Canadian Credit

[Jill & Jeff 3]

Jeff and I are looking to buy new cars. His car from Canada still has a loan against it and his bank is being a huge PITA about a payoff and trying to get it taken care of.

My main question is, I know I've seen on here that Canadian credit doesn't follow when you come to the US. How true is that? And, if he were to default on his car loan, how much of a problem would that create?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

J-

[Canadian in GA 34]

you cocrrect, it does not follow you. but the best thing to do is for him to pay it off little by little, just in case he does have to go back for some reason- he wont be stuck with it!

but myself I am canadian, and have a "debt" and it has not followed me. no issues here. just make sure the people dont have anyone's phone number (they had my parents) and they bugged them for almost a year!

[Jill & Jeff 3]

His car payment is about $400/month, which is manageable really. It's a huge pain to have to wire money as the fees and currency exchange end up being about $80. If I mail a check, they freeze it for 20 days, which creates it's own problem.

What we were looking to do was trade in both of our cars and get away from the Canadian loan entirely. Unfortunately having a car titled in a different country combined with the Canadian laws as far as getting payoffs faxed, wiring payments from the dealership to the bank, is apparently a huge problem and so far, no dealerships want to even touch it.

We had briefly discussed just taking the car back to Canada and telling the bank where it was. But we realize that also comes with its own problems. If the bank takes the car back, what happens with the loan? Do they try to sell it and then chase him for the balance? Do they call his family? Would we end up with a court date? We didn't want to risk anything that serious and then be worried every time we enter Canada.

Did you have any issues going back to Canada afterwards?

Thanks for the feedback!

J-

[SapphireDreams 71]

Have you tried using Customhouse.com? I use it to transfer money for free each month to pay off my student loans. Once it's set up, it's pretty easy to use, you just need a bank account in Canada to receive the money. Then I just pay all my bills online. Sure, it takes 5 business days to transfer the money and it's not really convenient, but it is what it is.

There are probably thousands of Canadians paying bills from the US, it's not a reason to default on the loan! What if for some reason you had to go back to Canada? Whoever's name the loan is in would be terrible. Then what?

Look into setting up a personal account on customhouse.com. It's worth it!

[brooksie 3]

im trying to figure out what im going to do with my car as well, cant you transfer the title to the state your in?

[Jill & Jeff 3]

im trying to figure out what im going to do with my car as well, cant you transfer the title to the state your in?

It's actually kind of tricky. You might want to check your loan documents as well. Jeff's loan specifically states that he can't even take the car out of the province of Quebec for more than 30 days without written consent. As far as the title... From what he found after making some calls, Quebec doesn't have titles like the states does. With the scenario of trading in the car, the dealership has to send the money, and then the bank sends Jeff a letter that shows the lien was released. From there he takes that letter along with his import documents and I believe he files paperwork with the state he's in to get it re-titled. It's a bit of a paperwork shuffle and a huge PITA, but it can be done.

As far as re-titling it while you still have a loan, you'll have to call your bank to figure that out. I think the best way is to try and maintain your payments.

J-

[keysjangle 145]

Have you tried using Customhouse.com? I use it to transfer money for free each month to pay off my student loans. Once it's set up, it's pretty easy to use, you just need a bank account in Canada to receive the money. Then I just pay all my bills online. Sure, it takes 5 business days to transfer the money and it's not really convenient, but it is what it is.

OSAP? I'll need to do this as well. I called them some time ago to find out how I'd pay from the states. Do they let you pay online? I can't remember if they told me that or not. All I remember is them saying I can send cheques

Edited May 24, 2011 by Gervl

[brooksie 3]

you can allways find out if there are any canadian banks where your moveing to RBC and TD have both been buying up small us banks lately you can set up a us and canadian account and transfer money between the two for low rates

[SapphireDreams 71]

OSAP? I'll need to do this as well. I called them some time ago to find out how I'd pay from the states. Do they let you pay online? I can't remember if they told me that or not. All I remember is them saying I can send cheques

You can set up payments to come out automatically from your Canadian bank account. Then I just make sure I send enough money to cover the payments every month, or just keep a good chunk of money in my account to handle the payments each month. I'd totally recommend setting up an account with customhouse.com once you have a US bank account.

TD Bank does not allow bank account transfers between Canadian and US accounts yet, to my knowledge.

[jldallaire 0]

Your correct. TD Bank in America does not talk to TD Bank in Canada. The only benefit to having a TD Bank in America is when in Canada you can use the TD ATM's and you will not be charged any fees.

[Colleens 40]

I opened a RBC account and a RBC USA account. You can link them on-line and transfer money back and forth between the 2. When I was in GA, there was a RBC USA branch about 20mi away, which wasn't too bad for the once or twice I needed to go there, but now that I am in TN the closest branch is about 50mi away. I haven't needed to go to a branch yet for anything so it has been working out for me.

I get my EI/Mat benefits direct deposited into that account, make payments on my canadian credit card through that account, and can then transfer funds to my us account to use for day to day.

I am sure that there is a way that I can transfer funds from my other us bank account to my RBC USA account if need be, but I haven't needed to do that yet. I am sure that you can set up a direct deposit for pay cheques into an RBC USA account from where ever you live.

This might work for making your car payments as you could just set up a payee in your canadian account and just transfer the funds as needed then make an online payment.

[Krikit 1,164]

Canadian credit can, and does, follow you to the US, depending upon the financial institution you are dealing with. 20 days is not a normal length of time to hold cheques. Speak with the financial institution about the freezes on the cheques. They will dispense with, or greatly reduce that length of time, if you have a strong record of non-nsf's. There is a lot of good advice here. Running from debt is not one of them.

[edsotherhalf 1]

I understand that both credit bureaus are now connectedd and your credit follows you to the USA when they do a credit check,

Jeff and I are looking to buy new cars. His car from Canada still has a loan against it and his bank is being a huge PITA about a payoff and trying to get it taken care of.

My main question is, I know I've seen on here that Canadian credit doesn't follow when you come to the US. How true is that? And, if he were to default on his car loan, how much of a problem would that create?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

J-

[keysjangle 145]

You can set up payments to come out automatically from your Canadian bank account. Then I just make sure I send enough money to cover the payments every month, or just keep a good chunk of money in my account to handle the payments each month. I'd totally recommend setting up an account with customhouse.com once you have a US bank account.

TD Bank does not allow bank account transfers between Canadian and US accounts yet, to my knowledge.

Perfect, I'm with CIBC Keeping this thread for future reference

[Krikit 1,164]

TD Bank does not allow bank account transfers between Canadian and US accounts yet, to my knowledge.

That is correct. The last time I spoke with them about this (both the US and Canadian TD Banks about two months ago) they each told me that it's coming soon. Yay.