Building credit history after moving to the UK

werth

Hi
I have recently moved to the UK, would like to start building credit history.
What CC can I apply for? Checked aqua but it requires 3 years of UK address history which I do not have.
Thanks.

StopIt

Vanquis and Creation also are for the lower end but may also have similar UK residency requirements.


However: https://www.aquacard.co.uk/credit-tips-advice/finding-the-right-card/new-to-uk-credit-cards/


Aqua specifically have a section dedicated to people like you, so you should be eligible to apply.

radoslaff

I moved to the UK in March 2016. Initially I struggled a lot opening a current account. It took me about a month and a half and a number of applications and at least 10 visits to different banks before finally Lloyds showed some good will and I was through. In July I decided to jokingly apply for a credit card and... it took 10 minutes before I had £1500 limit. Very annoying isn't it? a month and a half for a current account and 10 minutes for a credit card.

chattychappy

radoslaff wrote: »

I moved to the UK in March 2016. Initially I struggled a lot opening a current account. It took me about a month and a half and a number of applications and at least 10 visits to different banks before finally Lloyds showed some good will and I was through. In July I decided to jokingly apply for a credit card and... it took 10 minutes before I had £1500 limit. Very annoying isn't it? a month and a half for a current account and 10 minutes for a credit card.

Probably because anti-money laundering (and anti-fraud generally) regs puts onerous requirements on banks to check who you are before giving you banking facilities. Hence the two forms of ID stuff. Often difficult to get until you've been in the UK for a while. I had the same palaver with one of my tenants recently as she tried to open a bank account.

But once you've got a bank account, it's easier for CCs to believe who you are and worth taking a risk on lending money. They can't take a risk on giving bank accounts without complying with identity checks.

The reverse was true many years ago. You could open a bank account with no proof of ID. Only if you needed to borrow were more checks needed.

radoslaff

chattychappy wrote: »

The reverse was true many years ago. You could open a bank account with no proof of ID. Only if you needed to borrow were more checks needed.

Which makes much more sense to me. I was two salaries behind at the time because my employer didn't want to pay me any other way but via bank transfer. I just stayed there begging hem for the most basic account they could think off just to be able to take my salary. Nothing. Luckily I had enough funds to survive. Later on some of them didn't comply with their own terms and conditions refusing to accept my proofs of address. It was quite a funny time.