Personal Loans in the UK

My wife and I moved to the UK in April of 2015 on a Tier 2 General visa (5 year length), with a view to get ILR and/or citizenship. We've got some US debt we'd like to consolidate so we can lower our payments, get a more favourable interest rate, and not have to worry about exchange rate fluctuations affecting how much we are paying each month.

I checked my UK credit score and it's not bad. I also make a decent wage each month. However, most places seem unwilling to lend to us either because we haven't been here long enough or because they don't want to lend for offshore purposes (a bit understandable on that front, at least). The main barrier, though, has been our length of stay in the UK.

Is it just a matter of wait until we have been here for X number of years? Or are there other options we can take? We're honestly just a bit lost in the whole lending system over here any ways so even just general advice would be welcome.

It takes a while to build up credit here (just as it does in the US).

If you have a US American Express account, call and complete the process to have it made into a UK account in GBP.

I was able to get a Capital One credit builder credit card after I was here for about a year.  It started with a £500 limit.  I would use it each month up to the limit and pay it off in full.  After about 6 months, they raised it to £1,100 and so on.

After a couple of years I was able to get a "one year zero interest" plan on furniture.

And after 5 years a mortgage.

It takes time but you'll get there eventually.  I would think it would be difficult to get a loan for unsecured foreign assets though.  I would also think it would be easier and more beneficial to receive a US consolidation loan?

Thanks for the advice I'll take that into account and look into that as an option.

We could apply for a consolidation loan in the US, but part of this was trying to move the debt out of USD to insulate us from exchange rate fluctuations. I just wasn't sure what other options we have. I've spoken to several of my British friends about it, but they can only provide a certain level of advice in this area since they aren't expats themselves.

Hi,

As per KFdancer's response, it will take some considerable time for you to build up your credit rating to higher levels, currently you are less than a year so it just simply isn't anywhere long enough. If your bank you are with here is willing to give you a loan, it'll be for a 'relatively' low amount - how much do you think you'd wish to borrow?

The potential issue you have is the next year or two looks 'bumpy' for the UK economy, and unfortunately over the last couple years or so, personal/unsecured loans and borrowing by the UK population on the whole is at very very high levels again and looking like one of the potential danger areas for the UK economy. This essentially means that lending criteria will tighten quite considerably I'd have thought as the year progresses.

My suggestion to you would perhaps to try to build up your credit over the next 1-2 years as best you can. Every 6 months or US debt level you wish to consolidate. Another issue is the fact the exchange rate has worsened to just £1 = $1.428 - great for USA people looking for spend over here, but worse for anyone looking to spend over there!

Depending on how much your USA debt level is, then do look at currency exchange specialists who can get better rates and that helps quite a significant amount when the figures are higher.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Our debt level is pretty high at the moment, unfortunately Just trying to get a handle on it.

We have some US lending options that we can pursue, but we'd rather not take them, as it involves getting secured loans using our relatively few assets.

I'll take a look at some low level credit cards to help build a better history and increase our lending options.

I really appreciate all of the advice! I honestly should have signed up for this forum a long time ago, as I used the guides on the site to help with our move.

I realise the economic situation may be different than 8 years ago when I moved over (that said, that was just after the crash of Northern Rock and all those other crashes), but I too was on a work permit seeking a personal loan. 
I first got a credit card (issued with the bank I had my current account with), with not a great interest rate, but worked.  I built that up for a good 6 months and then went for a personal loan with the same bank as the current account/credit card to pay off US debt and avoid those exchange rate headaches.  I was originally declined and I was gutted. But it turns out that my issue was that I was trying to get a loan for 5 years (out past the terms of my visa) for lower monthly payments.   Once I set it to 3 years, well within the terms of my visa I was accepted. Made my monthly outgoings for the next 3 years quite painful with high payments, but I paid off all my US credit card debt (which was quite huge for many reasons, with crazy interests rates, so was definitely worth getting the loan for).
Anyways, really, my aim was to give you hope that it can be done, with some persistence and patience. Good luck!   

Thanks so much! That's actually fairly similar to our situation, so it definitely helps to hear that someone has had similar dealings and been successful!

I'll definitely look at taking a small credit card out with my bank and see if I can use that to help out.