A Look at Banking Services and Establishing Credit in Canada

If you are planning on packing every thing up and moving to Canada to live permanently then you will want to establish a good credit history in the country. You will practically need to start over in terms of building up a credit history. And doing so is fairly simple but it is also time consuming.

In Canada the three major credit card companies are American Express, Master Card and Visa. When you open up a bank account you will notice that your bank offers many different types of credit cards. The cards vary on their included services, such as earning airline miles.

Just like in the United States, each time you fill out an application for a new credit card it is recorded by the Canadian credit bureau. Your report will show how many times you are a credit seeker and too many requests in a certain time period will result in application rejections. Like in the United States, seeking too much credit damages your credit worthiness in Canada.

Banks in Canada will not extend credit to you without having a prior Canadian credit history. Unlike in the United States, you cannot get a secured credit card in Canada to establish credit history. The typical way immigrants establish credit in Canada is by maintaining a bank account. After having a bank account for six to 12 months you should ask for a small line of credit to buy something like a computer. If your bank grants the credit line then you are on your way to building credit. If they do not grant you the credit line then your other option is to look for a store credit card at a retail store. Retail stores are much more likely to offer someone with no credit a credit card but the price you pay is an above average interest rate. You will need to carry a balance on the credit card for six months to have a valid credit history.

If you have been paying your utilities for some time then you may be able to get them to provide a credit reference.

Banks also offer ABM (ATM in the US) access to your money. They are widely available and offer 24 hour access to your money. Most banks are a member of the Interac ABM network and using ABMs on other networks, like the Cirrus network, results in a fee of $1 per transaction.

Banks in Canada have similar operating hours to those in the United States. They are open during the week from Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:30 am and 4:30 pm. There are some branches and some banks that are open later. There are also some that are open on Saturdays.