Credit score for Canadian

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm a Canadian resident but I also live in the states and have an address in new York..... I was issued a credit card and I have personal banking accounts as well in the states but was not sure if having a credit card would give me a credit history in America..... when I got my amex they told me that they would use my drivers license number since I don't have an American ssn but I don't know if that is something fico tracks or do you only track credit for people that you have their ssn

thank you

[guiness56]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

In order to have a FICO score you have to have at least one account that has been reporting for 6 months.  As for needing a SSN or not, that I am not positive about.

[RobertEG]

You certainly dont have to have an SSN to establish accounts in the US.  Most credtiors will, in order to comply with banking and IRS  regulations, require at least a TIN #. 

Similarly, there is no reporting requirement that a creditor must have an SSN in order to report to a CRA.  They must only provide a unique personal identifier, such as full name and address.  The problem with this is that name and address are not always unique, but SSNs are.  For example, John Doe and John Doe Jr, or John Doe II live at the same address.  This almost certainly begs for inaccurate cross-reporting bwtween their credit files if this is the only personal identifier used.

If a creditor reports to a US CRA, it is their decision.  SSN is not requried in order for a CRA to set up a credit file, and accept reporting to it.  The peril, as has been said, is that accurate posting to this file cannot be assured absent a SSN.