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I have been hearing a lot about having a credible credit history
1. What is credit history?
2. Why should I have a credible one? How do I start to have one when I'm new to Canada?
3. Can't I survive without a credit card in Canada or US?
1. Credit bureaus such as Equifax maintain a record ("credit report") of your past borrowing and repaying habits, such as outstanding bank loans, approved credit card limit and current unpaid balance, late payments you made in the past, bankruptcy, etc. This info is forwarded to them by banks and lenders.
2. I assume "credible" means "good" here. Your credit report yields a credit score which influences stuff such as your car/home insurance rate, interest rate charged on a line of credit or other loan you may take out, and so on. Your score goes down with late payments, (level of) debt or number of recent credit applications, and it goes up with the length of your credit history. So basically the way to build it up is to make a credit card application with a low limit, then use it regularly and always pay it in full. That way you show you can handle debt.
3. You can survive without a credit card in Canada but it's usually the easiest way to obtain credit. ATMs are everywhere and you can use a debit card at most places where they also accept credit cards, so as long as you've got money in a bank account, you won't have a problem.
Dont mean to high jack your thread, but since its related.... Im wondering if a Canadian moved to the U, how does that affect their credit when they move there? Would they be given a clean slate and have to rebuild a new one?
Dont mean to high jack your thread, but since its related.... Im wondering if a Canadian moved to the U, how does that affect their credit when they move there? Would they be given a clean slate and have to rebuild a new one?
As a general rule, they have to start over. Very few U.S. banks pull Canadian bureaus. Why, I don't know. I can only guess that their agreements with the three credit reporting agencies don't allow them to pull Canadian bureaus. I work for a U.S. bank that has a Canadian parent, and we do pull Canadian bureaus for Canucks who wish to finance property down here, but we appear to be one of the few exceptions.
Does Canada pull credit reports for US citizens who want to buy a home?
Not usually
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