Madmac

Yup, I think we're going to transfer a whole load of savings to ING soon as they have a decent interest rate.

Does anyone have any history with Meridian Credit Union or any other credit union for that matter. Are they any better than the banks for saving, mortgages etc?

iaink

Oh probably. When I was still on my work permit waiting for PR I used to get that "Youve been preapproved" nonsense all the time.

Not sure what I was preapproved for...Certainly not preapproved for the card. Preapproved to apply maybe. One look at my SIN# (Schoolboy error giving it to them I know) and the 9xx immediatley red flagged any application.

So I just made a mental note never to give them my business later on...not that Im petty or vindictive that way...well, not much anyway

Daedra

Sorry not read through most of page 1 responses just OP. (Bit short on time right now with x-mas stuff to do)

I worked in Finance in Canada for 3 years, basically the problem you are encountering is that right now you have no credit history extablished in Canada which is a scary thought for many lenders.

What might help; Get a copy of your full (long version) Equifax credit report in the UK sent over to you and bring it to your bank as proof of your credit rating being good in the UK, so long as you dont have any late payments/defaults showing on your long version of your UK Equifax credit report, they should be fine with extending you a minimum (I think most banks minimum for credit cards is $500CDN, used to be 3 years ago anyway) basic no frills credit card. If they give you a hard time, visit a different banking company with same information (you'll probabably need your Passport/Visa along with tennancy/lease agreement and your employment contract plus some utilities bills as proof of address/residence and income) and go to the customer service desk to speak to someone there.

My first CC in Canada was with CIBC because my own bank (Royal Bank) who I had an account with for over 10 years were umming and awing & rejecting my CC applications. After I got my CIBC $500 basic no frills CC and put some purchases on it (which I would pay online by online banking soon as the statement came in the post), about 6 months to a year later, surprise surprise RBC started sending me 'pre-approved' CC offers through the post as someone else took the risk on me and now they were eager for my business.

Once you have that basic credit card and put purchases on which you pay off straight away, you'll be on your way to establishing a Canadian Credit history for increased limits &/or new CC offers to come in. Keep in mind that Equifax also obtains information from your utilities, so if you constantly pay your phone or electric bill late, that will show up as a smudge on your report.

Equifax is largely used in Canada for credit background checks, for a small administrative fee, you can request a copy of your file that Creditors see & you can then contact them to (with proof) to mend any inaccuracies. There are a few other Credit Rating companies (which I cant remember the name of now, been too long away) but Equifax is well known & used by Financial companies across Canada & as I have found out from working in the industry in the UK, is also frequently used here.

Think the website for Canadian Equifax is www.equifax.ca but might have to go to a .com website and then 'select country' to get to the right page.

Cookie

Our immigration consultant recommended we get one of these reports as it may help us with our credit card application when we move to NS. We applied yesterday to www.equifax.co.uk and the report comes back within seconds. Bit scarey really

The report is only valid for 30 days.
Will let you all know in a few weeks if it helped us at all.

Incidently, a guy in my office is Canadian (dual nationality with UK) and has been working in UK for 10 months. He cannot get a UK credit card yet. He has to wait for 1 year!!! So neither country makes it easy.

We are going to open an account with RBC. It has a section on their website for immigrants (not the only reason we applied, husbands new company uses same bank so we hope that helps too).

snowgoose

Same here....had dosh transferred from broker into bank account here (TD Canada Trust); invested substantial amount with the bank, then applied for credit card. They relieved us of $2000 for security - to be held for THREE YEARS - then gave us a piddly $2000 limit ; laughable when I think our limit with Goldfish was 10K. Another t hing - I object tobeing told how much I have to have in the bank to avoid paying charges, especially when the interest rates are so poor. Opened another account with PC Financial - free banking regardless of amount in the account. They haven't allowed me a credit card though, depsite monmey invested in one of their savings account!

Interested

No idea why - but after 5 yrs of being denied CC's one of the major banks has just given me one. That's a long time to wait - I imagine I could have applied earlier than this, but after so many rejections at the outset I'd all but given up until recently.

Daedra

I've been in the UK 3 years now and still not elligible for a CC or even to have my own mobile phone, its all in OH name

If you can, try and get a written signed statement with your UK bank attesting to the fact you've not had NSF/bounced cheques and the like, that will also help your cause in Canada. Some banks are a bit snobby & just wont take a chance/risk on new arrivals until someone else has, some will be able to be influenced by documentation such as Equifax/Bank statements etc from the UK to prove you've never got yourself in a pickle. Really depends on the local branches and how they view new (possible) risk customers.

Good luck to you in Canada!

charlie1

We managed to get a mortgage, within 1 month without a large deposit or an employment history, through RBC, but could we get a credit card? Not a chance, too big a risk apparantly?? Had to put down the usual $1000 not redeemable for 2 years, but they will guarantee us $65 interest after two years, quite big of them I thought.

Both Crappy Tire and home depot refused a store card. I have given up trying others to preserve what little score i do have.

Scotia Power required a $500 deposit but we talked them down to a $300 deposit for 2 years, Halifax water needed nothing and eastlink nothing. I think they all make up their policies as they go along.

Scotty1972

Applied for an over draft today, was rather suprises when I had be credit rated, and they told me the interest rate was 20% - Canadian banking has some strange ways of working


Rgds Scotty 1972

ellsie

We have our mortgage with the credit union and we now have a credit card with them, but we had to put a sum of money in to get it. We recently had our credit scores checked. Everything is joint and in both names. His score was good and mine was non existent! My name is 2nd on mortgage so I get no score! Well thanks! Do I have to remortgage and switch the names round?

Daedra

20% seems quite a high interest for an overdraft. If you got one already approved (and you've shown activity in it) I would shop around at other major banks for a better rate. At the RBC I used to get a rate of (near enough) 10%. 20% interest charges are more along the lines of the rates of interest that credit cards charge, overdrafts & credit lines from banks should be lower then that as they need an existing bank account (which banks are already making a profit on you with bank charges for near enough any activity done).

It doesn't appeal to alot of people to shop around with major banks and most newly arrived immigrants will just be grateful to get an account established. It can be worth the time & effort though if you get a good package deal at a bank that wants to get all your business, some will accept 'haggling' and some will spout out "Computer says no" BS on their teletext prompter.

dingbat

Welcome to the land of misogyny and blatant discrimination. You do not exist for credit purposes, only your bloke does. If you were ever to divorce, he gets to keep the rating and you get a big fat risk rating of zero. It will be even worse if you have children. Just try getting a loan/credit card in your own name...he may need to sign for it....joint names does not mean joint rights in BC. Have fun navigating the minefield.

dbd33

It's also true that woman are disadvantaged in Ontario. I find it to be peculiar that, in the case of divorce, the courts increasingly take the view that the solution is alimony; women in general are financially disadvantaged so individual divorced women are to be kept forever by their former husbands. (Banks treat alimony payments as income in qualifying for a mortgage in the same way as salary so my "ex" has a gold Amex in her own name as well as Visa and Mastercards even though she's never been employed in Canada.) I find it even more odd that support for this arrangment is the "feminist" position as I see it as a move to make women chattels rather than people. Obviously I've an axe to grind but I think it would be preferable to move towards equality rather than towards defined roles of work and financially rewarded homemaking.

That said, every few years my accountant looks at the tax position and it's always better financially to keep two "wives" at home than for them to work, women generally cannot make enough as a second household income to cover the costs of working. Ontario's great if you want to be a mother who stays home with her children, and lots of people do want that, but it's not so hot if you're a woman who wants to be both married and pursuing a career independent of your husband. I blame them Christians.

CDNReturner

I had the same problems with Scotiabank despite the fact I had deposited large sums and despite the fact my sister was a 14 year employee at the branch and was good friends with the branch manager.

However, I arrived August, bought my house end of September and moved in in November. Christmas came and a $1000 limit just was not enough. Phoned Scotiabank customer service and lo and behold they increased the limit to $3000. I'm sure I also ate into that $2000 reserve in the high-interest account and nothing was said.

Not long after that I was somewhere (can't remember where), where an on-the-spot credit check was done and I came up fine.

Within 6 months of being here I also applied for Amex card (I honestly thought I'd be rejected) but got it.

Tip: Always ask for increase in credit at least twice as much as you actually want. I had major, major dental expenses earlier this year and wanted to put through Amex for the airmiles (sis now in Winnipeg). Phoned Amex for increase to $5000, they gave $3000 and said I couldn't ask again for a year. Couple of weeks later I asked again for increase to $10,000, they gave me $5000. Go figure!!!!

Cathie

snowgoose

We had letters from our UK banks, and credit rating from Goldfish.......might just as well have hung it in the bathroom. Utility companies only waived the security deposit when we agreed to pre-authorized (direct debit) payments - which actually suits me better.