Credit Cards for Brits living overseas

andy19871 · 28 May 2019 at 6:21PM

Hi all, I'm a Brit that's been living in Hong Kong for the past five years. I'm looking for a credit card to rebuild my credit score in the UK.

Long story short:
- I was looking to apply for a mortgage for a buy to let in the UK, using a broker specialising in mortgages for UK expats here in Hong Kong.
- I did a credit check on myself for my UK financial history and the score wasn't good: 659/1000
- The score has been brought down by my UK bank account recently going into an un-arranged overdraft and being charged a fee. This was because student loans deduct money from my account and I was unaware I had gone into overdraft until too late. My account has since been topped up and gone back into credit.

So what I need:
- A UK credit card to help rebuild history.

But my situation is this:
- I have no income in the UK and have not had for the past 5 years. I am employed by a company in Hong Kong and my income is paid to a Hong Kong bank account.
- I still have a UK address (my parent's address where the credit agencies have me on record).

My plan is to get a UK credit card and spent small amounts of it here each month in Hong Kong, and repay it in full by transferring money back to the UK account. Hopefully this rebuilds my credit score.

So question to everyone:
- Is this the most sensible way of rebuilding my credit score?
- If so, what's the best credit card for me in this situation?

[Deleted User] · 28 May 2019 at 6:24PM

You probably won't be able to get a card if you're not resident in the UK. It's fairly dodgy to use your parents address if you choose to do that. The ER would still be a problem.

When you get back, get any card and use it, clearing in full each month.

Ignore the credit score. They're not used in the UK for lending - it's just an unreliable gimmick that only you see. You need to build some history of credit usage that lenders can see.

agrinnall · 28 May 2019 at 8:24PM

What makes you think a buy to let on a mortgage is a good investment now? Take a look at the Housing board and you'll see that it's rarely recommended to anyone, and I'd suspect almost never for someone living half way round the world.

Ben8282 · 28 May 2019 at 9:23PM

Assuming you have continued to use your parents UK address for all purposes and are still on the ER there, then there should not be a problem there. Your absence from the UK is only temporary for work reasons.
However, you will still have a problem in obtaining a credit card from the point of view of employment and I think it could be very difficult to get round this. The bank/credit card company is unlikely to accept a Hong Kong address for your employer.
There could also be a problem if they check the cato figures for your UK current account as of course your salary is paid in to a Hong Knong account and not into the UK account.
Don't concern yourself with the credit score but the credit history shown in your credit files.
You say that you are looking to apply for a mortgage for a buy to let in the UK, using a broker specialising in mortgages for UK expats here in Hong Kong. A buy to let implies that you will not live in the property and will therefore presumably remain in Hong Kong. Surely under these circumstances the broker will try to place the mortgage with a specialist lender who will be told that you are in Hong Kong and employed there and take your Hong Kong salary into consideration?

eDicky · 29 May 2019 at 5:06AM

If you are registered to vote as a Hong Kong resident and not on the electorial roll at your parents' house, this will diminish your chances of card application success.

After taking the previous excellent advice into consideration, if you still want to apply for a UK card the best choice might be the Aqua Reward, which is suitable for those without the best credit history and provides fee-free overseas use for purchases, plus 0.5% cashback.

andy19871 · 29 May 2019 at 10:05AM

andy19871 wrote: »

I was told by the broker that the mortgage provider is UK based and will look at my UK credit rating. Of course when it comes to salary and other factors, they have to look at evidence from Hong Kong.

So I don't know how much of a factor the UK credit rating/history makes up as part of this process, but I'll ask.

I was told by the broker that the mortgage provider is UK based and will look at my UK credit rating. Of course when it comes to salary and other factors, they have to look at evidence from Hong Kong.

So I don't know how much of a factor the UK credit rating/history makes up as part of this process, but I'll ask.

[Deleted User] · 29 May 2019 at 10:09AM

andy19871 wrote: »

I was told by the broker that the mortgage provider is UK based and will look at my UK credit rating.

Almost. They'll look at the contents of your credit files.

They will then decide their own rating to give your application.

Have a look at your three files. You'll be able to see how much positive history you have there, what negatives and whether you simply haven't enough recent activity for them to take a gamble on you.

andy19871 · 29 May 2019 at 10:16AM

Deleted_User wrote: »

Almost. They'll look at the contents of your credit files.

They will then decide their own rating to give your application.

I understand.

Its a bit of a pain as the overdraft incident happened very recently this year which is just bad timing. Its more my own carelessness at not keeping a close enough eye on my UK bank account, than me being in any financial difficulty. Plus, as seen from some the good advice given on here, it seems I can't really do anything to repair this unless I move back to the UK.

I may just go ahead with the application and see what the outcome is. They may just grant me the mortgage anyway. I mean I won't be back to live in the UK anytime soon, so it's not a huge loss to me if there's a marker on my credit history I made an enquiry about a mortgage.

Ben8282 · 29 May 2019 at 3:21PM

What is actually shown on your credit files in respect of this overdraft incident?

jwc99 · 29 May 2019 at 5:55PM

Hi there.
I suggest you either look at HSBC or Bank of China (UK) as the most likely paths to truthfully get opened a UK based credit card account with your fully disclosed non-residency status. You can still link the credit card to a UK address and help your UK credit profile.

You would need to first get a local relationship going in HK with your chosen bank then use that to get the cards and other products you wanted in the UK with their UK branches.

I know from experience that HSBC will open UK credit card accounts if you have a HSBC account in your home country and are not UK resident. The downside with this approach is that you either have to pay for their International Banking centre to process the account opening for you or you have to have a Premier account which has high qualifying criteria varies by country but if you qualify in one country then you can get accounts in most other countries too.

Bank of China banking UK will also use your history in Asia to open accounts and get cards with the local branch.

If you dont have any credit history in HK though you may need to build that up with a local card etc before they will approve the UK card at the UK branch....so you may need to play a longer game in order to go this way.

andy19871 · 3 June 2019 at 8:04AM

Ben8282 wrote: »

What is actually shown on your credit files in respect of this overdraft incident?

On checkmyfile.com it shows an incident occured on March 2019 and it says:

Status as of March 2019
Balance: £211
Limit: £100
Monthly Change: £51
Either the payment due was made late, or the account is 1 month in arrears.

Credit Cards for Brits living overseas

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