Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Just wondered what people's thoughts on this were and if they think it is possible?

This is what I was thinking.

I am currently going through the process of immigrating to Canada with my Canadian gf through the sponsorship process as common law partners.
Now, I have an American Express in the UK and will be getting an American Express without any problems in Canada through their global assist programme (it's basically a programme that allows American Express to consider your uk credit rating, enabling you to get a card easily in another country).

Anyway, we already have an address in Canada sorted out as we will be living with her parents which means I can have the card sent to and registered at that address (we travel fairly frequently to Canada so picking it up and using it wouldn't be a problem). So by using that Canadian American Express card registered at a Canadian address, I assume that I would be able to build up a credit rating before we finally land in Canada permanently.

Just wondered what everyone's thoughts on this were, negative or positive? :thumbdown::thumbup:

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

So long as you make the payments. It will take a bit more than one card though and a bit of time, but its a start. Your income will also play a role too, as well as bank accounts and store cards and time at a Canadian address. Unless you want scads of credit then a credit rating is not a big deal anyway.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Not really looking to get lots of credit in Canada but would like to build up my rating so that I can get a cell phone plan easily and decent car finance when we arrive. ;)

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Sounds a great idea to me. It will work best if you use the card reglarly, and of course pay it off every month.

I found when I moved to Canada (and previously when I moved to the USA) that getting the first card is the tough one - once you have a good record with one card your rating soon begins to build up.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Just one thought - do you have a SIN number? In Canada your credit rating is tied to your SIN number, not to your address as it is in the UK.

If you don't have a SIN number yet I am not sure if it would go on your credit rating.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

I don't think this is totally correct.

The only people who can legally require you to give them your SIN are the government and financial institutions (if you have income generating items) for income tax purposes.

A quick check on the Equifax website seems to confirm this. Although they do ask for your SIN they do state that it is optional not mandatory.

Trans Union also states "Providing your SIN can increase the likelihood that we will access your credit profile, but is optional".

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Have never given my SIN on any credit application other than bank accounts for interest reporting and to the govt.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Do not rely on changing UK Amex to Canadian AMEX as you can still be denied. We have tried twice and both times got turned down for a Canadian one despite good UK history and good wage here in Canada

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Did you go through the global assist line or did you try through Amex Canada directly? When I spoke to the very helpful guys at Amex UK and global assist, they did mention that I had to make sure to go through them otherwise your application could get rejected. They assured me that as long as I went through the right process and channels, getting a Canadian Amex would be absolutely no problem for me. Of course your UK Amex score does factor as well. They told me that Amex score their members across a range of items from 1 (being the best) to 3 (being the worst). As I had 1's across the board, they were confident that I would get a Canadian Amex.

It may well be worth you contacting Amex in the UK to discuss your score with them and the possibility of going through their global assist programme. As I was led to believe, this shouldn't cause any problems with rejection from Amex in Canada directly.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Hi soontobecanadianresident

Not sure about the whole UK - Canadian tranfer/assistance programmes. I had a AMEX in Uk but Canadian AMEX did not want to know. Also HSBC UK said about score transfer but even internal HSBC transfer did not happen, they were crap....soz but thats how we found it.

JB

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

The way I built up credit was with a secured credit card - ie I put an amount in a savings account and the bank gives me a credit card with the credit limit of the amount invested.

After a couple of months using this I was able to obtain store credit cards.

If you have an address in Canada you could probably get a secured credit card, if the Amex thing doesn't work out.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Or get an HSBC premier account in uk - automatic Canadaian account and credit card :)

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Easier said than done! You have to have a large amount of investment with HSBC before you can get a HSBC premier account.

Besides I would advise anyone to stay away from HSBC. I was a premier customer for several years and received very little benefit from it, in fact I ended up losing money! Even though I was a customer with them for like 15 years (since childhood) I couldn't even get a decent mortgage approved through them even as a premier customer with a large investment held with their fund managers. On top of that, their fund managers were so inept that they failed to make even average market gains on my investments over the decade I was with them. Then when I decided to move my investments to more competent managers in Switzerland they literally took away my premier status overnight without any warning or trying to retain my custom. Literally just sent new cards and chequebook, really know how to make their customers feel valued. Extremely poor customer service at HSBC. Not to mention that they have virtually no presence in Canada.

I certainly wouldn't recommend them to anyone in the UK let alone in Canada. Their investment management certainly leaves a lot to be desired and there is no way I would trust them with £50,000 worth of investment in Canada which is what you need to do to get a premier account. Heed my warning, if you value your money, invest elsewhere!! :rant over:

However, one thing I will say for HSBC in Canada is that their mortgage rates do seem a little more competitive than the big banks. 5 year fixed closed rate of 3.49% for premier customers when the other banks offer over 4% for the same product is not bad.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

Just more proof of HSBC's ineptitude. World's global bank? My arse! :thumbdown:

Anyway, enough of HSBC.

As with Amex, if you applied to Amex Canada directly stating you were a UK Amex customer, you will just get flat out rejected. You have to speak to Amex customer services in the UK who will direct you to the appropriate desk (so to speak) in Canada through their 'global assist' programme and assuming your Amex rating is good, then you can just pick whichever card you would like to get. I managed to get through to a helpful guy in the Canadian office who advised me that I needed to speak to someone from a specific team who deal with these international transfers otherwise you will just get a rejection for a card.

If you need another card it may well be worth trying to speak to someone at Amex via UK customer services, if your rating with them was good then you shouldn't have a problem getting a Canadian Amex.

Re: Building credit rating before immigrating?
 

that's unfortunate _ we have had no probems with them plus there are numerous branches in Van and GVD