"International credit report" for French nationals?

Question

I'm a French National married to a US citizen, and we're looking into buying a house in Florida. Does anybody out there knows of a anything akin to an international credit report for a French national? I know the UK has such a system now, maybe others too in the EU, but I have never heard of any such thing in France. We have no debt and never had any in the past, we pay everything cash (if we can't pay cash, we don't buy it!), I have a decent income but it is neither generated nor paid in the US, and therefore it would seem as though my creditworthiness is not even worth peanuts here, thus making lenders not capable/willing to work with us, even if we plan on putting 40 to 50% down for a house purchase. Can anyone think of some creative way around this issue???

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm not aware that any US bank has any way to access your credit rating in France (especially as you basically don't have one!).

In the US, banks are not the only way to get finance for a home. In many regions, there are plenty of "owner financed" or "Owner will carry" homes. For these, the previous owner will provide a private mortgage for the balance if you have a large (25%+) downpayment. No strict lending rules, no fancy credit scoring systems, just a large enough downpayment so they know they'll get their money back if they have to foreclose. For the seller, it's a way to shift a house that is hard to sell plus get a regular income.

Often this mortgage is for only 3-10 years, but that gives you the time to establish more credit and then refinance. Maybe the interest rate is a little higher also, but again it's just until you can refinance to something better (or sell other assets then pay the loan off quick).

For new homes, the builders/developers may offer similar finance. For both owner-will-carry and developer finance, a large deposit will trump any credit rating concerns. There is usually a simplified foreclosure process, so they're not really taking much of a risk, so can afford to be flexible.

Make sure the owner mortgage is via a title company, trust company, or escrow company, so that there's a third party involved to ensure each party lives up to their obligations.