I've got a friend who's established some credit in the USA (he's from the Ukraine), has SS#, etc. Most of his credit is good (650 Equifax), but he's got a couple of unpaid medical bills @ a CA. Recently, he obtained Canadien citizenship, so he has a Canadian SIN# (like our SS# here in the states). Also, he lives in Canada now. If he applies for credit for, say, a new car, will any of his credit history (i.e., from TU, Experian or Equifax) from the USA be available to the Canadien lenders? Or does Canada have their own credit reporting agencies? From what I remember, they can't get any of his US credit bureau history, but if anyone else has any input on this, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
I looked, all 3 have offices in Canada. If he just got his Canadian citizenship, my feeling would be that they would treat him just as a new US citizen would be given a 999-xx-xxxx social security number...meaning it would "flag" him as a new citizen, and when he applied for credit they would know this, as well as the fact that he has no Canadian credit history at all with the Canadian CRA's. Meaning he would probably have to establish and then build his credit history starting with higher risk/subprime credit, and proving his credit worthyness over time. Now as to whether Ex,TU,and Eq in Canada can see his US credit history...Not sure...they may not share their information with the US databanks...but I wouldn't put it past them. -Peace, Dave PS From Equifax's site: There are two major credit reporting agencies in Canada: Equifax Canada Inc., and Trans Union of Canada, Inc. Governed by provincial and federal laws, they store and maintain credit information about individual Canadians for use by members of the credit reporting agency. So it looks like they just gather information about Canadians...not United Statesians
