Your credit history and the years you spent building it abroad mean nothing to a U.S. lender looking at your file cold. That is one of the most frustrating surprises new ITIN holders face, and it is worth understanding exactly why it happens and what you can actually do about it.
Why doesn’t my home-country credit score transfer to the U.S. automatically?
A question we hear often: an ITIN holder arrives from India, Brazil, or Canada with a decade of clean payment history, only to be treated as a complete stranger by U.S. lenders.
The three major U.S. credit bureaus do not import foreign credit files. Your score in your home country does not appear in the U.S. system automatically, even if the bureau shares a name. The reason is structural: each country has its own credit-scoring systems that are not typically compatible with those in the U.S. Equifax Canada and Equifax U.S. are separate databases with different formats, different lenders, and different scoring methodologies. One does not talk to the other.
This means that on your first day using your ITIN for a credit application in the U.S., your FICO and VantageScore are not 650 or 750 or anything else. They simply do not exist yet, since you have no U.S. tradelines reporting. The industry term for this is being “credit invisible.”
The good news is that this is a solvable problem, and it can move faster than you might think.
So what IS Nova Credit, and can it help me with my ITIN?
Nova Credit is a financial technology company that helps immigrants and international people build credit in the United States using their credit history from their home country. Instead of starting from zero, you can transfer your international credit history to U.S. lenders, which can help you get approved for credit cards, loans, and apartments.
The mechanism Nova uses is called the Credit Passport. The Credit Passport is the U.S.-equivalent credit report that Nova Credit generates when translating credit information from non-U.S. countries. It includes an estimated U.S.-equivalent credit score, derogatory marks, aggregate statistics, tradelines, and inquiry history. Nova then shares that translated file with participating U.S. lenders so they can make an approval decision.
For ITIN holders specifically, you fill out an application with the necessary information when prompted. You will need to have a U.S. residential address and possibly a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). In other words, your ITIN can work as the identifier on the application while Nova supplies the credit context your file otherwise lacks.
One important caveat: it does not create a U.S. credit score. Credit Passport helps lenders understand your international credit history, but it does not automatically give you a U.S. credit score. You still need to build U.S. credit history through credit products and reporting to U.S. credit bureaus. Nova is a door-opener for approval, not a substitute for building a U.S. file.
Which countries does Nova Credit currently support?
This one comes up a lot: not every ITIN holder comes from a country Nova covers.
Currently available reports come from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Nova also has partnerships in Colombia, Ghana, and a handful of additional markets, and the list continues to grow.
Coverage by country is limited, and credit reporting quality varies widely. Even within supported countries, the depth of tradeline data Nova can retrieve differs based on which local bureaus it has integrated with. If your home country is on the list, check whether Nova has a meaningful data relationship there before you rely on it.
If your country is not supported, the path forward is the same as for any credit-invisible ITIN holder: open a U.S. account that reports to the bureaus and start building domestic history from scratch. That is actually faster than many people expect.
Which U.S. lenders actually accept Nova Credit’s Credit Passport?
Readers frequently ask: “I heard American Express used Nova Credit. Is that still true?”
The lender landscape has shifted. Major lenders like American Express (partnership ended 2025), Deserve, and others have partnered with Nova Credit. Chase also accepts Credit Passport for select card applications. You can now use your credit history from select countries when applying for a Chase credit card.
The reality is that not all lenders use it. Many mainstream credit card companies and banks do not partner with Nova Credit yet. You may need to apply through specialty lenders that focus on immigrants, which may have less favorable terms. The list of participating lenders changes regularly, so verify directly with the lender at the time of your application.
For an ITIN holder whose primary goal is building a strong U.S. credit score, even a single approved account through Nova Credit is useful because it gets you a reporting tradeline. Once that account is reporting on-time payments to a U.S. bureau, your file starts growing under your own name and ITIN, independent of any future use of Nova.
What if I cannot use Nova Credit or my country isn’t listed?
You are in the same position as most ITIN holders who arrive in the U.S.: a clean slate. That sounds daunting, but it moves quickly with the right first step.
Typically, it takes three to six months of consistent reporting from a lender for the major bureaus to generate a score and a formal file. The key is opening an account that actually reports to all three bureaus. Not every financial product does.
The most reliable starting combination is one revolving account and one installment account:
- A secured card that reports to Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. You place a deposit (usually $200-$500), use the card for small recurring purchases, and pay the balance in full each month. The on-time payment data flows to the bureaus and starts your file.
- A credit-builder loan. You make fixed monthly payments into a locked savings account, and the lender reports each payment as an installment tradeline. You get the funds at the end of the term. Our credit builder loan with ITIN guide covers which lenders accept ITINs and what the monthly payments actually cost.
According to Experian’s February 2026 white paper, 76.9% of ITIN holders remained current on trades after 12 months, a rate 15% higher than SSN consumers. That track record matters: ITIN holders are statistically reliable payers, which is exactly why more lenders are opening up to this segment.
How does this compare? Nova Credit vs. building from scratch
| Scenario | Gets you a U.S. credit score? | Timeline to first score | Requires strong foreign history? | Works for all ITIN holders? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Credit Credit Passport | No (helps approval only) | Immediate approval possible, score still takes 3-6 months | Yes | No (country-dependent) |
| Secured card (ITIN-accepted) | Yes, after 3-6 months | 3-6 months | No | Yes |
| Credit-builder loan (ITIN-accepted) | Yes, after 3-6 months | 3-6 months | No | Yes |
| Nova Credit + U.S. tradeline | Yes, after 3-6 months | Fastest combined path | Yes for Nova portion | No (country-dependent) |
| Authorized user on family member’s account | Yes, often immediately | Days to weeks | No | Yes (if primary user reports) |
The strongest path for most ITIN holders is the combined one: if your country is supported and your foreign history is clean, use Nova Credit to get approved for a real U.S. tradeline on day one, then let that account report its way to a domestic score. If Nova is not an option, a secured card is your starting point.
Does my foreign credit history count at all once I have a U.S. score?
Readers frequently ask: once a U.S. file exists, does any of the foreign history add to it retroactively?
No. Even if you had an excellent credit history in a previous country, that record generally does not transfer to the United States. U.S. credit reports only contain information on U.S. lenders and creditors. Your FICO and VantageScore are calculated entirely from what U.S. bureaus can see: domestic tradelines, payment history, balances, inquiries, and account ages.
That said, your foreign history is not worthless. Some non-bureau lenders, community banks, and credit unions conduct manual underwriting and may ask for a translated copy of your foreign credit report as supplemental documentation. This is separate from what feeds into your FICO, but it can influence approval decisions, especially for larger loans in the early years of your U.S. file.
According to a 2026 study on immigrant credit by Cookson et al., immigrants experience lower credit access for at least thirteen years after immigration, particularly in auto loans and mortgages, despite maintaining higher credit scores and lower delinquency rates. The gap is real, but it closes faster when ITIN holders take deliberate steps early: open reporting accounts, keep utilization low, and let on-time payments accumulate. For a full picture of what moves your score once your file exists, see our guide on how to raise your credit score with an ITIN.
The bottom line on foreign credit history and your ITIN score
Your years of responsible borrowing abroad will not automatically follow you into the U.S. credit system. Nova Credit can bridge that gap with certain lenders if your home country is supported, but it does not create a U.S. score on its own. The practical plan for almost every ITIN holder is the same: open one reporting account as quickly as possible, pay on time, keep balances low, and let the file grow. Most people are scoring within six months. The foreign history you built signals your character as a borrower. The U.S. bureaus just need a few months of domestic evidence before they can reflect that in a number.