Does Credit History Follow You Upon Relocation From The United States To Canada?

We recently received a very good question from a foreign exchange student whois moving out of the country. He asked if the credit established in the U.Sfollows a person, in this case to Canada. Here is what we found through ourresearch.SSN vs. SINIn the United States, individuals are identified by their social security number(SSN). There is no other person in the United States with an identical SSN. InCanada, people have social insurance numbers (SIN), which serves the samepurpose. Credit bureaus in Canada use the SIN to keep track of individual'scredit reports. Since the U.S and Canada are two different countries, SSN'scannot be tracked in the Canadian systems and SIN's cannot be tracked in the U.Ssystems.Credit BureausIn the United States, there are three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnionand Equifax. These three bureaus provide credit reports and scores for allindividuals with a social security number who have opened a line of credit or aloan. Canada's credit bureaus follow the same procedures.In Canada, the three major credit bureaus are Equifax Canada, TransUnion Canadaand Northern Credit Bureaus, Inc.. In several scenarios, people have found thatthe United States TransUnion and the Canada TransUnion share the same data intheir systems. In result, there may be a possibility of a Canadian financialinstitution pulling your U.S credit history. This could be good for people withpositive credit and bad for those with not so good credit. Equifax may do thesame and share their data between countries. We have found that Experian has noeffect in foreign credit because it only conducts reports on U.S residents. Thesame applies for Northern Credit Bureaus and its Canadian residents.Credit ScoresAs far as credit scores go, TransUnion Canada and Equifax Canada have bothimplemented the FICO system from the United States. The only difference being iscredit scores in Canada range between a score of 300 and 900. Scores in theUnited States use a scale of 300-850.Scores closer to 900 are a lower risk for the lenders, which could mean a lowerinterest rate to the borrower. The opposite can be said for scores closer to300. These scores would be a much higher risk for the lender and in result wouldmean a higher interest rate for the borrower.If I do not have an SIN and am a American citizen, how do I apply for credit ifI move to Canada?Just like in the U.S, in Canada it is hard to obtain credit without a credithistory. You can walk inside a Canadian bank and explain your situation to them.Some banks in Canada will ask for some information from your U.S credit report.This will enable them to make an easier and quicker decision to issue credit.Some may offer you a secured credit card which will help you build a credithistory by depositing a certain amount on a pre-paid credit card and then makepayments.Also, as stated above, TransUnion may have the ability to display U.S creditreport information to Canadian financial institutions because of shared databetween TransUnion Canada and the United States TransUnion.What if I want to move to Canada for an extended period of time and then moveback to the United States?If you are not planning on being a long term resident or are not planning onbuying a home, it may be best to stick with United States based internationalcredit cards. Credit card companies with affiliates in the U.S and Canada wouldwork best. These cards will work in both countries but will only report to theU.S credit bureaus.Here is an excerpt from the U.S Department of State: "If you will be abroad foran extended period, you may want to arrange for the delivery of your mail. Somebanks and international credit card companies handle mail for customers at theiroverseas branches. In addition, post offices in many countries will hold mailfor travelers under their General Delivery (Poste Restante) services. U.S.Embassies and Consulates do not handle private mail. Check with the embassy ofyour destination country to see if that will be possible there. A listing offoreign embassies and consulates in the U.S. is available at http://www.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/dpl/32122.htm."A safe bet is that if you owe on a debt in the U.S and move out of the country,you will owe on that debt upon your return, as it will be recorded on yourcredit report. Will creditors try to collect from you in another country? Wellthat is the golden question. The golden response is, they may have a right tocollect. Will that new country consider your U.S credit history? It may.Regardless of where you move, it is best to maintain a positive credit history.If your new country of residence chooses to look at your U.S credit history youwant to make sure it is clear of negative information. However, one cannotassume that a positive U.S credit history will help establish new credit inanother country. http://lforex.blogspot.com/2007/09/does-credit-history-follow-you-upon.html