Building a Credit History after Landing whilst being outside Canada

[drasticinput]

Hi, I have a $2,000 unsecured Credit Card offered as part of the “New to Canada” program at my bank. I am currently out of Canada and plan to move in by 2019. In order to build a credit history, I plan to use the card every month for about $5 (for example) and pay if off immediately. Does this seem like a good plan to get the credit history going?

 

[torontosm]

Hi, I have a $2,000 unsecured Credit Card offered as part of the “New to Canada” program at my bank. I am currently out of Canada and plan to move in by 2019. In order to build a credit history, I plan to use the card every month for about $5 (for example) and pay if off immediately. Does this seem like a good plan to get the credit history going?

It's definitely the right idea, but I think you would need to spend more than the figure you provided as an example.

 

[Forte]

Hi, I have a $2,000 unsecured Credit Card offered as part of the “New to Canada” program at my bank. I am currently out of Canada and plan to move in by 2019. In order to build a credit history, I plan to use the card every month for about $5 (for example) and pay if off immediately. Does this seem like a good plan to get the credit history going?

Is your bank RBC?

 

[NetMecca]

It's a start, but it does not speak to all the scores parts. Credit utilisation is another fact to consider and recommendation is 25-35%. If you could use 25 % on your card and pay if every month, your score will get a boost. So about $700 every month.
Good luck.

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

It's a start, but it does not speak to all the scores parts. Credit utilisation is another fact to consider and recommendation is 25-35%. If you could use 25 % on your card and pay if every month, your score will get a boost. So about $700 every month.
Good luck.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/30-percent-credit-utilization-ratio-rule/

I keep mine between 1% to 5% and have 800+ score in US.

 

[Alex54321]

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/30-percent-credit-utilization-ratio-rule/

I keep mine between 1% to 5% and have 800+ score in US.

With my pretty big credit cards limit in US I have a couple CC maxed (90%/95% with those %0 APR offers) and still my FICO score is 770, which is OK for borrowing purposes.

 

[drasticinput]

Is your bank RBC?

BMO

 

[drasticinput]

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/30-percent-credit-utilization-ratio-rule/

I keep mine between 1% to 5% and have 800+ score in US.

Hi,

Here are my challenges:

1. Receiving funds into my Canadian Account will cost me ~ $14-17 per transaction
2. As I am outside Canada, I would be required to pay ~ 3.5% FOREX fees for my transactions

What I would like to do is, activate my card to start building a Credit history. I have a couple of hundred dollars in the checking account to pay off the outstanding amount immediately. This way, I don't incur the cost of incoming transfers (since the money is already there) and smaller transactions (even with the FOREX charge) won't affect the fees I am paying.

With the above facts in mind, I would like to know:

1. Does using my Credit Card for foreign transactions affect my credit score (or does not even count if none of the transactions are in CAD and all are exclusively online)?
2. How long does it take to build a credit history with the above strategy?

 

[NetMecca]

1. Does not matter where you spend with your credit card. Matters that you pay.
2. One credit card, no other reportable transactions. At least 2 years. Possibly longer.

 

[APPNOV2014NY]

Hi,

Here are my challenges:

1. Receiving funds into my Canadian Account will cost me ~ $14-17 per transaction
2. As I am outside Canada, I would be required to pay ~ 3.5% FOREX fees for my transactions

What I would like to do is, activate my card to start building a Credit history. I have a couple of hundred dollars in the checking account to pay off the outstanding amount immediately. This way, I don't incur the cost of incoming transfers (since the money is already there) and smaller transactions (even with the FOREX charge) won't affect the fees I am paying.

With the above facts in mind, I would like to know:

1. Does using my Credit Card for foreign transactions affect my credit score (or does not even count if none of the transactions are in CAD and all are exclusively online)?
2. How long does it take to build a credit history with the above strategy?

1. No. If you want then you can open an amazon account and schedule an auto reload of $20 each month to Amazon gift card. Amazon gift card does not expire and you can use the amount for purchases from Amazon once you return to Canada. This way you won't lose money on Foreign Transaction fees.

2. Within 3-6 months of activating credit card your Credit History will start appearing in Credit Monitoring companies' ( Experian etc.) files and you can use this credit history for renting apartments or get new unsecured credit cards. Building a "Good" credit history will take years.

 

[drasticinput]

1. No. If you want then you can open an amazon account and schedule an auto reload of $20 each month to Amazon gift card. Amazon gift card does not expire and you can use the amount for purchases from Amazon once you return to Canada. This way you won't lose money on Foreign Transaction fees.

2. Within 3-6 months of activating credit card your Credit History will start appearing in Credit Monitoring companies' ( Experian etc.) files and you can use this credit history for renting apartments or get new unsecured credit cards. Building a "Good" credit history will take years.

That makes sense! Thanks a ton! Any more ideas...?