Anyway, I'll make a long story short. I've just moved to the country, and have realised that no-one would grant me any credit within the first 6 months, due to the lack of credit-information on myself...
Anyhow, As I have understood it, I need to be granted ie. a credit limit by a a credit-c. provider(and I have to used on it, and paid it back :)), before they even will make a credit file one me!. Is that right?!..
What company (other than CapitalOne) do you think would take me (a potential Risk-customer), and helping me building op the credit file!?...
I am not intenting to get into a lot of unpaid debth, but basicially wanna have the same tools here, as I had in Denmark.
Having settled here from the USA I understand your plight - you have my sympathies. Getting on our feet here took about a year. To get a bank account we had to have relatives 'introduce' us at their branch (as we were unemployed on first arrival). My wife had an HSBC account which had closed due to inactivity - they wouldn't reopen it for her.
Getting a UK credit card was a pain in the arse. The way I finally managed it was through MBNA. Both my wife and I have MBNA USA cards - for 7-8 years now. We failed credit checks here routinely, but after weeks of moaning we reached a human being in this hidden MBNA section 6 sublevel 9 who called MBNA USA and confirmed we had never missed a payment, etc. We were then sent cards (credit limit 900 or something like that).
So my suggestion - do any of your current bank cards from Denmark have representatives here? If so then maybe you can do what we did.
Other than that, the best bet seemed to get a credit card through the bank. After several months of our Natwest bank acct being open it was enough info on us for them to issue us a natwest visa. It's rates and benefits were horrible, but for our purposes it was fine.
Two years into life here we are now fully settled - with mortgage, loans, and a new baby girl. It takes time but eventually the powers that be are convinced that it is safe to take your money (in the form of interest, I mean).
There's a couple of things you can try to get onto the credit radar...
Some stores will give you a card if you can prove you have a salary and address with a low credit limit. Try applying for some of those. In Canada (as a recent expat from the UK) I got a sears card after a few months.
Secured credit cards let you build up a credit picture. You can put some money onto a visa card and then spend it. They send you a bill and you essentially pay yourself back. This then shows that you are a good credit risk (you can't make this stuff up ;-))
If there is a credit bureau in Denmark such as equifax then get your file and send a copy of that with all applications for credit
It's crazy that in this day and age when so many of us work abroad, your credit history, car insurance no claims etc vanishes whenever you move over a border.
These have always struck me as poor value for money, what with the arrangement fees. Given that these cards lead to no credit risk for the provider, there should be even less need for any arrangement fees than standard credit cards, which don't have any.....
I whole heartedly agree with you on that. But banks are in the business of screwing the consumer, err making a profit (yeah that's it). When someone's got no credit and want's to establish credit that's one of the best times to screw them.
Well that and when their mortgage comes up for renewal ;-)
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