Newcomers can transfer foreign credit history in new Equifax program

Equifax Inc. is launching a program to allow newcomers to transfer their foreign credit history to Canada.

The credit reporting company said Thursday that the Global Consumer Credit File will make it easier for immigrants to access services like loans and cellphone plans in Canada by providing the additional data.

“It’s really important when newcomers land that they get access to the financial services ecosystem, and without credit history that’s very difficult to do,” said Sue Hutchison, head of Equifax Canada.

“They’re typically looking to, you know, rent an apartment, get a mobile phone, probably a credit card, and all of those things require credit history. So not having it makes it very difficult for newcomers.”

Equifax isn’t the first to launch such a program in Canada. San Francisco-based Nova Credit, which launched in 2016 to provide global credit score access, expanded into Canada last year in a partnership with Scotiabank.

1:58 Young Canadians struggling most to pay bills: Equifax

The company has since expanded with partnerships at RBC, BMO and Rogers Communications Inc., among others.

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Nova Credit partners with several credit bureaus, including Equifax, to provide data from more than 20 countries. With Equifax becoming a competitor in the space, Hutchison said conversations are underway around data access going forward.

Equifax, which has operations or investment in 24 countries, will have the advantage of being the direct provider of data from its foreign bureaus, said Hutchison.

“It’s going be coming directly from us. So that’s, I think, very attractive to the lenders themselves that they’ll be dealing directly with the credit bureau.”

The program will initially provide data from India, but the plan is to extend it to Brazil, Argentina and Chile over the coming months. Longer-term, it plans to include 18 countries in total.

Equifax will use both the data from its own operations and source from other bureaus to provide the data.

Because countries have different ways of creating credit scores, Equifax plans to provide lenders a Canadian score, a global score and a calibrated blend of both.

The program comes as Canada has seen elevated immigration in recent years, while Hutchison said Equifax’s now cloud-based platform also makes it easier to share the data securely.