Bad credit in Uk but in France ?????????

[Brian Field]

Hi all following a very messy divorce in the Uk i've deceided to move to france, being half french i thought it would give me a fresh start.

The trouble is here in the uk i've received bad credit rating ( part of the divorce reason) would this affect me in france and starting again from fresh.

Any help on this matter would be great as i have been trying to find out for 3 weeks.

Regards Brian

[Will]

The problem as I see it is that if you open a French bank account or similar, as you would need to do in order to live in France, they would need evidence of identity, current and former address etc (just as they do in Britain - the money laundering rules are the same wherever you are). Problems from the past would come to light if they did a credit check on you.

Chances are that if you just want a basic bank account - no loans, mortgage, overdraft etc - then unless you gave good reason for suspicion they wouldn't do a credit check. So as long as you didn't repeat whatever you did in the past, you would be OK.

Commiserations - I know from years back how a divorce can make a big hole in the bank balance (and often the credit situation).

[Cat]

As Will says, you should be able to open a bank account without too many problems. 

I see from another thread that you have posted to that you are searching for a long-term let in France.  There have been several threads recently about  the problems members have had with long-term tenants and payment of rent.  In view of this it might perhaps be difficult to find someone willing to rent to you without good proof of your ability to pay.

[Llwyncelyn]

I join in with Will's comments for as a lawyer I went through a very very messy divorce and one of the Partners in a provincial practice that was very know to me was instructed by my then wife and who had the benefit of legal aid........with legal aid then being available. How she obtained legal aid is and was beyond the scope of any logical thinking and that it was public money is another argument.

Before I knew it cautions had been placed upon investment properties my love a lovely home overlooking the Dart in Dartmouth was also out of bounds for me and bluntly I was shafted.  In fairness I was the one who in part had caused the problem so my late Father used to say if you caused the mess then clear it up and be seen that you have cleared it up.

I have a lot of sympathy with you and hopefully you will by-pass the system of controls here in France

However try not to let it happen again its costly and in more terms than money.

rdgs

[jxedwards]

About 15 years ago I tried to raise money to buy a yacht via what is known as a marine mortgage. Initially had no luckdespite having a well paid job and money in the bank. Transpires I had a CCJ against me for a debt I had already paid. It appears even in hose days banks/credit companies look no further than the check boxes on their PC's!!!! It cost me 200 pounds in lawyers fees to get the debt removed before I could obtain a marine mortgage. If you do have a CCJ against you then it is possible to get this removed if the CCJ has been cleared. This may or may not be your case.

Alas the yacht has gone replaced by a property in the Lot. Wife always suffered seasickness in the Bristol channel, good enough reason for divorce I thought. Anyway when we opened our French bank account with CA (and the resulting mortgage) all we had to produce was passport, utility bills, and bank statements and proof of income from the UK. I do not think they ran a credit check but will stand corrected if there are any persons wiser out there.

Hope this info helps you and good luck.

 

John

[Sunday Driver]

English banks do not do credit checks to identify any French, Dutch or Bulgarian bad debts.  Similarly, French banks do not have access to the UK credit reference agencies.........[;-)]

 

[Will]

Probably true, though I wouldn't bank on it (sorry about the pun). They can and do look for things like CCJs, information on which is readily avaialable.

[TheLeeFamily]

Hi, we too had bad credit when we moved over. When we opened a bank account we gave them old address etc.. and straight away we were given an overdraft, cheque book etc. Not once has our credit history from the uk reared its ugly head, and weve been here 18 months.

good luck.

[Will]

I think that because credit is regarded so differently in France compared with many other countries, and it is actually rather more difficult to get into financial difficulties, then banks etc are probably less bothered about checking. Though having said that, I do know that in certain parts of France the British do, unfortunately, have a reputation for bad debts and all incomers from Britain are treated with a degree of suspicion as a result. I can understand that - a fair few of them seem to be on the run from debtors, the revenue etc and know they stand a good chance of not being traced in France.

[chessfou]

[quote]I do know that in certain parts of France the British do,

unfortunately, have a reputation for bad debts and all incomers from

Britain are treated with a degree of suspicion as a result.[Will][/quote]

Yes, I think that had much to do with our being required (despite perfect credit history and a UK bank manager's effulgent letter) to set up a bank guarantee for a year's (negotiated down from two) rent, which basically meant finding a French bank that could/would do this (our French bank did not have this facility) and kindly look after that sum for a year, paying a derisory rate of interest and charging a not inconsiderable fee for doing so.

The manager of the estate agency at the time made specific mention of a British couple who had recently signed a rental contract, moved in but then moved out again (with no notice but dropping off the keys - how kind) and disappeared.

[Brian Field]

Thanks for all the replys, the reason i have bad credit is i worked away from home and my then wife so fit to get loans secured and non secured in my name. thus when i found out a divorce followed. many other reasons apply to this dirvorce but non my fault realy. But i was not able to prove my wife was the person who got the loans and not me.so that made me liable for the debt.

[londoneye]

i have a friend (genuinely not me !) in a similar situation, and he had no problems opening account here - literally walked into a bank and made an appointment.   They did say they would do a credit check, but whether they did or not i cannot say, but there were no problems.

I am not sure what the rules are about actually being tax resident in france in order to open an account, or whether you could, for example, open an account on the basis that you, for example, come here often on holiday, or rent for the summer.      Might be worth trying to find out what the rules are.   If it were possible you could then try to open an account before you got too far down the road with your plans ... at least you would know then.      

Many people get themselves into financial difficulties and i can only imagine how you must be made to feel about the situation at times - i have always thought it was along the lines of having a nervous breakdown - happens to loads of people but somehow no-one wants to talk about it.

Good luck

 

[Will]

Many French banks will allow you to open a compte étranger, for which you will need to supply evidence of identity and address, and your tax details from your home country.

[Gastines]

Rules must vary or at least how the banks apply them. When we first opened an account over here, we were asked to show copies of our UK bank accounts etc,. This was just to open an ordinary account not to borrow etc.

Regards.

[Beryl]

[quote user="Brian Field"]Thanks for all the replys, the reason i have bad credit is i worked away from home and my then wife so fit to get loans secured and non secured in my name. thus when i found out a divorce followed. many other reasons apply to this dirvorce but non my fault realy. But i was not able to prove my wife was the person who got the loans and not me.so that made me liable for the debt.[/quote]

I don't understand how that could have happened Brian or rather why you can't  prove these loans were taken out without your consent or knowledge. That is what I think you are implying has happened.  Signatures etc must have been needed and if 'yours' have appeared, then it could be investigated as fraud. Though I appreciate that you might not want to go down that path.

What you can do is write to all the credit reference agencies and have a Notice of Disassociation placed on your credit file, this being an up to 400 word statement in which you can explain to anyone viewing your file that from a certain date you have financially distanced yourself from your ex wife. Obviously you cannot put anything libellous in this statement but it can be a useful exercise.

[Jc]

French banks don't have the same problems as UK because you don't write cheques if you don't have funds or if you do,you no longer have an account!!

[Georgina]

Yes, maybe it was a while ago that she took the money in your name, but in England now they are very strict about married couples and separating who pays for what, as regards credit cards etc. This was something that drove me mad in England when I sorted out all the finances, my husband would have to speak on the phone to verify his permission, even though the money was coming out of a joint account.  I think things changed significantly a few years ago with regards to ensuring that married couples were not able to deal with their spouse's credit cards etc. even if you were paying them off. Really frustrating was that in order that they did not misinterprete the rules, they just refuse to speak to you before they even know what you want to say, but the really stupid bit was that I could have put any man on the phone who I said was my husband, and that would have been okay (never quite got that deep voice impersonation off).[:D]

So are we saying (original posted excepted) that all those owing thousands, can escape to France "Biggs" style, or have been doing so far?

Georgina

[Brian Field]

[quote user="beryl"]

[quote user="Brian Field"]Thanks for all the replys, the reason i have bad credit is i worked away from home and my then wife so fit to get loans secured and non secured in my name. thus when i found out a divorce followed. many other reasons apply to this dirvorce but non my fault realy. But i was not able to prove my wife was the person who got the loans and not me.so that made me liable for the debt.[/quote]

I don't understand how that could have happened Brian or rather why you can't  prove these loans were taken out without your consent or knowledge. That is what I think you are implying has happened.  Signatures etc must have been needed and if 'yours' have appeared, then it could be investigated as fraud. Though I appreciate that you might not want to go down that path.

What you can do is write to all the credit reference agencies and have a Notice of Disassociation placed on your credit file, this being an up to 400 word statement in which you can explain to anyone viewing your file that from a certain date you have financially distanced yourself from your ex wife. Obviously you cannot put anything libellous in this statement but it can be a useful exercise.

[/quote]

Hi my ex-wife could get my signature down to a great copy, and did often with my knowledge. But also did on several loans without my knowledge. its hard to deny when the signature is exact same as what i do myself. when i told the companys i worked away from home and could prove it with dates it did not matter. as they said i could have signed the forms while at home on weekends.

[Beryl]

Loan companies just want their loans repaid. If you feel strongly about it I would involve the police, if not I would certainly get a notice of disassociation put on your credit file, as it is free to do and credit reference agencies do check your previous 5 years worth of addresses. I realise that you are hoping to move to France for a fresh start, but I would still try and tidy up loose ends at home, just in case things don't go to plan in France.

Good luck with your move and I hope things get better for you [:)]

[katy1975]

If the loans are in your name then the notice of disassociation will not be of much help as this is for disassociating someone with an ex who has bad credit. You can however just include a statement on your your credit file explaining your situation, although in my experience this doesn't do much good.

The only way to really dispute the debts would be to include the police (as Beryl mentioned), however this can be a difficult thing to do in this kind of case.