SambaDeAmigo

Hi,

I've been trying to apply for a credit card since I arrived 3 months ago but all the application forms I've seen ask for residence address in Canada for the past 2 years. Has anyone managed to get around this and successfully applied for a credit card?

Thanks for your help.

chumley

scotia bank with no problems and we are only visitors!

retsujou

Hell Scotia Bank even allowed me to be on a joint account with my Canadian Partner even though I was only a visitor. Later on I looked up the regulation and that is to say it frank, illegal. However, the deed is done, yay Scotia Bank!

SambaDeAmigo

Did you guys apply online? Their online application won't proceed because I have insufficient credit history.

LotteW

we got one from RBC... couldn't do the online application, so we went into the branch and asked - sometimes it pays to be cheeky

dbd33

We did that with the President's Choice. My partner then opened her own account despite being a tourist.

BristolUK

The usual different experiences with the same thing then. Must admit I'm surprised people get credit cards as visitors given the applications say one has to be a resident or citizen - at least those I've seen do.

But then PC and other banks refused to have anything to do with me until I got PR even though I was married to a Canadian citizen and had been living in Canada, registered for tax and named on various bills etc.

Once I got PR, I then had no credit history. Out of principle I didn't want a card with a fee or a card with a pre-payment condition.

My initial application for a TD visa card earlier this year was refused. I wrote pointing out I was a recent PR, so no credit history in Canada but owning property of around $230k and that still didn't do any good.

I wrote again, sending copies of my UK c/c statements showing my spending activity in Canada and that did the trick. A low limit, but that was increased recently.

I just applied for a PC mastercard and enclosed a copy of my most recent UK card statement. It worked first time and with a higher limit than the TD card. But this could just have been because I was one of their bank customers by now.

R I C H

I didn't bother applying for the first 12mths or so - spent the time paying a mortgage, car lease etc and building some credit history. RBC offered me a visa with 5 figure limit (no security deposit) well before I got PR (was on a WP). You just need to be patient for a while and prove you're a good risk.

destinationnovascotia

HSBC gave me one straight away, limit was only $3k which was a bit mean but I just keep paying it off and hopefully after 6 months they will give me an increase.

MarkG

Amex were a pain, but eventually gave me a card based on my UK history.

PC Financial gave me a card with a low limit a couple of months after I started work, but I did have a bank account with them with over $80,000 in it . They upped the card to a $2500 limit after six months, by which point I'd already paid for all the things that I needed a >$1000 limit for.

scrubbedexpat074

PC Financial gave me one as soon as I opened a bank account account with them with a $6k limit, this has gone up to $8k and then $10.5k at six month intervals.

Other institutions (inc HSBC who I banked during my move and moved over $100k with in a few months) refused stating I needed to be resident for two years. Strangely as soon as PC Financial gave me a card within the two years, all the other started calling me begging to get my business. Unsurprisingly they were all told where to go... and are now on my no call list!

Looking at the other posts on the thread, I guess like a lot of things here, there is no hard and fast rule and it depends on who you catch on the day and how stringently they choose to apply rules...

SambaDeAmigo

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have been turned down by PC even though I have opened 2 accounts with them.

destinationnovascotia

I think that the trick with any bank or credit card company is to get to speak to a person in the organisation who is used to dealing with immigrants. Ask on here for recommendations in your area, but be sure to get the name of the banker aswell as the bank.

BristolUK

Isn't it always the way?

jericho

I've got a company sponsored Amex card in my own name, which will help us for the next couple of months.

I'm tempted to apply for a credit card, but I'm a bit worried about rejections affecting our credit score.