I have been living in Canada for over 40 years. If I moved to the US would credit rating agencies use my rating here or would they just give no rating? For example, it is impossible to rent an apartment in NYC without a credit report. I assume credit cards are similarly restricted. What of someone moving from a more distant place?
That’s not true. A good credit report helps, but zero credit is still better than bad credit. I rented an apartment in Queens when I was 20 and had no credit to speak of.
You can get a low-limit or prepaid credit card very easily with no credit history. College students do it all the time.
Confirming: no credit score.
I’ve just moved to the US from Canada, and it seems that your Canadian credit rating is completely ignored (as was my wife’s US credit rating in Canada).
However, I’ve heard that if you get an American Express card in Canada, then have it transferred when you move, they (Amex) will include your Canadian credit history as if you had been with them in the US the whole time. I have not verified if this is true or not.
But it’s very easy to establish credit with no credit.
Gas credit cards and department store cards (JC Penny, Sears, Walmart) are very easy to get.
I found renting a flat with bad credit to be just slightly harder than renting with no credit, but you can always do the roommate thing for a year or so.
Many landlords won’t do an entire credit check but merely call your last landlord to see if you paid on time and how you kept the place.
Bad credit can often be overcome with a deposit, for instance the landlord may require three months security instead of one month.
When I had horrible credit, it wasn’t that hard to live with but I had to pay cash. For example my credit was so bad, I tried to get a secured credit card and they STILL refused. I mean I’m giving you the $1,000 to put in my account and hold and they STILL didn’t want me.
Today all that has dropped off and for the moment anyway, my credit is fine.
You could move from Canada to NYC, get a flatmate and within 6 months have a decent enough credit rating to establish good credit for a flat.
And if you have no credit, secured Visa or MasterCards are no problem.
Unfortunately, my “flatmate” of 44 years also lives in Canada. I do have a couple US bank accounts with debit, not credit, cards. I have had them for years. Maybe my children, two of whom live in NYC, could be guarantors. Also I have no recent rental history, having lived in the same house for 37 years, mortgage paid off 19 years ago.
The foreign credit score won’t do anything. The key is cash deposits. I assisted a business associate trying to find an apartment after never having lived here. She had foreign bank accounts and a guarantee letter from her company, but what finally cut the knot was when she put down about four months’ worth of rent. For other things that require credit, she’ll just continue to use her foreign-issued credit cards; why bother trying to get a domestic MasterCard when the old country ones work just as good?
My wife started with zero credit after she immigrated (although not from Canada.) Luckily, after marriage, she inherited my credit score, so it wasn’t a problem.