Might be a *little* premature, however...

I am SO pleased for you, and your sanity!

L
xx

Fabulous news!

Great, great news Lindsay. Good luck at WF this afternoon. We use them - can't fault them. Keep me in the loop. Good luck! x

Wow! Wishing you all the best of luck with your mortgage people today and keeping everything crossed that very soon you'll be moving into a home of your own.......free from the in laws!! ?

Yay - that's wonderful news.

Really pleased for you - hope it all works out

I SO hope this comes off for you xx

I have everything crossed xx

Oooh fingers crossed for you. I have a fairly normal MIL and couldn't live with her for more than a long weekend so I admire your strength for the last 2+ years.

Fab news! Hope it went well with the mortgage people.

Oh I hope it works for you - fingers crossed!

I remember how excited you were about moving over to America, when you had plans for a vintage style clothes shop, and then how horribly disappointed you were when it all went wrong. You definitely deserve some good luck now, for managing as long as you have without killing somebody!

I'll keep this brief, for fear of rambling.

Short version, we cant get a mortgae, as we have no credit in the US (fine) and we havent been in the UK enough so no credit it there either. We are stuck now in a catch 22 situation, as we have not been able to build up credit here, due to the Visa we are on.

We are horribly disapointed..H hasnt spoken to me since last night about it, his parents are avoiding talking to us and I honestly dont know what we are going to do now. We can't even move out and rent an apartment becasue, you guessed it, no credit!

Thanks anyway to everyone who had their fingers crossed..

Oh no. It wont fix it short term but get to your bank and get a credit card. Ours do a type where a certain amount is held in an escrow account and if you pay off your bill every month it isnt touched. Its the quickest way to get credit.

Thanks GW, but we are not allowed a credit card till his visa change is complete..which is sometime in the next (?) months..Its what we will do when we can though..

Getting credit over here is so bloody difficult. We couldn't get a washing machine on credit when we first arrived as without a good credit rating, you can't get credit. So how the f'ing hell do you get credit if you can't get credit?!

You have my sympathy Ethel as I know how much you wanted and needed this.

From our experience, get store cards. Put credit on them and pay them off each month. Get a car loan - any type of loan - as much as you're able to. It all goes towards your credit rating.

Being debt-free here doesn't work unfortunately.

Now we have a mortgage, a few credit cards and 2 car loans, they're throwing money at us. Thanks, but no thanks! Thing is, it's bloody hard work to get to this stage, so I know what you're going through.

I'm so, so sorry. Don't stop trying though. I'll ask around for you as there are ways round this. So I've been told. Don't lose the dream x

Argh, how annoying and frustrating for you

Oh Ethel that really is pants.

The credit situation over here just makes things so difficult.

That sucks.

I can tell you how I built a A1 credit score in less than a year if you are interested:

1. Get a Discover card - they will give one to anyone they are far less picky than any of the other companies. Make a list of places that will let you use it (not many) and use it and pay off regularly. You shouldn't need a change in visa status to get one - they are so not picky its unbelievable!

2. if they will let you, ask the outlaws to transfer one of the utility bills to your name - gas, electric phone - doesn't matter what. They all report to the credit bureaus.

3. Get a car loan. Even if you don't need one. Rates are low right now - get a loan at 3% and invest the money instead. This really helped me a lot. Get the outlaws to countersign it if necessary.

4. After 6 months of Discover card, you will have people lining up to lend you money on bigger credit cards. Get a couple and use them.

5. Don't get a PAYG phone - get a real one with a contract. Put some credit ont he account in the beginning if that is the only way they will give you one.

Hope this is some help. As much as the US is horrible to overseas people in terms of credit, its actually really easy to build credit ratings fast. I wish you had posted this a year ago as you'd be in a much better position now!

Also, with the mortgage, have you tried some smaller credit unions? They are often more flexible than the big banks. Also, is it an option to have the outlaws guarantee the mortgage, or would that open up a whiole new set of problems?