Moving to the UK, starting & getting a good credit record...?

phsteele · 2 May 2015 at 8:45AM

Hello all,

My partner is a Swedish national and is moving to the UK to live and work here.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience or advice of the best way for us to go about getting her a credit record going, QUICKLY! It would be nice for her to be able to have her own credit card, be able to choose a car she would like on PCP, etc. But I'm under the impression that her Swedish credit history is useless on the UK? So any hints on getting the UK one going would be greatly appreciated, thanks 😊

LplateSaver · 2 May 2015 at 11:11AM

I don't know if it will be quick.

First thing I guess is to register on the electoral role as that takes about 5 weeks to update (I didn't learn about the electoral role until I was here 2 years..)

& Open a bank account.

A phone contract will be the easiest thing to get and will help build up a credit score.

I asked for a small overdraft when I was here about 12 months and was given it but they may have given it to me sooner had I asked for it.

When I was here about 27 months I applied for and was accepted for a Capital One credit card, which is the sub-prime credit building card. 6 months after that I was accepted for a prime card.