International credit history FAQs

Your international credit history is your credit information from a credit bureau in a country or region other than the UAE - such as your home country or somewhere else you've lived.

With your permission, we can access your international credit history (from selected countries) to help you apply for an HSBC UAE credit card. We work with a company called Nova Credit to do this.

Nova Credit is an official partner of HSBC. It works with lenders and financial services providers around the world, giving instant access to global credit data in a standardised format.

If you give your permission, Nova Credit and its affiliates can securely access your credit history from a foreign country/region and share it with us to support your credit card application.

If you agree to share your international credit history to support your HSBC UAE credit card application, we’ll work with our partner Nova Credit and/or its affiliates to access a translated version of your credit history.

During your application, you'll be asked to give your consent for this information to be shared with us. We'll only use the information to assess your credit card application and nothing else.

Not any country, no. At the moment, we can access international credit histories from selected countries and regions, and we're working with our partner Nova Credit to add to this list all the time.

Please note that we can only take your credit history from one country into consideration (in addition to the UAE). If you've lived in more than one country on the list, you can choose which one you'd like to use to support your credit card application. We'd recommend the most recent, but it's your choice.

See Which countries can I share my credit history from? for more information.

At present, you can share your credit history from any of the following countries:

This list may grow in future, as we're working with Nova Credit and its affiliates to add more countries to it.

Yes. We're continuously working with Nova Credit and its affiliates to add more countries to the list.

No. It's optional, and you can submit your credit card application without it.

However, if you don't share your credit history it may affect the outcome of your application, especially when you're new to the UAE and haven't built up a credit record here.

You'll be eligible to use your international credit history if you've previously lived in and have a credit history in any of these countries:

This list may grow in future, as we're continuously working with Nova Credit and its affiliates to add more countries to it.

Yes. It's free to use this service to support your HSBC UAE credit card application.

No. If you give us permission to access your international credit history, it doesn't mean your entire credit history will be imported into the UAE.

All it means is that we'll get access to an international credit report from Nova Credit, which we'll use solely for the purpose of processing your credit card application.

Yes. Nova Credit and its subsidiaries are regularly and independently audited against international standards on information security, confidentiality, and privacy controls.

Yes, you'll still need to provide supporting documents if we ask for them.

When you apply for a credit card online with us, if you're eligible you'll automatically be asked within the application if you'd like to share your international credit history.

We'll then ask you a few questions to help us find it.

While the exact information required may vary depending on which credit bureau holds your credit history, you'll often need to:

It depends on which country your credit history is from.

For Australia, India, Mexico, Switzerland, Philippines, the UK, and US, you'll need to know your most recent address in the country where you have that credit history.

For other countries, you don't have to provide your most recent address.

You can save your credit card application at any time. However, if you decide to save partway through accessing your international credit history, you'll need to complete this step again when you resume the application.

Yes.

The method for confirming your identity varies depending on which country you're trying to access your credit history for. For most countries, you won't need access to the email address held by that country’s credit bureau.

Indian credit bureaus do ask for the email address they hold for you. But don't worry if that email is no longer in use. You'll still be able to continue by using a secure code on your mobile phone, or by answering a few security questions.

The method for confirming your identity will vary depending on which country you're trying to access your credit history for. For most countries, you won't need access to the phone number held by the credit bureau.

Indian credit bureaus do ask for the phone number they hold for you. But don't worry if that phone number is no longer in use. You'll still be able to continue by using a secure code sent to your email address, or by answering a few security questions.

'Nova Passport' is the name for your international credit report, which Nova Credit has translated into a standard format. We'll use your Nova Passport to help process your credit card application.

You'll receive a copy of your Nova Passport from alerts@novacredit.com to the email address you used in your credit card application. The email will include instructions on how to download the report for your own records.

Please make sure you download the report within 72 hours of receiving the email. If you miss the 72-hour window, you can use the link provided in your email to ask for an updated link.

If you have questions about any details within your Nova Passport report, you can contact Nova Credit directly.

If you notice anything that's inaccurate, we recommend contacting Nova Credit to dispute and investigate these details quickly. Inaccurate information may have a negative effect on your credit information and/or indicate fraudulent activity.

Contact Nova Credit

Credit bureaus frequently update their information, which means your credit score and other attributes of your credit history may differ from one day to the next.

Nova Credit’s international bureau partners may also have different types of credit reports they provide. This means the exact report that Nova Credit offers may be slightly different to the one the bureau shares with you directly.

Finally, Nova Credit works with multiple bureaus in the same country, and each bureau may have a different score for you.

After you've completed and submitted your application, we’ll begin to process it. We'll get in touch with if we need any more information from you.

Your copy of the report is just for your records. We have a separate copy that we'll use to help process your application.

There are a few reasons why we might not be able to find your international credit history. For example:

Foreign credit bureaus are outside of our control, so it's difficult for us to say for sure why there's a technical error. However, it could be that one of the bureau's systems isn't online at the time of your application, which would affect your ability to access and share your credit history.

If you get a technical error, you can either continue your application without sharing your international credit history, or try again later once the problem has been resolved.

Lending decisions are based on several factors. Although using your international credit history can help your application for a credit card, it doesn't guarantee we'll be able to offer you one

We can only access your international credit report at the time you give consent. If it your report has changed since you completed your HSBC credit card application, we won't be able to access the updated version.

If you'd like us to take the updated report into consideration, you'll need to submit a new application.

For credit histories from all countries except the US:

A copy of your Nova Passport will be sent to the email address you used in your credit card application. Be sure to check your inbox and spam folder: look for a message from alerts@novacredit.com.

If you still can't find it, you can contact Nova Credit directly to ask for a copy.