How to Check Your Credit Score in Canada
Once you start borrowing money or paying bills, your financial activity gets tracked and used to determine your credit score.
That three-digit number can have a lot of influence over your life. It might be used by a landlord to decide whether you’re fit to rent their apartment, or by a bank to decide how large a mortgage it should lend you.
You don’t need to know your credit score every minute of every day. But in those instances where knowing it would be helpful, it’s important to understand how and where you can check it.
How to check your credit score in Canada
You can submit a request for a free Equifax credit score and credit report via an online form, as well as by phone or mail.
TransUnion only allows residents of Quebec to check their credit score for free. If you live in any other province, you’ll have to pay for monthly credit monitoring to get your TransUnion credit score. All Canadians can get a free credit report from TransUnion, which they refer to as a “consumer disclosure.”
You can also use one of the Canadian personal finance websites that offers free credit scores and reports to users who sign up with their email address, like Borrowell, ClearScore and Intuit Credit Karma.
Some banks in Canada, such as TD, CIBC and RBC, also provide free credit scores via their online banking platforms or mobile apps.
A credit score is different from a credit report, which is sometimes referred to as a credit history. Your credit score sums up the contents of your credit report in a three-digit number.
Why bother checking your credit score?
Besides general curiosity, there are three main reasons why you might want to check your credit score.
You’re considering applying for credit
Knowing your credit score can help you decide whether or not you should apply for a credit card, loan or mortgage. If you check your score and it’s 620 or lower, you might have trouble getting approved for certain products.
This matters because these applications often require a hard credit check, which can lower your score even further. If there’s no chance of getting approved for a fancy American Express credit card, for example, there’s no point applying for it and hurting your credit score.
It’s good financial hygiene
You might check your credit score and find out it’s much lower than you expected. In these cases, you might realize that you need to be more careful about your use of credit. That’s a valuable lesson.
You might also realize that something’s amiss with your credit score. Financial institutions can make mistakes, so it’s important to check your credit score every now and then to ensure it’s not being dragged down by someone else’s error.
Catching errors as soon as possible helps ensure they don’t negatively affect your credit score or overall credit report.
It can protect you
Sometimes it’s not a mistake that harms your credit score. It could also be fraud.
Checking your credit score can help prevent fraud or identity theft because you can see if someone else is opening accounts, like a new credit card or cellphone plan, under your name.
How to rebuild a low credit score
Here are a few suggestions to fix and rebuild a low credit score:
Bring your accounts into good standing. Delinquent accounts will continue to damage your credit score as long as they remain unresolved. Work with your creditors to develop a repayment plan. Once these accounts are up-to-date, you can begin rebuilding your credit.
Get a secured credit card. Because you have to supply a deposit, secured credit cards are much easier to get. They still have to be used responsibly to help increase your credit score.
Make your payments on time. Payment history is the most crucial factor in your credit score.
Don’t cancel old credit card accounts. Even if you don’t use them anymore, it’s good to keep them open because credit history is also an important facet of your score. If you have to cancel your credit card, make sure you do so safely.
Frequently asked questions
Why are TransUnion and Equifax credit scores different?
Your Equifax and TransUnion credit scores will likely be slightly different.
Credit bureaus don’t always prioritize the exact same metrics to determine your credit score. Some creditors may decide to report your accounts to just one credit bureau, as there’s no law that account data must be reported to both.
When deciding whether to extend credit to you, lenders will typically look at scores from more than one bureau.
Does my foreign credit score matter in Canada?
If you are moving to Canada from another country, you will likely need to build a Canadian credit profile from scratch. Equifax and TransUnion will not factor your previous credit use into a Canadian credit score. .
Some lenders may consider your foreign credit history when evaluating you as a borrower, but it’s not something to count on.
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