Checking UK credit from US? Plus dealing w/bad credit?

Hi all!

I'm a USC and DH is a UKC and we're planning a move back to the UK. Before DH came here he was a young bachelor and a bit reckless financially. He owes somewhere between £1000 - £2000. We know that the debt is now in collections but that's all we know. He's been here for 4 years now and has excellent US credit, never having missed a payment on anything (I'm in charge  ). I use annualcreditreport.com to get our free reports once per year and I know there's a UK branch of the site but it won't allow me to request his report without a UK address and credit card. Anyone know how/where I can get around this?

Also, I'm just generally concerned about his bad credit and where that will leave us in terms if setting up a bank account and renting property. I will do my best to find a private property owner and will bring US credit histories and our previous landlords' contact info. We will also pay off these debts immediately either upon arrival or if we can get the information, before we go. I have heard that it can be difficult to open a bank account with bad credit?

I recommend this book for sorting out finances from a British perspective. It's very readable and easy to follow and explains how to clean up your credit rating, among many other useful things:


The main credit reporting agencies here are Experian http://www.experian.co.uk/ and Equifax www.equifax.co.uk. You can pay a small fee for a credit report from these two agencies to understand your current credit rating and what you need to do to correct it. If you have county court judgements, this is useful:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/CourtClaimsAndBankruptcy/DG_10013083

Hope that helps.