Are banks able to check your credit history / loans / mortgages in other countries?

munyt

Hi,

We've been living in Ireland for the last 8 years and we are no considering applying for a mortgage. Because we are not Irish, I'm wondering if banks would be interested in checking our credit history/activity in our home country. Does ICB collect data internationally?
Thank you!

by the seaside

I have been advised that my UK credit file will be checked.

seamus

Irish banks with branches in other jurisdictions will often be able to run credit checks in those jurisdictions. This will be explicitly stated in application forms.

miezekatze

I had to submit a credit check from my home country with my mortgage application.

The_Conductor

Its most common for an Irish bank to run checks in the UK- but over the last few years this has expanded significantly- and one of the major pillar banks now runs more checks in Poland/Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia (and attempts Hungary-without much success)- than they do the UK.

If you are an EU citizen- it is reasonable to expect credit checks will be carried out in other EU countries and Switzerland (who issue a large number of EU mortgages but targeted at specific countries- like the aforementioned Poland).......

If you have debts elsewhere- make a working presumption that they will be found. Try to hide them- and you'll end up with a black mark on your ICB rating.

xper

I'm open to correction but I believe ICB checks only look back five years. If your home country operates similarly, there'll be nothing to find after living 8 years here. On the other hand, non-disclosure looks really bad! Act accordingly.

by the seaside

The_Conductor wrote: »

Its most common for an Irish bank to run checks in the UK- but over the last few years this has expanded significantly- and one of the major pillar banks now runs more checks in Poland/Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia (and attempts Hungary-without much success)- than they do the UK.

If you are an EU citizen- it is reasonable to expect credit checks will be carried out in other EU countries and Switzerland (who issue a large number of EU mortgages but targeted at specific countries- like the aforementioned Poland).......

If you have debts elsewhere- make a working presumption that they will be found. Try to hide them- and you'll end up with a black mark on your ICB rating.

And of course if a fraudster has used your details to run up a debt, and a debt collection agency has decided to put a default on your credit file and they refuse to take action to rectify it, you are equally screwed.

munyt

Thank you all very much for your comments, you have helped me a lot!

by the seaside

Just a horrible thought while I'm trying to sort out the errors on my UK credit file. Do Irish letting agencies check credit files for rentals?

The_Conductor

by the seaside wrote: »

Just a horrible thought while I'm trying to sort out the errors on my UK credit file. Do Irish letting agencies check credit files for rentals?

Not as a rule- but it does happen on occasion.

by the seaside

The_Conductor wrote: »

Not as a rule- but it does happen on occasion.

Thanks.

munyt

I thought I'll post an answer that I've got to my question from one of the mortgage brokers. They told me that since we've been living in Ireland that long and if there are no visible transactions/ties between our local bank and one in our home country it's very unlikely that they would check our credit history there.

NIMAN

miezekatze wrote: »

I had to submit a credit check from my home country with my mortgage application.

Same here.

tharmor

I had to mention mortgage taken overseas(outside EU) which qualified me as second home buyer...if i would have hid it would that have mattered ?

munyt

NIMAN wrote: »

Same here.

can I ask you how long have you been living in Ireland? Where are you from?

munyt

tharmor wrote: »

I had to mention mortgage taken overseas(outside EU) which qualified me as second home buyer...if i would have hid it would that have mattered ?

we have a mortgage in our home country and so that's why I was wondering if that will be checked if we are to apply here. As far as I know second time buyers have to have 20% of deposit where first time buyers will do with 10% if buying for less than €220 000.

seamus

The bank you're dealing with here will run a credit check across every bank they're associated with in the EU.

That is, if you get a BOI mortgage, they'll run a credit check on you in BOI (UK), but obviously won't be able to see your HSBC Poland account.

miezekatze

munyt wrote:

can I ask you how long have you been living in Ireland? Where are you from?

I've been here just over 10 years anyway, and as soon as they heard I'm not Irish they asked me to submit a credit check from my home country (which is another EU country). I don't even have a bank account or anything over there anymore.

munyt

miezekatze wrote: »

I've been here just over 10 years anyway, and as soon as they heard I'm not Irish they asked me to submit a credit check from my home country (which is another EU country). I don't even have a bank account or anything over there anymore.

Did you go to any one specific bank or applied through the mortgage brokers? Did they ask for credit check even before approval in principal (I'm assuming you did get a mortgage)?

Terrontress

seamus wrote: »

The bank you're dealing with here will run a credit check across every bank they're associated with in the EU.

That is, if you get a BOI mortgage, they'll run a credit check on you in BOI (UK), but obviously won't be able to see your HSBC Poland account.

I'm not sure that BoI will check across their different businesses without an applicant's permission. I can't substantiate that with any proof, but the UK and Irish businesses are run quite separately.

As regards checks outside of a country, to check the ICB or any of the UK bureaux, you have to supply your data to them, so if the same applies with Poland, BoI would have to report all their Irish mortgages to Poland to enable them to check it on applications here.

So I'd guess it's not likely.

miezekatze

munyt wrote:

Did you go to any one specific bank or applied through the mortgage brokers? Did they ask for credit check even before approval in principal (I'm assuming you did get a mortgage)?

AIB, and I had to supply it for approval in principle. I guess other banks might not ask for it though. It really wasn't a big deal though, getting a credit check is fairly quick and easy and then you just submit it?! Got a mortgage no problem then.

NIMAN

munyt wrote: »

can I ask you how long have you been living in Ireland? Where are you from?

From NI, work in NI but AIB wanted a credit check from UK to make sure I hadn't been declared bankrupt or had any bad debts.

shugy

munyt wrote: »

Hi,

We've been living in Ireland for the last 8 years and we are no considering applying for a mortgage. Because we are not Irish, I'm wondering if banks would be interested in checking our credit history/activity in our home country. Does ICB collect data internationally?
Thank you!

I think they do, not years ago but now with so much movement i think its changed

The_Conductor

Standard is now to backtrack on any incoming or outgoing payments in the SEPA area- where a simple report is furnished by the originating/destination financial institution. Its not definitive- but a good indicator- and if anything is flagged- they have the option of doing a credit report- however, what tends to happen is the loan request is simply denied, without a formal check having occurred.

Marcusm

munyt wrote: »

we have a mortgage in our home country and so that's why I was wondering if that will be checked if we are to apply here. As far as I know second time buyers have to have 20% of deposit where first time buyers will do with 10% if buying for less than €220 000.

If you have not disclosed your home country mortgage and it turns up on a credit check you have more to worry about than simply being denied a mortgage, you could, if the bank reported it, be charged with an offence (ie a crime). If you do disclose the foreign mortgage, I would expect the bank to both take it into account in any mortgage offer and to seek credit reports from that country.

munyt

Marcusm wrote: »

If you have not disclosed your home country mortgage and it turns up on a credit check you have more to worry about than simply being denied a mortgage, you could, if the bank reported it, be charged with an offence (ie a crime). If you do disclose the foreign mortgage, I would expect the bank to both take it into account in any mortgage offer and to seek credit reports from that country.

I do understand that, and I would never give false information, but if I understood the broker correctly, they were advising not to give information that banks are not asking for, meaning if they don't ask if you have another mortgage, don't mention it...

Marcusm

munyt wrote: »

I do understand that, and I would never give false information, but if I understood the broker correctly, they were advising not to give information that banks are not asking for, meaning if they don't ask if you have another mortgage, don't mention it...

I'm not aware of any lender (bank or other) which does not ask you for a statement of your net income taking account of all loan payment obligations plus statements supporting all other claimed borrowings, whether car loans, credit cards, personal loans and other home loans. If you cannot see why this is required and why full disclosure is required, you might want to think again. In Ireland, it is an offence to seek to obtain a loan through a misdisclosure of your financial position - section 7 Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences ) Act 2001.

While blind eyes have been cast in the past to overstatement of income and banks may have been lax in asking broad enough questions about other indebtedness, you can be sure that those procedures have been tightened up over the past 7 years.

While there is unlikely to be any prosecution, you would give the bank free cause to terminate the loan early.

I would expect you were asked to provide:

Recent statement of ALL loans outstanding including mortgage statement

NIMAN

I'd be very surprised if when applying for a mortgage the bank won't ask you "do you currently have another mortgage on a property in Ireland or abroad". Very surprised.

El_Dangeroso

AIB ask for a credit check from any foreign country you have lived in. I was asked for one for Australia, but as I had not lived there longer than a year they waived it.