Help foreign boyfriend build credit

luiza8

Thanks for the replies. There’s a lot for us to take in and learn.

PRAISETHESUN

I was/am in a similar situation to you, when I moved to the UK I struggled to get anything other than a basic bank account.

Oddly enough having no credit history is worse than having bad credit history - banks/lenders are even more cautious than usual as they have absolutely no idea how you will act. What's even worse is that the banks here cannot take into account any foreign credit history, so he will need to build up history in the UK. Give it some time and things will improve - I registered on the ER and had a basic bank account for 6 months before I was eligible for a "standard" current account, and it was another 6 months after that before I was eligible for my first UK credit card (with a tiny limit of £200). Use it to make regular monthly purchases, pay it off in full and over time things will improve. You should be good for a mortgage in 5 years

luiza8

My boyfriend has since got a full time ob with steady income, and a mobile phone prepaid with GiffGaff (the one where you buy a pack every month). We are looking into the housing market and looking to potentially buy a lot sooner than initially planned, potentially within a year. I have created a separate post about this under the mortgage section.

I tried to get him to sign up for ClearScore however they require 3 years worth of U.K. address history which is not possible at this moment.

He hasn't applied for any other forms of credit apart from the Lloyds Classic account which he was turned down for and subsequently ended up with a Lloyds Basic account.

He has registered on the electoral role.

Do you think it's worth him applying for a scorecard like Debenhams or something?

Thanks

[Deleted User]

luiza8 wrote: »

Do you think it's worth him applying for a scorecard like Debenhams or something?

No. Although storecards are not that difficult to get, it's going to be much use to him unless he's a huge fan of that particular store.

Get him to look at a sub prime credit card, where he can use it just about anywhere on things he already buys and clear it in full each month.

jimbo26

Is he on the Electoral Register, if not get him on it.

Get a subprime credit card as per previous post. These should be your next steps.

luiza8

Yes he's on the ER.

Do you think he will be accepted for a subprime (credit builder) credit card, with 40% APR? I realise that's what they're for but not sure he would be accepted after only 3 months in the U.K., which would damage his credit history?

[Deleted User]

One search won't damage his history.

Try Vanquis. If rejected, try again in 2-3 months.

SlovakianGuy

Jesus, why Lloyds bank?
They already have the largest market share of current accounts and they don't even deserve it. These huge banks a.k.a. living fossils are terrible.

Sorry for the offtopic, but why not to support small challenger banks and encourage competition? Starling is a good choice. Monzo too. They both have far superior mobile apps, no paperwork at all, and great customer support (at least from my experience via their Facebook websites).
I suggest you to google an article titled "I lost my bank card! Monzo vs Lloyds" by Rebecca Finnegan on medium(dot)com

SlovakianGuy

Btw, I would probably try Journey credit card from Tandem bank. They're another challenger bank which is trying to get new people onboard. Journey card is a credit builder with no perks, specifically designed for bad history or no history.

gycraig_2

Doesn't he need 3 years of addresses for nearly every type of credit ?