Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9614436)

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:

Originally Posted by Aviator (Post 9614444)

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.

Originally Posted by Bonestable (Post 9614482)

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.

Originally Posted by Bonestable (Post 9614482)

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.

Originally Posted by Silverdragon102 (Post 9614557)

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

Originally Posted by The4BellsLondon (Post 9614812)

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

Originally Posted by JB0591 (Post 9614725)

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

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9614862)

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:

Originally Posted by The4BellsLondon (Post 9614874)

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

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9614862)

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.

Originally Posted by The4BellsLondon (Post 9614874)

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

Originally Posted by jericho (Post 9616248)

I think there's some mis-information about credit scores.
Banks dont give you a credit score. They report your payment history etc to equifax/experian and it's equifax/experian who calculate your credit rating. Banks then use that rating to decide whether or not to approve you for credit.

Unfortunately, without a Canadian credit rating, through the Canadian operations of Equifax/Experian, you'll struggle to get any kind of credit (cell phone wont be as hard, but loans etc are gonna be a PITA).

People in the UK can tell you all kinds of things but no bank is going to be able to give you a Canadian credit score. Some banks will consider your UK credit history in their approval process, but these are one off situations. Whilst there are examples of people who have done this successfully, there are an equal number of people who were unsuccessful.

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9617120)

More digs!!:confused: I come from one thread to another and get the same crap!!

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9617120)

If you had read my posts, I am giving my personal experiences of HSBC and

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9617171)

No you didn't. Yet again you made a factually incorrect statement. Not to mention that they have virtually no presence in Canada.

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9617171)

What you should have said is that they have virtually no presence in parts of Canada. Your experience of a bit of Canada doesn't mean you know everything about all of Canada. There are four branches of HSBC within walking distance of where I m sitting right now.

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9617171)

Opinion is fine, your experiences are fine, making generalizations from those experiences and presenting them as fact is, IMHO, not.

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9617171)

I am a Citizen.

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9617245)

Now I know you are just being deliberately facetious! Firstly when you talk about a bank's presence in a country you do not say they have a low presence in X but they have plenty of branches in Xprovince. You talk about a bank's presence in a country as a whole and thus to say they have a weak presence in Canada as a whole is accurate (obviously in comparison to the domestic banks, they actually have the largest presence of the foreign banks but this means nothing).



Like I said, when talking about a banks presence, you do not talk about a banks presence in various provinces, you talk about a bank's presence in a country as a whole. Just because you are lucky enough to have four branches within walking distance doesn't mean everyone will. You would be misleading people by saying this. What if someone emigrates to where you are in Canada then decides to move somewhere where there isn't even an hsbc branch within driving distance??



Where have I presented any of my opinions as fact? Perhaps you should gain evidence before presenting your baseless comments without fact? Yes I made generalizations about my experiences, it is human nature to do so, however I have clearly stated that these are my own opinions and not fact!!

I wish people would use their brains rather than jumping on what other people have been saying from other threads (as I suspect is the case here) and making their own inaccurate assumptions.





Fair enough but earlier you said :quote: us who are, you know, Canadian residents :unquote: You implied you were a resident and not a citizen.

Originally Posted by Oakvillian (Post 9617301)

Anybody who has spent a reasonable amount of time in more than a little bit of Canada would know that HSBC targets their retail banking operations to areas that have a relatively large proportion of residents from south-east Asian backgrounds. It makes perfect sense, therefore, that they have more branches in Vancouver and its environs than elsewhere; it makes sense that the biggest concentration of HSBC branches in the GTA is in Markham.

Originally Posted by Oakvillian (Post 9617301)

In Canada, as you no doubt know perfectly well if you pause to think about it for a moment, it is by no means reasonable to talk about a bank's presence in the country as though it were a uniform distribution.

Originally Posted by Oakvillian (Post 9617301)

Canada is not homogeneous, and it covers a huge amount of territory - it'd be no different to saying a Spanish bank does not have much presence in Europe because they have few branches in Moscow (although even that comparison, in geographical terms, is short by a time zone or two).

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9617245)

Fair enough but earlier you said :quote: us who are, you know, Canadian residents :unquote: You implied you were a resident and not a citizen.

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9617341)

Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation - makes sense ;)




:sigh: I just keep repeating myself!
When you talk about a bank's presence you talk about it's presence by country (or market)

Now I stated that HSBC's presence is Canada is weak which is accurate. However if someone wanted to know about it's presence in different provinces or areas of provinces or areas of cities, then that would be a different question.

I gave a generalized (and factually accurate) depiction of HSBC's presence in Canada as a whole. If However someone asked, I am moving to the Markham area in Toronto, what is HSBC's exposure like there? Then the correct answer would be to state that they have a good presence there but they have a fairly weak presence in Canada as a whole. You would have to mention this or you would be misleading people into thinking HSBC have a good presence in Canada when in fact they have a generally weak presence but a strong presence in certain ethnic areas of Canada.



I didn't realise Europe was a country?? Lol! Your point is invalid. As I mentioned, a bank's presence is expressed by country in general terms and can be broken into specific areas if asked. So for example that Spanish bank you mention would have excellent presence in Spain but a very weak presence in Russia.

I am not saying that Canada is homogeneous, that is not at question. A bank that has low numbers of banks in a country, concentrated in certain specific areas is not considered to have a strong presence. As I stated before, what if someone moves from an area of strong HSBC presence to an area of weak presence? Answer is they would be screwed. 'But you said they have a strong presence in Vancouver? Now I'm in rural Ontario and I don't have a branch near me!!' 'Oh yeah sorry, did I forget to mention they only have a strong presence in very specific ethnic areas? My bad!'

:zzz::zzz::zzz::zzz::zzz::zzz::zzz::zzz:

Originally Posted by soontobecanadianresident (Post 9614447)

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. ;)

Originally Posted by Aviator (Post 9614532)

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

Originally Posted by stacey.cook1 (Post 9619334)

Really? we had a nightmare getting car finance as our SIN numbers started with a '9' which is for termorary residents so an automatic decline. Credit history wasn't the issue at all, they eventually managed to get it thought without entering the SIN#. Recently my OH went for laser eye surgery and wanted to put half on their finace option but this was declined due to the bloody SIN even though we have the car finance! Bring on PR I tell ya!

Originally Posted by Steve_P (Post 9619343)

Don't give people your SIN.

Please read. http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/s.../provide.shtml

and http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/s...nization.shtml

Originally Posted by stacey.cook1 (Post 9619334)

Really? we had a nightmare getting car finance as our SIN numbers started with a '9' which is for termorary residents so an automatic decline. Credit history wasn't the issue at all, they eventually managed to get it thought without entering the SIN#. Recently my OH went for laser eye surgery and wanted to put half on their finace option but this was declined due to the bloody SIN even though we have the car finance! Bring on PR I tell ya!

Originally Posted by alexbellamy (Post 9619474)

For the record, I would agree that HSBC is poorly represented across Canada. I, for one, have to drive past 3 branches of RBC to get to my HSBC branch in Montreal.

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 9616386)

I am coming to the conclusion that soontobecanadianresident knows a lot more about Canada than us who are, you know, Canadian residents.

Originally Posted by el_richo (Post 9618538)

Basing your banking choice on country-wide presence will severely limit your options and completely rule out Credit Unions.

Select the most suitable for you where you live at that time and then change if needed should you move.

One thing i would advise the OP is to limit answers to, and qualify them as, provincial or even local area and not generalise.

To add to the thread, i was given an immediate AMEX account in Canada through them without question (after providing proof of address of course). They matched my UK limit and converted to CAD.