How to Get Your Free Credit Report
and Check Your Credit Score
3 Ways to Get Your Credit Report in Canada
In Canada, there are a few ways you can check your credit report for free. Canada has two credit reporting agencies, Equifax and TransUnion, and you can obtain a free credit report from each of them for no charge.
If everything goes well, you can see your credit report online. Otherwise, it will be sent to you in the mail. Through their online portal, Equifax will also show you a version of your credit score (it’s close but not the real thing). However, TransUnion requires people to pay to see their approximation of your credit score (no, it’s not the real thing either, but it should be fairly close). You can possibly find out your real credit score by asking your banker when you apply for credit or when you open a new bank account. You can also use a free credit score estimator calculator to get a rough idea. We recommend that you get a copy of your credit report from both Equifax and TransUnion as the information on each report may be different.
Option 1
Get Instant Online Access to Your Credit Report and Score
Both Equifax and TransUnion provide online access to your credit report for free. Equifax also includes a credit score as part of this free package.
Here is where you can access Equifax’s free online credit score and report and TransUnion’s free online credit report. If either of these options don’t work for you, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong, it just means that you’ll have to try one of the other methods listed below. It’s possible that for some reason the information you entered doesn’t perfectly match the credit reporting agency’s records.
Option 2
Get Instant Access to Your Free Credit Report by Phone
- Equifax – 1-800-465-7166 (Automated Telephone Service)
- TransUnion – 1-800-663-9980 (Automated Telephone Service)
What to do When Your Credit Report Request is Rejected
If you make a mistake while using the automated telephone service or if the information you enter does not precisely match the credit agency’s records, the automated service will reject your request, and it won’t send you a copy of your credit report. If this happens to you, don’t panic and assume that there’s a problem with your credit bureau. Instead, try the next option to verify what may have gone wrong.
Option 3
Request Your Free Credit Report By Filling Out a Form
Quick Links to Equifax and TransUnion Credit report forms
You can also request a free copy of your credit report from Equifax and TransUnion by filling out an Equifax form and/or a TransUnion form. You can then mail the completed forms to Equifax and TransUnion and they will mail you a free credit report.
For all the options listed above, when your credit report arrives by mail, certain personal and identifying details will be blocked out. If this is your own report, there is enough information there for you to know what’s going on. If someone should get your report in error, or take it out of the mail, there isn’t enough information there for them to harm your identity.
Score Calculations, Myths, How to Build Credit & More
Should You Pay to Get Your Credit Score?
Your Credit Score Might Be Good Already
With Equifax now providing an estimate of your credit score for free (they won’t provide the actual number because their algorithm is proprietary, and they probably don’t want the public trying to reverse engineer it), there really is no reason to pay TransUnion to find out their estimate of your credit score unless you have a problem there and want to find out how bad the damage is.
If you have had good credit for a number of years, always pay your bills on time, use less than 75% of your credit limits, and haven’t applied for a lot of credit recently, then your credit score will be good. If you suspect that your credit isn’t as good as it should be and you are planning to apply for credit, then paying TransUnion to find out their estimate of your credit score could provide you with some peace of mind, but it will likely be very similar to the free score you got from Equifax.
If you would like some tips to improve your credit score, talk to your banker, or click here to find out how to get a good credit score.
If you have a problem trying to access your credit report online, you can try calling the credit reporting agencies or sending in a form (see Options 2 & 3).
Understanding Your Credit Report
and Correcting Mistakes
Once you receive a copy of your credit report, it will contain explanations to help you understand the details of your credit report. It should also let you know how to correct mistakes or dispute information that you think is incorrect. The Government of Canada has also published a guide called Understanding Your Credit Report and Credit Score to help Canadians understand how the credit reporting system works in Canada. It contains all sorts of helpful info including how long information stays on your credit report.
How to Find Out Your Credit Score in Canada
For Free or Through Equifax & TransUnion
As was previously mentioned, Equifax now provides you with a free estimate of your credit score (rating) while TransUnion still charges for this. If you don’t want to pay anything and you only want a rough idea of what your credit score might be, you can try out this credit score estimator calculator to get a free credit score. This calculator also comments on your credit score and tells you how good it is. You can then play with the calculator to come up with some ideas of how you may be able to improve your score, or you can learn more by clicking here to find out how your credit score is calculated.
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