Credit to society

The game of credit is not always fair – and, for some, getting a loan of any kind can be almost impossible. Julianne Dowling explains how becoming creditworthy can change everything.

Say you’ve been overseas for several years – maybe working, maybe not. And when you come home, you want to resume your life and buy a car or get a loan. Trouble is, the banks probably don’t want to know you. You may even have trouble renting an apartment. And when it comes to getting a new credit card, you fail.

Suddenly, you feel like a stranger in a strange land. What’s going on? Getting into debt is one thing; just getting credit is another. If you’re a newcomer to our country or a mum without two years of tax returns, the situation may be worse.

Three and a half years ago, Swedish-born Susanne Ridolfi migrated to Australia with her Australian-born husband Ray and two sons. The couple had estabalished a network of Oriental medicine training franchises throughout the UK, and on arriving in Australia set up BodyDynamics, a wellbeing consultancy.

Susanne says the biggest shock she encountered was the attitude of the banks and financial institutions. “It was surprising, considering how much work you have to do to get into this country – with criminal and medical checks – that nobody would give us a credit card or a mortgage. Even though we had migrated with substantial financial resources and a successful business generating a six-figure income, no-one wanted to know about us.

“All our banking was in the UK and we hadn’t transferred it, so we were operating from English accounts for the first six months and used online banking to make transfers to an account here,” she says. “We had to wait at least two years before they would even consider looking at us for finance. We were forced to use our international charge cards. To get a Visa card, we had to work with our accountant to get acceptance from a bank,” she says.

“After a year, we decided to keep renting and invest in a serviced apartment. Getting an investment loan was difficult, because Ray had been away for twenty years and we had no employment record here. So, we had to get a Lo Doc loan with a higher interest rate.” 

Understanding the fine print
Jo* had a similar experience when she came across the Tasman to take an exciting role with a marketing group. Despite her employer’s sponsorship, she found that the major banks were not keen to give her finance for a car – even opening a bank account was an issue.

She says she was surprised that access to credit and bank accounts seemed so difficult to get, even though financial institutions could crosscheck with her New Zealand bank.

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