Establishing US Credit History as a Canadian using a US LLC/CCorp

[Henry Der]

Can anyone recommend how a Canadian investing in the US through a US LLC/C-Corp could build up their credit score for the sake of qualifying for mortgages? As a non-US citizen, how would one go about it? Most of the properties are purchased under an LLC, with a C-Corp as the sole member. Could a company hold credit/credit score in the US system? Or does it have to be a person, and if a person, therefore would need some type of identification (ITIN maybe?). Would appreciate any thoughts!

[Oren K.]

There are several challenges to building US credit score as a non-resident foreign national. 

The primary one, I think, is that the simple fact that the agencies (Transunion, Equifax, etc) simply don't track you as a person unless you have a US S.I.N. You can file tax returns for as many years as you like, get US based credit cards, US consumer credit (e.g. Macys, LOC, etc), even own a home but an ITIN simply is not tracked in their systems.

So lets assume that you find a lender to lend on a commercial property (retail, multifamily, etc) and you agree to personal guarantee (there are programs / lenders out there). All goes well and everything is paid on time. At best, the LLC / C-Corp gets a credit rating but not you personally since 'you' did not take out the loan.

If there is anyone on BP that as a non-resident foreign national has found a way around this or has found any way to successfully built a US credit rating, I would love to hear that story.

Perhaps this market segment is an opportunity for one of the rating agencies but it would be such a small portion of their business, I don't think it would be worth their time / effort.

Oren