Nova Credit’s Credit Passport is one of the most Googled tools among newly arrived immigrants, yet also one of the most misunderstood. Does it work if you have an ITIN instead of an SSN? Does it give you a U.S. credit score? What happens after you use it? This guide answers all of those questions plainly.
What exactly is Nova Credit’s Credit Passport, and why do ITIN holders care about it?
Nova Credit lets a newcomer’s home-country credit count with U.S. lenders via its Credit Passport. In plain terms, it is a data translation service, not a credit card, not a loan, and not a scoring platform. It is the world’s only cross-border credit data solution enabling lenders to assess the creditworthiness of newcomer applicants based on their foreign credit history.
ITIN holders care about it because many arrive in the U.S. with years of solid repayment history in their home country, only to be treated as credit invisible here. Each year, two million newcomers to the U.S. have to abandon credit history that is locked in their home country. Credit Passport attempts to solve that by letting a lender see what you built abroad, right at the moment of a U.S. credit application.
This is a lender-facing tool. Nova Credit does not lend money or issue credit cards. They are a reporting service that helps you show your international credit history to lenders, making it easier for lenders to evaluate your creditworthiness based on your past credit behavior.
Does Nova Credit actually work if I only have an ITIN (no SSN)?
A question we hear often: whether ITIN holders can use Credit Passport at all, or whether the whole product is gated behind a Social Security number.
Most Nova Credit partner products accept an ITIN as an alternative, and some accept a passport number. So the short answer is yes: for most partner lenders, your ITIN is sufficient identification to use the Credit Passport flow.
That said, “most” is not “all.” Each lender sets its own identification requirements, and a handful of partner lenders may still require an SSN. The safest approach is to review the application requirements directly on each partner’s website before you proceed. If a lender rejects your ITIN, move to the next partner on Nova Credit’s list rather than applying blindly and accumulating hard inquiries. See our guide on hard inquiries with an ITIN to understand how those affect your file.
Which countries does Nova Credit support in 2026?
This one comes up a lot: Mexico, India, and the UK dominate the questions we receive, but Nova Credit’s coverage is broader than many people realize.
As of 2026, Nova Credit supports credit data from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Lenders can access over two billion consumer-permissioned credit records in over 20 countries.
If your home country is not on that list today, Credit Passport is not yet an option for you, and you will need to build U.S. credit from the ground up. The most effective starting points are a credit-builder loan with your ITIN and a secured card that reports to all three bureaus, which we cover in detail in our how to build credit with an ITIN number guide.
Does using Credit Passport give me a U.S. credit score?
This is the most common misconception, and the answer is a firm no.
Credit Passport is used once, by one lender, at application time. It does not report to Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion, and it does not give you a standalone U.S. credit file you keep and reuse. It helps you get approved. Your actual U.S. credit history only starts once you open and use that U.S. account.
This distinction matters. Many ITIN holders use Nova Credit, get approved for a U.S. product, and then assume their score will appear on their credit report automatically. It will not. The Credit Passport report is consumed by that single lender in that single session. The U.S. bureau file is created, and the score clock starts ticking, only when the lender begins reporting your payment activity to the credit bureaus, typically after your first billing cycle. Credit Passport does not automatically give you a U.S. credit score. You still need to build U.S. credit history through credit products that report to U.S. credit bureaus.
Think of Credit Passport as a door opener, not the house itself. It gets you past the approval step. What you do with the account afterward is what builds your FICO and VantageScore. According to FICO, payment history accounts for 35% of your score, which means even one missed payment on your new U.S. account can erase a lot of goodwill earned through the Credit Passport process.
What happened to the American Express + Nova Credit path?
Readers frequently ask: about using Nova Credit to apply for an American Express card, since this was a widely covered option in older guides.
American Express began requiring a Social Security number or ITIN from every U.S. consumer credit applicant on August 28, 2023, which ended the old Nova-powered no-SSN Amex flow. Nova Credit the company is still active with many other partners, but the specific route people still write about is no longer available. The primary credit card partner is now Deserve.
If you find older blog posts describing an Amex application through Nova Credit without any SSN or ITIN, that information is outdated. The good news is that Deserve, along with lenders like MPOWER Financing for student loans and Westlake Financial for auto loans, still actively use Credit Passport.
How does Credit Passport actually work, step by step?
With a few steps, Nova Credit can instantaneously translate an international credit report into a local-equivalent credit score, tradelines, risk attributes, and other common measurements. Here is the practical flow for an ITIN holder:
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Choose a Nova Credit partner lender | Visit the partner’s application (Deserve, MPOWER, Westlake, etc.) |
| 2. Select “use international credit history” | During the application, you opt in to the Credit Passport flow |
| 3. Identify your home country and bureau | Nova Credit routes to the correct international bureau |
| 4. Authenticate and give consent | You follow country-specific instructions to grant access to your international credit data; after authentication, the data is sent to the lender and to you simultaneously, in a standardized format. |
| 5. Lender reviews translated report | Credit Passport is an FCRA consumer report for lenders to assess creditworthiness of U.S. newcomers by accessing international credit data that is standardized to a format familiar for U.S. underwriters. |
| 6. Lender makes approval decision | Nova Credit provides the lender with your translated credit data, but the lender makes the final decision. A denial can happen because of income requirements, visa type, a derogatory mark in your foreign credit file, or the lender’s internal risk appetite. |
What should I do right after getting approved through a Nova Credit partner?
Getting approved is step one. Building a lasting U.S. credit profile is the actual goal, and that requires deliberate action after the approval.
First, confirm the account is reporting to all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) within 30-45 days of your first billing cycle. You can do this by pulling your free reports. Our full bureau-by-bureau guide for ITIN holders walks through exactly how to read what you see.
Second, pay on time every single month. 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 repayment track record is what drives score growth over time.
Third, keep your credit utilization low. Scoring models generally reward keeping balances below 30% of your available credit limit. For a detailed breakdown of how utilization is calculated with an ITIN, see our credit utilization guide for ITIN holders.
Consider layering a credit-builder loan alongside your new account. Adding an installment tradeline to a revolving account improves your credit mix and gives FICO and VantageScore more data points to work with, which accelerates how quickly a scoreable file develops.
Is Nova Credit a replacement for building U.S. credit, or just the first step?
It is the first step, and only that. Nova Credit lets a newcomer’s home-country credit count with U.S. lenders via its Credit Passport. It is real and useful, but it is not a card, and it builds no U.S. score.
Once you have your first U.S. account open through a Nova Credit partner (or any other ITIN-friendly lender), the advice from our how to raise your credit score with an ITIN guide applies in full: consistent on-time payments, low utilization, and patience. According to data from the Cookson et al. 2026 immigration study, immigrants are 4.6 percentage points more likely to have prime or higher credit scores (VantageScore above 660) by age 30 than non-immigrant counterparts. The foundation laid in those first 12-24 months with a U.S. account compounds significantly over time.
Frequently asked questions
Does Nova Credit give me a U.S. credit score? No. Credit Passport is used once, by one lender, at the time you apply. It does not report to Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion, and it does not create a U.S. credit file you keep and reuse. Your U.S. credit history only begins once you open and actively use a U.S. credit account that reports to the bureaus.
Do I need an ITIN or SSN to use Nova Credit? Most Nova Credit partner lenders accept an ITIN as an alternative to an SSN. Some accept a passport number alone. Check each partner lender’s application requirements before applying, since policies vary by lender.
Which countries does Nova Credit support for ITIN holders in 2026? As of 2026, Nova Credit’s Credit Passport supports credit data from countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, with more being added. If your home country is not yet supported, you will need to build U.S. credit from scratch using tools like a secured card or credit-builder loan.
Can I still use Nova Credit to get an American Express card with an ITIN? No. American Express began requiring an SSN or ITIN from every U.S. consumer credit applicant in August 2023, which ended the old Nova Credit-powered no-SSN Amex application flow. As of 2026, the primary credit card partner for Nova Credit is Deserve, not American Express.
What should I do after using Nova Credit to get approved for a U.S. account? After getting approved through a Nova Credit partner, immediately use that account responsibly: pay on time every month, keep your credit utilization below 30%, and monitor all three bureaus to confirm the account is reporting. Pair it with a credit-builder loan if possible to add an installment tradeline and accelerate your score.