In this article, you will find out more about my experience that started in July-August 2017. By January 2024, I’m on my 7th U.S. credit card and my U.S. credit score is 780.
I am not an accountant, lawyer or tax specialist and therefore cannot advise you on this matter in relation to your personal situation. So check with a specialist before taking these steps.
Whether in Canada or the U.S., your credit history is generally linked to your Social Insurance Number (SIN in Canada, SSN in the U.S.), as well as other information such as your first and last name, residential addresses and past and present employment.
SIN and SSN both have nine digits. But a very important reminder: please do not use your Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN) instead of your U.S. Social Security Number (SSN) when applying for credit cards.
In fact, if your SIN matches an existing SSN of a U.S. resident, you’ll be committing identity theft that can be dramatic for the person whose SSN you’re “borrowing”!
If you don’t have an SSN for your American credit card applications, you’ll eventually need an ITIN: the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, as we’ll see later. This will enable you to apply for credit cards from institutions other than American Express, and can greatly facilitate your application process.
Choose your first U.S. credit cards wisely. Don’t forget that you’ll be starting your credit file from scratch.
Therefore, it is advisable to start with a credit card that you will keep for many years to improve your credit history. While the natural choice might be a no-annual-fee credit card, you’ll see below that it’s also possible to start differently.
One issuer in particular keeps a close eye on the number of credit cards on your credit file: Chase. The rule is 5/24. This means that you will not be able to get credit cards from Chase if you have opened more than 5 credit cards in the last 24 months from any one issuer.
One way to avoid this: corporate credit cards. Most of these cards don’t appear on your credit file, so they don’t fall under the 5/24 rule.
The key to getting started with credit card applications in the U.S. is to hold an American Express card in Canada for at least 90 days.
If not, use this page to find the best American Express credit card for your needs.
Before you apply for your first U.S. credit card, you’ll need a U.S. mailing address.
Two solutions:
This is by far the simplest and safest solution. Have a home in the United States (as Snowbirds often do).
Alternatively, if your friends or family agree, use their mailing address as your U.S. address. Even better: ask them to add you to their electricity account, so you’ll have a document proving your address!
Your credit cards envelopes will arrive directly to this address and you can ask them to send them to you in Canada (while asking them to take pictures of the cards so that you can use them immediately on the Internet or through Apple Pay).
This is the solution I chose with friends in San Francisco after experimenting with mail forwarding services for a while.
In 2017, there were several mail forwarding services like Mymallbox or 24/7 Parcel. But since then, most of these services have been excluded by credit card companies and flagged as Commercial Mail Receiving Agency with USPS.
Those mail forwarding services that are not registered as such with the USPS and that agree to forward credit cards are hard to find, but there are some out there. We invite you to do your research.
You also need a U.S. bank account in U.S. dollars.
The 3 main banks providing cross-border services are RBC, CIBC and TD. Desjardins also offers the option of opening an account at a Florida branch of Desjardins Bank, although the process is only available at a branch (in Canada or Florida).
Having most of my accounts at TD, it made sense for me to deal through TD. You don ‘t need to be an existing TD customer in Canada to open an account with TD Bank USA, but it will make the process much easier.
In order to pay your credit cards bills, you will need to go through your new U.S. bank account.
You may very well choose to use your Canadian bank account to fund this U.S. bank account. But generally the (transfer and conversion) fees will be much less advantageous than those provided by other providers (as you will see below).
After looking at the different services and rates/fees, I chose Wise.
Take a look at the example of a C$1,000 transfer. After deducting Wise’ s fees ($9.90 CAD for this transfer amount), you’ll get $770.50 USD. Note that this rate is locked for 48 hours!
See what the market rate was at the time of writing this article (consulted on xe.com):
We really appreciate Wise’ s transparency: the rate displayed is indeed the market rate and the fees charged for the service rendered are clear!
And for the record, what was the rate TD offered for a transfer from my Canadian account?
Please note that here, the rate displayed by TD includes the fee charged by the bank. In the end, compared to Wise, you lose about $13 by trading via TD! Imagine for a larger amount!
Once you have your mailing address, your bank account and your American Express Canada credit card in hand, you can finally apply for for your first credit card in the United States!
The first solution available to you is the Nova Credit procedure with American Express.
Once you have chosen an American Express credit card (see recommended cards section), and started your subscription, open the Social Security Number field.
It will be possible to tick the box I’ve had a credit card or loan in the UK, India, Mexico, Canada or Australia.
The Social Security Number will then become optional!
Once all the fields have been filled in, you can proceed. After a few seconds, you will arrive on this page:
This is where the search for your credit file in Canada begins, via the service chosen by American Express: Nova Credit.
You’ll need to choose the country in which you have a credit file. Let’s choose Canada:
Then, fill in the requested information. Even if the Canadian social insurance number is optional, I advise you to indicate it so that your information can be easily retrieved by Nova.
Then provide your most recent Canadian address.
Then Nova is given permission to go to Transunion Canada to interview.
If all goes well, Nova will have found a credit file at Transunion Canada!
To make sure it is the right credit report, Nova will ask you 3 questions, just like when you apply for credit in Canada.
Once you have correctly answered the three questions, the file is then transferred to American Express USA who will contact you again!
The beauty of it: once you’ve completed this step, you’ll receive your complete Transunion credit file by e-mail, free of charge!
You will need to download it within 72 hours from Nova’s website.
Audrey’s application, for example, was 45 pages long, with an annotation for American Express USA: “The risk profile of this applicant is very low“.
It has recently decreased from 800 to 763, after 3 applications last month. Don’t worry, in 3 months it will be back in the 790-810 range.
There are several possible outcomes:
I advise you to call American Express USA and switch to the Global Transfer procedure described below.
Details of the American Express Global Transfer can be found on this page or in the screenshot below.
Please note that American Express USA requires information on:
Now you understand why we needed to do all of the above for the U.S. address and U.S. bank account.
American Express USA will verify all information, including banking information (by calling your bank in the United States).
Regarding employment information, just mention that you will be transferred to the United States by your employer. Personally, I gave my Canadian employment information and had no problems.
The process is very simple:
Once the application is submitted, you might be lucky and have it immediately approved. It could also be put on hold (or worse, rejected), in which case you will have to call the special American Express Global Transfer service at 1-877-621-2639.
Personally, I had to call and the process only took 5 minutes: it was a verification of your Canadian credit file information, linked to your American Express Canada card.
This is a one-time process: once you’ve established your U.S. credit score, you’ll be eligible for other cards from American Express!
I advise you to start with a card that will be free of charge from year to year. This will allow you to keep it and build your credit history in the United States with it.
That’s what I did when I signed up for the American Express EveryDay Card. This card is part of the Membership Rewards program (the equivalent of our Membership Rewards points program). It’s free year after year and offers you a nice little welcome bonus to get you started.
Once you have reached the requested expenses, you will get the bonus on the next statement.
After a few months, you can apply for other American Express cards. It is important to continue to spend regularly on your American Express Credit cards or you will not be able to apply for new cards!
The choice is vast, but here are my two favourites that I intend to keep, even if their fees are high: the benefits of Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy more than make up for it, every year.
After 2 or 3 American Express cards, it’s time to move on to cards from other issuers, including Chase (in order not to violate the 5/24 rule mentioned in the introduction).
For this next step, you’ll need an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).
The Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is a 9-digit number like the Social Security Number (SSN).
It allows the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify individuals who cannot have a SSN.
Thus, any non-U.S. citizen can still sell products in the U.S. and receive income that will be taxable to the IRS. Hence the need to issue an ITIN for these people.
To obtain an ITIN, you can either take the necessary steps yourself or call on the services of a specialist.
You will need to provide 3 documents to the IRS in order to be issued an ITIN:
The W-7 Form will allow you to submit an ITIN claim for the IRS. You can download it from this address.
Here’s how to fill it in:
This is what it looks like:
As of fall 2023, Services Canada no longer embosses certified copies of passports. The IRS now seems to be refusing these unstamped certified copies as proof of identity.
There are a few ways to proceed:
And finally, if you don’t want to mail these documents, you can submit your request in person at an IRS taxpayer assistance office in the U.S.
If you are not Canadian, but a permanent resident, go to your local consulate to obtain a copy of your passport certified by your state government.
When I did my paperwork in 2017, I went through Smashwords. This method no longer works.
If you’d rather be on the safe side and not waste time on potentially fruitless procedures, you’ll need to choose a paid service to help you obtain an ITIN, such as US Tax Resources.
Jayce from Pointsnerd recommendsUS Tax Resources. Although I haven’t had to test this myself, I know several people who have gotten good service from this company.
For $249.99 + tax, you get:
Once you have your documents, you can submit your ITIN application to the IRS at the following address:
Internal Revenue ServiceITIN OperationP.O Box 149342Austin, TX 78714-9342
It should take about 2 months before you receive your ITIN in the mail from the IRS.
Don’t hesitate to join the Facebook group to discuss your efforts in obtaining U.S. credit cards!
Savings are here:
