Aus to US experience I recently moved to the US from Australia and one of the most important things once you arrive is to start building credit. I was able to get a credit card based of Nova Credit with American Express. It has also allowed me to provide confidence to agencies and landlords through the rental process. I would highly recommend as a way to establish yourself in the US.

Not what it says on the tin!!! Used Nova to apply for a credit card in the US using my UK credit history (or so they say). Turns out that even though Nova did a hard pull to get my full credit history from the UK, the banks didn't even use it (I have this in writing). Amex just put me on the minimum credit limit anyway and ignored the Nova check -- total waste of time! AND Nova's hard pull has negatively affected my credit score. In response to reply below: I am in fact talking about American Express. They took the Nova report but didn't use it when determining credit limit, etc. So it was the same as if I hadn't bothered with Nova at all. Seems like one big data grab from Nova Credit, don't give them your info!

Really frustrated/ waste of my time Really frustrated. Did not work at all. You try to register at novacredit, it asks you basic questions about if you have a SSN / are you in US? But never asks about your other credit history in your country. Instead it gives you a list of credit cards associated with Nova (American Express) you might qualify for. It sends you to their webpage, and at NO POINT...did they ever ask me about my background credit history from Canada, even though I clicked "Foreign Credit History" earlier It says "Thank you for the submission, well let you know if you've been approved" So it's no wonder I got declined. Really absurd system.

Worst experience ever with Nova Credit Worst experience ever with Nova Credit. Their "partners" wouldn't even use Nova Credit report to help with my finance. Westlake Financial said they saw no credit history on my profile and they could not use Nova Credit. They asked my dealership to pull my Nova Credit which is funny because how could the dealership have access to Nova Credit? Don't believe the bells and whistles from Nova Credit and they will only ruin your US Credit history if you trust them and go ahead with them. Their support team is hopeless. I did 3 enquiries and the only thing I got was the "we will get back to you within 1-2 business days" and they never got back to me!!!

Smooth and painless Smooth and painless, I received an Amex CC after 15 minutes with an extra call to Amex. The Irony is I am a Canadian who has paid taxes and utilities on a home in the US for over 12 years and there was no US credit history on me. Even a major bank where I have had an account to manage this for all those years wasn’t able to help me get a card. The Canadian Credit rating companies are often owned by American firms and I am shocked those organization cannot or will not transfer info between the 2 counties.