How to build credit while app pending

[aminata2010]

Are there ways to build your Canadian credit while your application is still pending..example..is your spouse able to add you to his account if you are out of the country?..just wondering.

 

[Rob_TO]

There isn't much you can do, especially if not in Canada yet or with no SIN.

If one is in Canada the easiest credit product to get that will build your score, is a cell phone contract.

Adding you to your spouse's bank account won't really build any credit, but it will give you a relationship with the bank so may be easier to get a credit card in your own name with them after becoming PR.

 

[aminata2010]

I never thought of a phone service, will def be doing that once I arrive.

 

[rhcohen2014]

Are there ways to build your Canadian credit while your application is still pending..example..is your spouse able to add you to his account if you are out of the country?..just wondering.

my husband was able to open a savings account in both of our names at his bank. Since i am now a customer, they offered me a low balance credit card to help start building credit. talking to your husband's bank may be a good way to start the process. I had to physically be there with my proof of identity, so i'm not sure if it can be done without you present. again, another question for the bank! good luck!

 

[mikeymyke]

Did you have to show a SIN number even though you dont have PR yet?

I thought about getting my wife a credit card when she arrives here on a TRV, but most of the banks seem to want a SIN or person has to be a permanent resident.

 

[rhcohen2014]

Did you have to show a SIN number even though you dont have PR yet?

I thought about getting my wife a credit card when she arrives here on a TRV, but most of the banks seem to want a SIN or person has to be a permanent resident.

my husband has been with his bank since he opened up his first bank account at age 6... so he's been a customer for about 30 years. i showed them my passport and drivers license. i believe they used my SS#. i may have also brought them out marriage certificate, i just don't remember exactly. i haven't gotten the credit card yet, so i'm not sure what is needed. since it's from the bank, i don't think there was any issue. the person who helped us was the one to suggest it, so if she didn't think it would be possible, i don't think she would have brought it up.

i think it also helped we were complaining about the service we received earlier. we made an appointment, and was never seen or even ackowledged while we were there, so when we came back in they were doing everything they could to keep his business.

 

[steerpike]

Did you have to show a SIN number even though you dont have PR yet?

I thought about getting my wife a credit card when she arrives here on a TRV, but most of the banks seem to want a SIN or person has to be a permanent resident.

my wife got a bank account with just a visitor visa.

and i got a bank account in japan with just a visitor visa.

 

[Ellasg]

Steerpike: It's easy to open a bank account but getting a credit card is more complicated when you don't have a SIN. (Depending on the bank)

 

[QuebecOkie]

Does having a credit card, in my name but as a second card on my husband's already existing account, help me start to establish credit at all?

 

[mikeymyke]

my wife got a bank account with just a visitor visa.

and i got a bank account in japan with just a visitor visa.

yeah I know, the bank accounts are easy, but the credit cards are a different story

@QuebecOkie: I asked my credit card company the same question, and they said no, authorized users of the primary cardholder do not gain any credit.

 

[QuebecOkie]

I figured it might be like that. Oh well.

I couldn't even get a Sears card, as I have an issue with my name(s). I live in Québec, so some things show my LEGAL name in the U.S. (took my husband's name), some show my maiden name, and some show me with two last names. The woman at Sears said she couldn't verify that I was the same person from my carte de soleil (health card - maiden name only) and my then-US drivers license (married name only) and seemed rather flustered. I think. This was all in French, so I'm only about 80% that the names were the problem. Ha.

Hopefully I can find a job in the next few months, and after saving a little, get an auto loan to replace my car. I've had a joint bank account with my husband since July 2012, so hopefully my bank will be willing to work with me. It's a little bit scary to know my excellent credit in the US is evaporating over time, and that I'm pretty much a teenager here, with no credit history at all. Kind of pisses me off, since the US and Canada even use one of the same credit reporting agencies. :-/

 

[mikeymyke]

I figured it might be like that. Oh well.

I couldn't even get a Sears card, as I have an issue with my name(s). I live in Québec, so some things show my LEGAL name in the U.S. (took my husband's name), some show my maiden name, and some show me with two last names. The woman at Sears said she couldn't verify that I was the same person from my carte de soleil (health card - maiden name only) and my then-US drivers license (married name only) and seemed rather flustered. I think. This was all in French, so I'm only about 80% that the names were the problem. Ha.

Hopefully I can find a job in the next few months, and after saving a little, get an auto loan to replace my car. I've had a joint bank account with my husband since July 2012, so hopefully my bank will be willing to work with me. It's a little bit scary to know my excellent credit in the US is evaporating over time, and that I'm pretty much a teenager here, with no credit history at all. Kind of pisses me off, since the US and Canada even use one of the same credit reporting agencies. :-/

That sucks, I always thought the US and Canada would be the same, and would allow you to transfer your credit history over. Is it hard to find a job in Quebec? I heard the job situation there is not that great.

 

[QuebecOkie]

That sucks, I always thought the US and Canada would be the same, and would allow you to transfer your credit history over. Is it hard to find a job in Quebec? I heard the job situation there is not that great.

Nope. Credit doesn't cross the border. Was the same way for my hubby when he went to the US to work for four years. He had to put down a deposit of $500 to get a cell phone contract, because they weren't able to do a credit check. It's rather silly, since so many of us cross the border in both directions, and since, like I said, we both use one of the same credit reporting agencies (think it's Equifax, but not sure).

I don't know anything about looking for a job here yet. I know most of the Anglophone spouses here don't work, but that's a language issue more than a job market issue. I've been working to learn French (arrived with NONE in July 2012, and we're not in Montreal, not even close; our area is VERY, VERY French). My classes through Québec's immigration ministry end in a couple of weeks, so to keep busy and keep practicing and improving my French, I'm going to start looking for a job. A woman at the military family resource center is helping me develop a short CV to share at an upcoming "employment open door" event. I don't speak French well enough to work in any position directly assisting clients, but I get by well enough that I shouldn't have any trouble communicating with a boss and coworkers in a position that doesn't directly serve clients. Fingers crossed that I'll find *something*. The money's not an absolutely necessity, but it would be nice, and I absolutely don't want to end up with no schedule or responsibilities again. It's a bit of an ego blow, though, to realize I'm not yet "skilled" (French) enough to get a job at McDonald's. :-/ Maybe as a cook, lol!

 

[mikeymyke]

You know what's funny? Quebec strictly enforces their language law, even forced a woman to change her Facebook business page to an English version. The rest of Canada accommodates the French language by including French on almost every commercial product in stores, yet in Quebec, look how strictly they enforce the French language.

 

[QuebecOkie]

Ha! Yeah, I know ALLLLLLLLL about Québec. That's a long, long conversation, haha. Personally, what I find in my admittedly rather limited experience (I just live here, like a normal person, doing what normal people do, it's not like I'm out interviewing Francophones every day) is that the people are just like people anywhere. Some really good ones, a lot of decent ones, a few jerks. The politics, however, can be pretty gross. (Google "la charte des valeurs québécoise" and read opinions on that one.)

I'm kind of lucky. I'm an American Anglophone living here, NOT a Canadian Anglophone. I don't have a lifetime of "knowing" (assuming?) negative things about the relations between Canadian Anglophones and Francophones to inform my daily interactions and decisions. I am making a very real effort to learn French (which a lot of Anglophones don't really do here - most of the Anglophones here are military or military spouses, and they know they'll eventually leave again), and most of the people I meet while I'm out and about are very sweet and complimentary of my (now intermediate) French and are helpful and encouraging. And this is in what could be called the "heart of separatist Québec."

I think the government here likes to try to whip up peoples' fears about their language and culture being threatened, which based on the history of Québec, it's not hard to see how that fear is easily revived and fed. Outrage and fear over cultural threats keep people from paying closer attention to the corruption and inefficacy of the government, which works well for those in power.

Okay, rant over, haha. Basically, people are kind to me here, and I've had next to zero issues related to rudeness over the language. I take some credit for that, as I am learning French and not expecting their world to accommodate me, but rather trying to learn to get by in their world without assistance. Also, I take a good attitude with me, and I think you get back a lot of what you put out into the world. Having said all that, it's TOUGH sometimes. Less now than earlier, when my French wasn't very good, and when my husband was gone for long periods of time (he's fluently bilingual). I feel like I have a LOT better understanding of true immigration than most Americans, as generally they don't face any language barrier or a huge change in culture when they come here.