. Our leaflet explains the full details of how your data may be used.

Information supplied to the CRA for the purposes outlined above, may, if considered potentially fraudulent by the CRA, be passed from the CRA to the FPA.

the bill has been in my mothers name for years in case any questions arose on the account. I will see if this helps and get the bill into my name tomorrow.

expat76

CLAPTON wrote: »

which UK bank do you have?

can you open a main land branch with them

otherwise try HSBC who seem comfortable dealing with 'foreigners'

forgot to say, Bank of Ireland

Andyb80

Hey friend
This problem is such a pain. I have moved here a couple years ago - and despite working for a prominent international airline - I struggled a lot to get the initial bank opened and phone contract
In the US there is an alternate credit score that people have tried. I have heard about another one in the UK starting called Aire that helps verify your credibility to lenders if you have no credit file. Perhaps you can buzz them to see if they can help you.
Hope it helps. It was so ridiculous when I first moved here.

TBeckett100

Open a British Gas account. they report to the CRA. Possibly a credit builder credit card...