Ways to Establish Credit in the UK

I thought of this thread when I was on the bus today and passed a Brighthouse. Does anyone know ig their weekly payment scheme may help establish credit? I really have no idea but the thought occured to me that it may be a way to get something on your credit report.

That said, I went into the bank one day because I had overdrawn my accound by about 3 pounds and wasn't sure what I should do about it and the lady at the counter asked me why I didn't get a credit card for every day purchases in order to prevent this from happening. I ended up going to a back room and leaving with a credit card applied for (ended up with stupid credit, too--<7k£) and an overdraft on my account. I was only about 6 months into my FLR and the man who was processing me said he wasn't sure why the system was allowing me to do these things (they usually require ILR). So it may just be worth going in and checking with your bank, although I assume I just got stupidly lucky.

I thought of this thread when I was on the bus today and passed a Brighthouse. Does anyone know ig their weekly payment scheme may help establish credit? 

Yes, it would likely report on a credit file here.  But, and this is a big but - that is one of the most expensive ways of taking out credit there is!  You can buy a TV (or whatever) for a he££a cheaper in a short period of time, than you would doing it weekly through an outfit like Brighthouse.  Proceed with much caution.  (not something I would advise)

To add my recent experience to the mix - Orange transferred me from pay-as-you-go to a monthly contract this week with absolutely no problems or down payments.  As I have no credit history, I just needed to bring in a recent bank statement that had at least 5 transactions on it, and I walked out with a new (free) iPhone and a contract.  I'm spending more every month than I normally would as PAYG, but if it puts me on the right track to establishing some credit, then it's worth it.  Plus gives me something to do on my 40 minute bus commute to work =)

And on a banking note, I walked into a Lloyds a few days after arriving with my fiance visa and they had no hesitation about opening a currently account, even though I had no income.  After doing a lot of research, they seem to be one of the only banks that will open a new resident an account for free.  For anyone having trouble with getting a bank account, definitely check out their website.

To add my recent experience to the mix - Orange transferred me from pay-as-you-go to a monthly contract this week with absolutely no problems or down payments.  As I have no credit history, I just needed to bring in a recent bank statement that had at least 5 transactions on it, and I walked out with a new (free) iPhone and a contract.  I'm spending more every month than I normally would as PAYG, but if it puts me on the right track to establishing some credit, then it's worth it.  Plus gives me something to do on my 40 minute bus commute to work =)

Also to say that Orange can put you on a monthly contract that establishes credit but has no long term (you can cancel at anytime with 30 days notice).  I don't even have a current account here (only a savings) and they put the deduction on my husband's current account but put the contract in my name so it reports for me.  All I needed to do was bring in my passport and a bill in my name (can't use British Gas for whatever reason but any other utility is fine).

Also the Brighthouse thing might not be a bad idea if you are getting something small that is fairly cheap (like a fairly inexpensive piece of furniture or something like that).

I'm thinking of applying for an Argos card as I've now lived here for more than 12 months.  We shop there all the time (like once a month or more) and if I had a card and then paid it off in full each month (using it only to buy the things we would normal buy with cash) then that should help. 

I've been really bad and I haven't taken any steps in the past year to actually establish any credit but in my defense I've been kinda busy.   

Also to say that Orange can put you on a monthly contract that establishes credit but has no long term (you can cancel at anytime with 30 days notice).  I don't even have a current account here (only a savings) and they put the deduction on my husband's current account but put the contract in my name so it reports for me.  All I needed to do was bring in my passport and a bill in my name (can't use British Gas for whatever reason but any other utility is fine).

I've been on a rolling 30-day contract with them for almost a year - good to know that it might actually be helping my credit!

Also the Brighthouse thing might not be a bad idea if you are getting something small that is fairly cheap (like a fairly inexpensive piece of furniture or something like that).

I inadvertently ended up with a £125 line of credit with a (mainly) clothing catalog.  All I was trying to do was make an online wish list!  But anyhow...

It's not the sort of thing I'd usually do, either, but I think at some point I'll probably order a couple of things on the line of credit, and then pay them off right away, just to get something on my credit report. 

I also accidently got store credit with a clothing company recently - Next. I basically just bought something online and was given credit in the process.

Also I just transfered my US Amex card to a UK card.

I haven't seen anyone say on this thread what was told to me and it worked.

Credit is based primarily from the electoral role.  As a US Citizen, I am not eligible to be on the electoral role. I was told to contact one of all three of the major credit profiling companies and they would tell me what to do.

So, I signed up for the 30 days free credit monitoring website that Experian offers, called them up and they said to me: Send us an email writing a brief letter saying:  "I am a US citizen, not eligible to be on the electoral role".

I did that, and two months later, applied for two low limit credit cards with Capital One and Barclaycard and was accepted for both!!  Very straightforward and easy.

Hope that helps others out there.

So, I signed up for the 30 days free credit monitoring website that Experian offers, called them up and they said to me: Send us an email writing a brief letter saying:  "I am a US citizen, not eligible to be on the electoral role".

I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread before, but it has been mentioned on the forum. Basically, being on the electoral roll is an easy identification verification thing for credit. If you're not on it, that's a red flag. If you're on it, even just in the very basic "not eligible due to lack of citizenship", that red flag is gone.

I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread before, but it has been mentioned on the forum. Basically, being on the electoral roll is an easy identification verification thing for credit. If you're not on it, that's a red flag. If you're on it, even just in the very basic "not eligible due to lack of citizenship", that red flag is gone.

Yes, exactly.  That's why I thought it was strange that no one in this thread had mentioned this. People are talking about getting credit through mobile phone contracts and accidentally getting a store card of some kind, but the electoral role route is the ONLY route that I have read that is the official way of establishing credit in the UK.

Just getting on the electoral roll (not role) doesn't establish credit, you still need to do the same sorts of things that would build credit in the US to actually build a credit history. I came into the country back in 2003, and I've never done the electoral roll thing, but I managed to get a mobile phone contract when I first arrived and 2 credit cards with decent limits, so it's not the only way.

Just getting on the electoral roll (not role) doesn't establish credit, you still need to do the same sorts of things that would build credit in the US to actually build a credit history. I came into the country back in 2003, and I've never done the electoral roll thing, but I managed to get a mobile phone contract when I first arrived and 2 credit cards with decent limits, so it's not the only way.

This. The electoral roll isn't a make-or-break thing, but if you have absolutely no credit history AND no record in the electoral roll, you're starting off with negative points (why aren't you on the electoral roll?). If you get the credit agencies to add the note about why you can't register for the electoral roll, you end up back at neutral. The way to get into positive credit history is to establish good credit patterns.

FWIW, I've been on the electoral roll since I first moved here, and still got denied for a "geared at people with bad/no credit history" card. (I've had a transferred-from-US AmEx for almost a year, but I checked my credit history a few weeks ago and there's nothing on it, so I don't know if they're reporting my good credit with them  .) I successfully got a card about a month ago at my bank, but that was after being a customer of theirs for over a year.

Yes, in order to build your credit history, there needs to be credit building activities.  The electoral poll is based on verifying who you are and where you live.  That's a big chunk, but not the whole thing.

Having a mobile contract does help. It establishes a "I have to pay this monthly" pattern.  My phone is currently on my husband's account but after a while, I will be able to switch it from his name to mine.  Check with the company, they may tell you how to go about it.

As far as the bank account.  I also opened mine up with Lloyds.  I made sure I said that my husband was an account holder and that I wanted to be in the same bank.  She said I needed my Passport and my Wedding Certificate.  Then she asked me if I was going to be looking for work. I said yes.  She asked if this account would be the one to receive my paychecks. I said yes.   That was it.  I've since then opened a savings account as well.

Those small loans are also a good way to get your credit score up quickly.  Whether a store card, catalog card, or installment loan. it doesn't have to be huge and you don't need to spend alot.

I have had Barclaycard for yonks -- from my previous "life" but they didn't have PIN's back then. Will I have trouble getting the PIN?

Time and good financial behavior seems to help.  After being with Lloyd's for nearly a year - never going near a zero balance and making small but regular transfers into a savings account - and 5 months of regular paycheck direct deposits, they called me out of the blue yesterday and offered me a credit card!  A bit of a high interest rate compared to what I was used to in the States, but as I plan to pay it off every month, I'm not concerned.  I'll even earn miles, which I didn't expect from a first card.

I'm also in the process of requesting that Experian add a note to my account regarding the Electoral Roll, which will hopefully help with future applications.  I tried the other agencies, but as don't have 3 years of UK addresses, I couldn't sign up.  I'd rather have the note everywhere, but one is start.

There doesn't seem to be one magic way to establish credit, rather a few small things that you can do to break though.  I'm hoping with enough of these small steps I can establish enough of a history to tackle the next big credit challenge -getting a mortgage 

Good luck everyone!