Yes. When I lived back in Aberdeen a guy from my office had moved over from NS on a job transfer and could not get a credit card until he had been in the country for 1 year.

We are still using our UK credit card here. We can get a credit card through RBC is we deposit for 1 year the same amount as the limit we want eg deposit $5000 for a $5000 limit. We must get round to doing it but kept putting it off.

Although we have spend $1000s in cash at Sears we can't get a store card with them as we have no credit history. We bought house, car and all furniture in cash

We just got back from the bank - they approved us on the spot for an unsecured card! Just goes to show that if you threaten to take your money to a competitor, they will go the extra mile!
Tracey

We have just had credit cards and a credit line arranged with the bank we will have our mortgage with. They will throw money at us now one of us has a permanent job. We found that it did not matter about the money we brought in. Banks were more interested in what we would earn once we were here. It has taken us 7 months but we are finally getting on track. (Aren't credit lines a fab idea.......... there if you need it and lower rates than credit cards....... I think that is the only thing here, when it comes to banking, that is better than the UK.)

The previous bank we were with would only give us credit cards if we put up security, so in effect they were not credit cards but you need to use credit to get the credit history........ it's just the way it is....... it will be with great glee when I go back to the bank and take back my cash and close the credit cards!

As previously posted - if you tell one bank what the other bank offered they will try to beat it.

DO NOT APPLY !

Applying for credit reduces your credit rating. Rule #1...wait. Then apply. Usually 3-6 months after opening bank acc and starting work. Gives time for mortgage and other payments to build up + credit ref.

And you're surpised you have no credit history ? You move to another country, no work/bank history, no records, newly arrived <give head shakey thing>

Just wait a while, and applications forms and ballooning credit limits will be yours.

Rich.

We got a card through our bank when we arrived last year - had to leave a 120% deposit though !! We were a little unusual as we came here to start a business so without even a job we weren't a particularly good risk I s'pose.... We applied for a one year loan (that we didn't actually need) to buy our car just to establish our credit and still make sure that we are scrupulous about paying EVERY bill on time. We now have three more cards plus an AMEX and so much junk mail offering us credit that I just throw it away these days!

Didn't need a mortgage luckily - houses are so cheap here, that's why we chose PEI!

We havent come across any probs yet re credit history. We came here on a work permit in December. We had opened a bank account with RBC prior to leaving UK but it was a deposit only account until we could get over here to activate it properly.
We got a mortgage with Canada TD trust through a mortgage advisor in Dec, didnt have any probs getting that, we brought with us a print out from our mortgage provider in UK showing payments we had made and a letter from them confirming we had not missed any payments. At the time my husband did not have a sin number so mortgage advisor took our UK national ins numbers and then once had sin number we provided that.
And we have recently got a credit card from RBC, we were advised when first come to canada we would need to put money down for the amount of Credit we wanted. But we have not had to do that, I applied for the card online thinking we would probably be refused but 2 weeks later got the card in the post and had no problems using it.

Goodluck

Hi,

I just quickly read through all the above comments, so sorry if this answer has already been covered!

You can get a pre-paid credit card from BMO, or places like MoneyMart, they're designed for new immigrants and people with no credit history. Its pretty basic, you pre-load the card with the money you then want to spend, and in return it gives you the use of the mastercard or visa function, and builds a credit history and as far as i'm aware they don't run a credit check in giving you the card. It worked for me just for buying things online etc, but obviously not ideal if you're actually needing the extra money from a credit card. It is useful in that it prevents you having to apply for a normal credit or store card and risk being rejected and damaging your credit score.

Hope that helps!