Credit Rating: Canada to the US

[Inky 1,111]

my husband added me to his capital one card they asked me for my SSN on the phone and I started getting credit reports from them.

a while after he added me I got an offer to have a credit card from them too.

When we bought our house I was put on the mortgage with 0 credit history. It did not raise anything for us like Udella said. They just required a copy of my 0 credit report and my green card. - Our mortgage got sold to and is being handled by Bank of America tho... We didn't want them because of the bad news about them lately. So far no problems with them tho *knock on wood*

[Canadiandggal 49]

Hi Udella & Wiz: I was added onto my husband's AmEx and Visa cards without any problem. But I bet they're not contributing to my credit rating right now, but we'll see (I tried applying for a credit card to see what happens). Maybe I'll get a retail credit card or two in the meantime.

I didn't know that about the mortgage stuff. That's also good to know. I think it's about time to re-negotiate the mortgage anyways in several months, so maybe I can work on building my credit rating in the meantime.

Anyone with any specific links please let me know thanks!

I added myself to my husbands credit card with capital one when I got my ssn.. It is on my credit report and If you apply via there website you see this :

With regard to financial responsibilities, you (and the secondary cardholder, if applicable) are responsible for any charges placed on the account by an authorized user. The authorized user does not have financial responsibility for the account. Even though the authorized user does not have financial responsibility for the account, credit data is still reported to the credit bureaus on the authorized user (except on Small Business accounts).

I checked via freecreditreport.com and I now have a few months worth of Good reporting

[Krikit 1,165]

i tried googling it, and found wealth of information online, but does anyone have a link specific to people immigrating from Canada?

From the Advanced Search. And these are just a tiny portion of the threads on this topic.

Banking and Building Credit in the US

Is It Good for Credit Score...?

Want Credit?

Credit

Canadian Credit Score in the US

I'm not sure you can be just 'added' to the mortgage without the rate being renegoiated, can you? And since you have no credit history, you being on the mortage would have a negative effect on the rate they'll offer. This is the exact reason why my name is not on our mortage...my non history would have cost us an extra percent or two which is a lot of money over the course of the mortgage.

I spoke with the mortgage lender on our first home about this. The rate would have gone up (I think it was .5% if I recall correctly) if I had been added to the mortgage because I was only here a week or two when we bought. Interestingly enough, the rate for the car loan came down because they used my credit history from Canada.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

The most irritating part is that you'll find 20 people who have 20 different experiences. Some were easily added to the spouse's existing CC - for us at Wachovia they said we had to reapply for a brand new joint card and they flat out denied us because I had no credit history (although my husband's is quite good). Some places have actually been able to use the Cdn spouse's Cdn credit history.

It seems to depend on the banking institution, and the person you're dealing with - along with luck. I would try the most obvious ones like being added to the spouse's card first and if that doesn;t work out then keep on going down the line and if you end up like me and have to get a secured card, so be it.

[Canadiandggal 49]

The most irritating part is that you'll find 20 people who have 20 different experiences. Some were easily added to the spouse's existing CC - for us at Wachovia they said we had to reapply for a brand new joint card and they flat out denied us because I had no credit history (although my husband's is quite good). Some places have actually been able to use the Cdn spouse's Cdn credit history.

It seems to depend on the banking institution, and the person you're dealing with - along with luck. I would try the most obvious ones like being added to the spouse's card first and if that doesn;t work out then keep on going down the line and if you end up like me and have to get a secured card, so be it.

I do not mind starting out again as I did not have good Canadian credit although I did not have really bad credit either.

[Bern` 0]

LOL ARE YOU SERIOUS????

Thats funny =)

Yeah lol, I don't think it's that bad especially since the cap for a credit score is 800.

[Flames9_RN 358]

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/creditscores/your.htm

[lovetimhortons 1]

thank you!!

[daisy16 0]

Credit ratings were a nightmare - I've been here since July 2005 and I have about half of what I had and still have in Canada. Got lots of debt though

[Tater&Bugger 3]

If you're military, apply for a Military Star Card. I did that, and I've been in the USA since April and my credit score is 682...for some reason. >_>

Didn't know this. I'll have to go do that. Spoke to one of our banks who told me there is no way for me to build credit in the US unless I find someone to cosign (my husband used to have bad credit and is rebuilding, so not bothering trying to use him as a cosign)... then our USAA bank told us to buy a car and apply for a loan that way LOL... except we have 3 vehicles already, so no thanks. My husband has a star card and was given it ON bad credit so I think I'll swing by the PX tomorrow and see what I can do. I have great credit in Canada so it's no fun not being able to transfer.