Mortgage question

[MelC]

Hello

I currently own a home in my own name. I recently got married in December to a UK citizen. He just got his US residency and next week is going to get a Social Security number (so he can get a drivers license. Luckily his UK license has been transferable but now he needs a US one).

Anyway, we are looking to buy another house together next year. Should he get a credit card now to start building his credit? He has great credit in the UK but I dont think that credit will reflect on any US credit reports?
Do you think his lack of credit here in the states will affect his chances of getting a mortgage?

My credit is good but basically we want to use our combined income to get a bigger house, rather than just my income. Maybe they wont even have to pull his credit but still use his income?

Thanks

[Seeker]

Interesting question. It sounds as if both of you are working ???

If yes, then once he has his SS card, he should probably open a US bank account. Then he could and maybe should, apply for a credit card and pay off any charges in full as soon as the payment is due.

If he's not working, then I'd recommend that he get some job and get some savings organized before getting into CCs.

Another alternative is your adding him to one of your CC accounts.... and after a year of good solid habits, his "history" will grow rapidly.

I don't believe his UK credit would be available to US authorities ; as such, he'd be starting anew in this country.

You're last paragraph is true. They will "pull" both your credit histories (of which he will not have a very good history after only being in the country for 1 year) but, I think they will look more (assign more weight) to the combined income and expenses in order to determine whether the two of you qualify to purchase the amount of home that you're looking at.

Have a good amount of down-payment saved and that will help make you two look good on paper for the remainder of mortgage.

[Herbert]

Hi,

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[MelC]

Interesting question. It sounds as if both of you are working ???
.

Thanks Seeker. Yes he's working. Owns his own company out of UK. He owns a flat in the UK. He has wonderful credit in the UK, hopefully you are right that they will look closely at income more than a baby credit history.

[jimmyengland]

i am from england and i went thru this exact situation (marrying a woman from the usa). what i did was first i went onto my wifes cc and then a few months later i got my own cc. I used both credit cards sparingly but i ran small balances on both (under 100$) just so i was paying a little interest to show that i could make payments. About a yr or so later we went to get a house and my fico score was 710. so if he does the samething he should be fine..... im not sure if they do have access to your credit info from the uk or not bcos to me it seems a little strange that i would have such a high credit ranking with one yr of history.... but i did not ask questions and just ran with it.

Just an FYI the biggest problem we had when we went to get a mortgage was me being able to prove that I was going to be here permanently as at this point i was still on the k1 visa with work authorization and i did not yet have my green card.... just something for you to consider.