Credit In Ones Home Country

[tb86]

So this is a question for the long term crowd, i have been in thailand for 2 years now, with no plans to return home anytime soon, what happens to your credit at home if your gone for say 10 years, as i have no bank accounts under my name in the us no credit cards, nothing... If i was to return home after a long period of time i am assuming my credit would go back to nothing, or look very strange to those that would want to look at it, any experience in this matter?

[Chaimai]

So this is a question for the long term crowd, i have been in thailand for 2 years now, with no plans to return home anytime soon, what happens to your credit at home if your gone for say 10 years, as i have no bank accounts under my name in the us no credit cards, nothing... If i was to return home after a long period of time i am assuming my credit would go back to nothing, or look very strange to those that would want to look at it, any experience in this matter?

You would go back to zero.

I only have direct experience of the UK but advice to anyone staying long-term abroad is to maintain a UK bank account, credit card and address if at all possible. This will give distinct advantages if someone later decides to return 'home'.

[GuestHouse]

So this is a question for the long term crowd, i have been in thailand for 2 years now, with no plans to return home anytime soon, what happens to your credit at home if your gone for say 10 years, as i have no bank accounts under my name in the us no credit cards, nothing... If i was to return home after a long period of time i am assuming my credit would go back to nothing, or look very strange to those that would want to look at it, any experience in this matter?

You would go back to zero.

I only have direct experience of the UK but advice to anyone staying long-term abroad is to maintain a UK bank account, credit card and address if at all possible. This will give distinct advantages if someone later decides to return 'home'.

Sound advice - I'd only add use your home based accounts and credit cards occasionally to demonstrate they are still active.

[sassienie]

I can only speak about the UK.

In England, debts are written off after 6 years if the creditors cannot find you, or in the case of a mortgage, 12 years, providing monies were not borrowed by giving false information or deception.

But these things have a way of coming back and biting, so best to clear up these matters prior to leaving the home country.

[ukrules]

In the UK I would say one of the most important things is to maintain an electoral roll presence if you intend to return at some point, without this you will not be able to get credit anywhere apart from your own bank if you kept the account going.

I'm speaking from experience, I kept a bank account going for years while I was living away from the UK. When I returned I tried to get a new mobile phone and was turned down due to the fact that I had been living abroad and was not listed on the electoral roll. Luckily I still had another contract that had been running the whole time I was away.

I went to buy a car on HP and was turned down for a £20,000 HP agreement. The following day I walked into my bank branch and got an instant unsecured loan for £20,000. So it appears that banks rely on their own account information and everyone else on electoral roll / published credit reference data.