Any US ppl have problem getting credit card/car insurance?

[expressentrant]

Anyone from USA who just got to Canada have a hard time getting a good credit card or a decent rate for car insurance?

Like US credit score or driving records dont count in canada....

Anyone?

 

[dks2323]

yup...I had the same issue.....my US credit history did not count at all....after having an account with TD for about 6 months they agreed to provide me a credit card with 500 CAD limit (but I was on student permit and was not working)...so if you are working, then it wont be difficult to get the credit card....

For auto insurance, I had to shop around a lot...finally I found the belairdirect to be the cheapest (but still it was much higher than what I used to pay in US).....

 

[gilean]

Depends. If you have really good credit score in the US, and have a good amount of money in your account, you can call your back and ask them to transfer your credit line to Canada. I did this with AMEX where they accepted to give me the same credit line in Canada.

 

[expressentrant]

Seems like they are asking for collateral

 

[TheMaze]

I had good US credit, but no Canadian credit. CIBC opened a newcomer account for me with no money and gave me a $5,000 unsecured credit card without issue - check them out.

 

[mgnlky]

I just spoke with my financial rep at Royal Bank of Canada about this yesterday. Banks have different programs for newcomers from the US dependent upon what papers they land with & what program they are accepted into Canada under. In some cases they'll ask for, say, $1,000 deposit for a $1,000 credit line (think USA prepaid credit cards) to get you started. In other cases- esp if you come in under the Federal Skilled Workers program and have job leads or a larger amount of money, they'll issue you a credit card with prepayment.

 

[expressentrant]

i feel credit card is a smaller issue to me than car insurance and mortgage. Anyone got luck with those?

like I could still live normally without a credit card i guess. but i can't buy a condo without a mortgage...

 

[mgnlky]

I'm not sure about car insurance, though I would imagine they would want everyone driving to have it, thus make it easy for newcomers to get it. As for mortgages, at least with RBC, again, what they will give you depends on the papers you have when landing, income/expected income, funds you have available, etc. This link might give you some idea. http://www.rbc.com/newcomers/?_ga=1.248418375.1590712869.1459979263