Can a US realtor check Canadian credit

We want to rent a home but there is a 50$fee per adult to "check credit" - they know we are Canadian and are telling us to submit the fee. But can they check our Canadian credit??? I'm wondering if they just want to collect the 100$.

They just want to collect the fee. They can't check your credit, so its up to you if you want to pay the fee and get denied, or simply want away and get denied.

banks can check Canadian credit (even though they say they can't) so I don't see why a realtor couldn't. The credit bureaus are the same, they can even use their websites with a .ca on the end, rather than the .com

Ask the realtor how they intend to check your credit, if they can't answer it, then don't pay the fee.

Thanks you guys, I'll ask them to clarify first and then decide I guess.

banks can check Canadian credit (even though they say they can't) so I don't see why a realtor couldn't. The credit bureaus are the same, they can even use their websites with a .ca on the end, rather than the .com

Ask the realtor how they intend to check your credit, if they can't answer it, then don't pay the fee.

'The $50 fee is to run a US credit check. The realtors (or anyone else) in this case, have an account with the 3 reporting agencies. It doesn't cost them $50, its a way to make some cash.To run a Cdn check (why would they bother) wiuld cost the realtor more time and money than it is worth, for a rental credit check. They aren't setting up a long term rlationship like a bank is for a loan.

I left them a message and hopefully they will get back to me today. I know it costs them money to become commercial members of the credit bureau but I figured a large real estate company that is in both countries (like Remax or Prudential) could possibly have their affiliate pull Canadian credit. But then again, they never asked for my Canadian SIN which they would need, so ....hmmmm (I don't have a US SSN yet). I'll let you know!

Yeah, they will just pocket the $100 and deny you.

Or, if they are desperate for tenants, they will pocket the $100 and approve you.

So it's a $100 pre-rental fee, kinda like your cleaning deposit.

And I've never heard of Cdn real estate brokers running credit checks in canada either, especially on rentals.

So the realtor uses a "lender" to run an American credit check - they cannot obtain Canadian credit history apparently. But they can go by verification of employment, as well as personal or landlord references, or even a written credit reference from a bank (even though they did not ask for this last one). We were approved for the rental so the application fee wasn't a scam after all. Phew.

Toldya. Well, of course it was a scam, since your credit check was not performed; you had to provide all the info.

Well I guess they could say you are "paying for their time" - they called both employers and 3 other references we gave. Hey that's nothing compared to the 500$ non-refundable pet deposit because I have two dogs...(my dogs have never caused any damage or mess in our homes but oh well, I just needed a nice place for our family to live before January so....).