Question regarding residency

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My wife was originally from Canada.  She gained her permanent residency in June of this year.  I have some questions regarding this and how it affects credit.

Some background info:

Her personal banking is still with a canadian division of TD bank and she owned a home in her name in Canada (which she transferred to her brother recently.

Here in the states, we have a joint account together, but we each individually also maintain our own personal accounts (her's in canada until we get around to transferring that to a local branch).

1)  As a new resident, does she have credit?  If so, does that credit history include her Canadian financial history (i.e. she had bank acounts and owned a home in Canada, i wondering if that will show up on a credit report here i n the USA.

2) If she does not have a credit history as a new resident, and she then opens a new credit card, how long before she officially has a credit history that is considered valid here? 

3) What would a credit score look like for someone that has had no credit history previously, opened a new credit card, and was on time with all payments for that card?

4) Does the fact that we have a joint account mean anything with regards to her or my credit? 

5) Does a wife's credit affect her husband's in anyway?

thanks much

[RobertEG]

Credit history as it relates to credit scoring is dependent upon creditors reporting to one or more of the credit reporting agencies.

Just make sure that any creditor reports to the US CRAs, and a credit score will be generated after six months of first reporting.

If no credit reporting has been done for at least six motnths, there will simply be no score.

Residency is used by the CRAs primarily as a secondary check in order  to match reporting done by a credtior with the proper consumer credit file.  FICO does not care if current or prior residency is in the US.  Haaving an SSN is the primary tool used by the CRAs to match credit reporting, so if she has an SSN reported to the CRAs, that should take care of it. 

CRAs dont even have citizenship/residency status codes as part of credit reporting.  It is, in decrasing order of priority, SSN, tax ident code for those without an SSN, fulll name, DOB, and current residency address.  Those are the matching codes that matter.

Banking accounts and other monetary assets dont enter into FICO scoring.

Spouses credit acounts are reported separately, unless it is a joint account.

My wife is also a legal, permanent alien resident.  I have walked the walk.