How To Get a Credit Card with Your Newcomer Bank Account

With the negative connotations given to credit cards and debt in many countries, there’s a good chance you may have actively avoided credit cards back in your home country.

Here in Canada, however, responsibly owing money is a necessity to build what’s called a credit history, which is needed for many other life tasks, such as signing a lease, taking out a mortgage for a house, or applying for a postpaid phone plan.

Credit cards are also your best tool in your Miles & Points journey, which will result in both savings and the ability to travel at a fraction of the cost.

As a newcomer to Canada without a credit history, the best way to get your first credit card is to apply with the same bank that you’ll open a newcomer bank account with. That bank will manually vet you as a client, and this gives you higher chance of being approved for a credit card.

In this guide, we explore how to get your first credit card as a newcomer, as well as discuss our picks for the best newcomer banks you can do business with.

Getting a Credit Card as a Newcomer

In Canada, most credit cards are an unsecured form of credit. This means that banks lend you money based on your risk level (amongst other factors).

As a newcomer, especially one with a temporary worker or student status, banks may understandably be hesitant to lend you any money. This is because the bank doesn’t know you, and as someone who just landed in Canada, you don’t have a credit history, which is quantified by what’s called a credit score.

Thus, it’s important for you to realize from the start that banks wouldn’t just give you a credit card. Instead, there’s a high probability that you’ll get your first credit card from the bank where you open your newcomer bank account.

At your appointment to open a newcomer bank account, the bank advisor will give you the option of also applying for a credit card. When this happens, you’ll definitely want to say yes, regardless of which credit card tier or product is being offered.

Applying for a credit card at this appointment is crucial since the bank advisor is empowered to send your application for “manual underwriting,” which means that it will be assessed manually by a human being rather than by a computer algorithm.

As a newcomer, you’re much likelier to be approved for a credit card when there’s a manual assessment since you’re being vetted as a client of the…