Getting a Mortgage?

[LauraDP 10]

Just a bit of background. My husband (of 16 years)is a USC but has only ever lived in the US as a juvenile so he has no US bank account (his parents closed it when they returned to the UK) and has obviously never had a mortgage in the US. We have had a mortgage in the UK for over 10 years and have a perfect credit score here. We will be renting initially when we move to the US with our four children so that we can look for our permanent home. However, we need to be able to buy a house as soon as possible for financial reasons. Essentially, if we cannot buy a home in the US then we would probably not be willing to risk emigrating from the UK because property would really be our investment in our future.

My question is, therefore, has anyone here got any experience of moving to the US and being able to take out a mortgage in, say, less than a year without having any real financial history in the US?

If so, could you share with me how you managed to achieve this?

At the moment we are investigating whether we can use a US arm of a connected UK or international lender so that we can either essentially segue our mortgage from here to there or, at the very least, be able to use our credit history here to have a starting point credit history in the US. Does anyone know of any banks / mortgage providers operating in the UK who have US arms?

I hope that was all clear.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

Best wishes

Laura

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

***Moving from General Immigration to Your New Life forum ****

[LauraDP 10]

***Moving from General Immigration to Your New Life forum ****

Thanks for moving this! I did not know I could post in this section since we have not actually started the immigration process. I am grateful to you for moving it to the most appropriate location.

Cheers

Laura

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

Anytime!

We were able to buy our home, so I am not sure of the answer to your question. I suspect a lot will depend on how much of a mortgage you'd need, and what kind of jobs you'd have- much easier to get a mortgage if you work for, say, Google in a high paying job, than if you are trying to get your own business off the ground.

[LauraDP 10]

Anytime!

We were able to buy our home, so I am not sure of the answer to your question. I suspect a lot will depend on how much of a mortgage you'd need, and what kind of jobs you'd have- much easier to get a mortgage if you work for, say, Google in a high paying job, than if you are trying to get your own business off the ground.

My husband's plan of action (and the only way this immigration plan is actually going to work) is to work for Federal Government in Washington DC as this equates to the job he is doing here in the UK. We cannot afford to buy a home outright but we should have quite a bit of equity from our house sale here so that we only have to take out a mortgage for a small part of the value of our new home. Of course, that depends on here he gets a job as that determines where we choose to live and educate our children because those factors will determine the house prices.

Really we need to know, however, whether a US bank would be able to take our credit and mortgage history in the UK into account when determining whether to grant us a mortgage or not.

I also hoped someone might have experience of a UK bank that has a connection to a US bank so we could maybe even just transfer with the same company.

[Holly2234 66]

HSBC has banks in both countries. But im not sure if it works like you want it to.

[TracyTN 237]

Credit doesn't transfer, unfortunately, so having owned a house in the UK means little here, even if the banks operate in both countries. They still operate and give out credit based on US credit reports and rules.

I would suggest having a meeting with someone at your bank - they should be able to tell you what pro active steps you can take to establish your credit here in the US in ways that will help speed up the process for you. I know a lot of folks have started by having low credit line credit cards and paying them off monthly (or at least making sure the payments are on time). Also getting cell phones, utilities, even renting an apartment can help you establish credit - really just depends on the individual situation - which is why I thought your bank could pull your current credit report and give you salient advice.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

What kind of research has your done into getting a Federal job?

[rlogan 2,036]

Yes to the above. But having a whopper down-payment will make a huge difference with the bank's willingness to extend credit.

[LauraDP 10]

HSBC has banks in both countries. But im not sure if it works like you want it to.

We are in the process of moving from our current bank accounts to one with HSBC. They will then make the introduction to the US bank for us to be able to move to an account with that one. We are hoping that the connection between the two will aid us having some sort of financial history in the US. At the moment, the folks at HSBC cannot answer any of our queries about how it will work once we transfer to the US arm regarding credit cards, mortgages etc so we are having to take a bit of a punt on it.

[LauraDP 10]

Credit doesn't transfer, unfortunately, so having owned a house in the UK means little here, even if the banks operate in both countries. They still operate and give out credit based on US credit reports and rules.

I would suggest having a meeting with someone at your bank - they should be able to tell you what pro active steps you can take to establish your credit here in the US in ways that will help speed up the process for you. I know a lot of folks have started by having low credit line credit cards and paying them off monthly (or at least making sure the payments are on time). Also getting cell phones, utilities, even renting an apartment can help you establish credit - really just depends on the individual situation - which is why I thought your bank could pull your current credit report and give you salient advice.

Thanks, TracyTN.

That's a bummer that the credit history won't transfer even with linked banks. We are in the process of switching our accounts to HSBC so as to be in a bank that has a US arm and hopefully then they will be able to offer advice in a way that our own bank cannot. We will be renting initially while looking for a house so it is good to know that will add to our credit score because of the rent payments and utilities. I had not thought about cellphones. Chris has his current one through work and mine here is Pay-as-You-Go so that had never crossed my mind. We will definitely look into that then.

With regard to the credit cards, I have two queries I hope someone can answer:

a) An American friend told me that to build up a score it was best to leave, say, $30 per month on your CC balance so as to build up a history. Is that correct? Or would we get a better rating by paying off in full at the end of each month (which is how we run our CCs in the UK)?

b) Is it possible for us to obtain US credit cards while still in the UK and to be using them to start building up a financial history? My BIL still has a US CC and uses it in the UK but he took it out when he was resident in the US.

Thanks in advance for any responses to these queries.

Laura

[LauraDP 10]

What kind of research has your done into getting a Federal job?

At the moment, Chris is in the process of having his UK qualifications accredited for equivalence, which is necessary for him to do before applying for any jobs. He has also registered with USAjobs, made contact with people working in similar fields and contacted someone at an employment agency who work with federal departments and they have requested to look at his resume. We know that Chris will be qualified to work in the US using his UK professional qualifications so the accreditation is a necessary paper exercise. What we don't know yet is how relevant and appealing his experience is to the federal jobs market. We won't really be able to test that until he starts applying. It is too premature for him to start applying at this stage and we don't want to mess around testing the waters by putting in applications for jobs he is not going to be in a position to accept. Not only is that disrespectful to others but it could also burn bridges.

Basically we need to find some sort of "sweet spot" where Chris has enough time to be applying for lots of jobs in order to hopefully secure one but not start so early that he has to leave the five of us in the lurch and go out earlier than planned (which we cannot afford for him to do) nor do we want to leave the time so tight that we risk our five visas expiring before he has secured a job.

In short: it's a brain ache and a major source of stress.

[LauraDP 10]

Yes to the above. But having a whopper down-payment will make a huge difference with the bank's willingness to extend credit.

Thanks Rlogan.

We should be releasing quite a lot of equity from our house sale here in the UK so should be able to put a considerable down-payment on a mortgage. We plan to rent a much smaller place than we actually need (as we don't plan to be there long enough to have to unpack all our possessions) so as not to burn through too much of our money so hopefully we will have a large enough sum to be able to increase our contribution to the share of the mortgage (roughly 40% at least) and also keep the life of the mortgage as short as it is here in the UK - though we would be willing to extend it a little if necessary.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

At the moment, Chris is in the process of having his UK qualifications accredited for equivalence, which is necessary for him to do before applying for any jobs. He has also registered with USAjobs, made contact with people working in similar fields and contacted someone at an employment agency who work with federal departments and they have requested to look at his resume. We know that Chris will be qualified to work in the US using his UK professional qualifications so the accreditation is a necessary paper exercise. What we don't know yet is how relevant and appealing his experience is to the federal jobs market. We won't really be able to test that until he starts applying. It is too premature for him to start applying at this stage and we don't want to mess around testing the waters by putting in applications for jobs he is not going to be in a position to accept. Not only is that disrespectful to others but it could also burn bridges.

Basically we need to find some sort of "sweet spot" where Chris has enough time to be applying for lots of jobs in order to hopefully secure one but not start so early that he has to leave the five of us in the lurch and go out earlier than planned (which we cannot afford for him to do) nor do we want to leave the time so tight that we risk our five visas expiring before he has secured a job.

In short: it's a brain ache and a major source of stress.

I hear you on the brain ache part.

I hope your husband finds success. We have an entire department of the Federal government here in our area (The Bureau of the Public Debt) as well as regional offices of Social Security and the Internal Revenue Service. And, about 80 miles from here is the fingerprint facility of the FBI and the Regional sorting facility for the Postal Service. It is a very long process to get work with the Federal government, even if you have military preference. So from that perspective, I don't think there is going to be a "sweet spot" for your husband. When an opening comes up with the Feds, current employees have preference over people on the street. Of the "street hires", military personnel take preference. So this narrows the odds for "regular folks" considerably. In our area, even military personnel report interviewing for several different positions before being hired.

In my town, unless you have military preference you have slim hopes of finding government work. UNLESS you have a degree in accounting. I have an friend who was recently hired by Public Debt, and she has no military preference. She is a young woman with little work history and no prior experience in government. So, the Feds will hire off the street, but it depends on the needs of the particular unit (in my example, the name "Public Debt" tells you something about why they might need accountants).

The only time I have known their hiring practices to be different is in the case of opening up new facilities, especially Federal prisons. A prison opened about 200 miles from here, 2 years ago. I received recruiting emails from USAjobs at that time. Several emails. In fact, the location for the facility was chosen because the area it was located in has a high level of unemployment. So there is hope, if you are willing to go where the work is. I would have happily moved to that area for a Federal salary and benefits. But the Federal Prison system requires that you be under the age of 37 when hired (except for a few key positions) and I am beyond that age.

I don't know what your husbands skill set is. And I don't know if you are planning to move to a certain part of the US. But, in my opinion, if your plan hinges on a Federal job, you need to move to an area of the country where the Feds hire off the street from his profession. Personally, I feel you have little chance in landing here in the US with a Federal job in pocket unless you are willing to move anywhere in the US.

This isn't to say your husband won't eventually be able to find work in the Federal system. It's just that this is usually a long process.

PS - I just re-read your initial post and I don't understand "five visas". I think the only person needing a visa might be you?

Edited August 4, 2012 by Rebecca Jo

[Krikit 1,164]

There are quite a number of threads on this topic both in this forum and in the Canada forum. I will see if I can find one or two for you. A few points for you.... some of us have had the lender pull our Canadian credit records. It all depends on who you're dealing with as to whether they will do this or not. Some say they "can't" (they can) and others just won't. You just have to keep on trying until you find someone who is willing to do it.

Additionally, you can start building your credit by taking out store credit cards or an American Express card. You can apply in Britain and AE will transfer your credit history to the US once you move here.

I'll see if I can find these threads.