Before you begin your first U.S. credit card application with your ITIN, you will need to have a U.S. address. If you have a property in the U.S., or have a friend or family that allow you to use their addresses as your U.S. address, that would be ideal. If not, you will need to look into U.S. Mail service. U.S. Mail services provide you with a U.S. address that you can receive mail, and some U.S. mail services can even forward your mail to you Canadian address.

Nowadays, U.S. Banks often check U.S. address and reject credit card applications with U.S. address that is marked as “Commercial Mail Receiving Agency”. You can use the USPS Zip look up tool to determine if an address marked as a “Commercial Mail Receiving Agency”.

Once you find a mail forwarding service that provide U.S. address that is not marked as “Commercial Mail Receiving Agency”, you need to check that the mail forwarding service does not prohibit credit card mails.

If you live near U.S. border, I would suggest you look for local U.S. mail services, which tend to allow credit card mails, only charge per mail collected, and their U.S. addresses are often not marked as “Commercial Mail Receiving Agency”.

If you are willing to pay an annual fee for a mail forwarding service, 24/7 Parcel Mailbox seems to work for many Canadians. It charges an annual fee of US$90 to rent a mailbox. You will pay a fee of $2 to $3 to get every piece of mail forwarded to Canada.