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What is a Credit Report?

 

WHAT IS A CREDIT REPORT?

Credit reports help facilitate the process of granting consumers credit in a timely manner. Credit bureaus collect and store factual information about your credit and financial history. Credit grantors provide credit bureaus with factual information on how the credit grantors’ customers pay their bills. The credit bureau then assembles this information that is collected from each credit grantor and the credit bureau creates a ‘credit file’ based on this consolidated information.

 

HOW DID I BECOME PART OF A CREDIT BUREAU’S FILES?

Normally your first credit application, which results in a request for a credit report, causes the creation of your credit record in our files. Once a record is established, credit information, such as payment history, supplied by your creditors, enables your file to be updated automatically.

 

IS THIS MY ENTIRE CREDIT FILE?

Not all credit grantors that you do business with will report their accounts to credit bureaus due to the expense and time involved. As such, a credit report is not necessarily a complete summary of all your finances. There is also more than one credit bureau in Canada and a file containing information about your credit and financial history may also be maintained by each credit bureau. We encourage you to contact them in order to review any credit file that may be held containing information relating to you.

 

WHEN IS NEGATIVE INFORMATION REMOVED FROM MY FILE?

It is the policy of most credit bureaus to record all information for the maximum time allowed by credit reporting legislation. For example, first-time bankruptcy information reports for 6 to 7 years from discharge date or 14 years from filing date, depending on the province. We encourage you to check your provincial legislation for full details on the reporting periods for negative information.

 

WHY IS A LOAN OR ACCOUNT I HAVE PAID OFF STILL IN MY CREDIT HISTORY?

Your credit file is a record of how you have paid your past obligations. Therefore, information of paid accounts and the manner in which those accounts were handled is included in your credit file and provides potential credit grantors with the needed indication of your ability and willingness to meet debt obligations.

 

DOES THE CREDIT BUREAU DECIDE WHETHER I SHOULD BE GRANTED CREDIT?

No! In each case the credit grantor, based on its own requirements for extending credit, makes the decision to grant, or decline the request for credit. The credit bureau is not involved in this determination. Credit grantors extend credit based upon their own policies and standards utilizing the information the credit bureau provides. These standards can vary from one creditor to another.

 

WHAT IF I DO NOT AGREE WITH WHAT IS ON MY FILE?

The information reflected on your credit report is a direct extraction from the information provided to the credit bureau by credit grantors, federal and provincial government offices and public registries. The details relating to manner of payment, payment pattern and historical status reflect the reported manner in which you paid your accounts. The credit bureau cannot alter the information reported, unless it is determined to be incomplete or otherwise inaccurate. You have the right to dispute any information contained in your credit file and, at your request, we will conduct an investigation to verify the dispute.

 

HOW DOES DIVORCE AFFECT MY JOINT ACCOUNTS?

Where a contractual or other obligation was entered into jointly, the original parties to the obligation remain liable for its complete payment. This obligation will be reflected on the credit file of each of the parties until such time as the credit bureau receives official notice to the contrary. Divorce does not alter the status of joint obligations.

 

WHAT IS A CREDIT SCORE?

A credit score is an unbiased value that is used by creditors to predict the credit risk of those applying for credit. It is a score that takes into account all information on your credit file and assigns an objective numerical value that represents the risk of granting you credit. The credit bureau provides the information to create this score value.

 

WHO HAS ACCESS TO MY FILE?

Your credit information can only be accessed by those agencies you give consent to. A company must have a legitimate and permissible purpose for accessing your file such as: the extension of credit, employment, tenancy, insurance or collection of debt.

 

HOW DO I CONTACT A CREDIT BUREAU?

There are two major credit bureaus in Canada: TransUnion and Equifax.

TransUnion Canada: www.TransUnion.ca
Equifax: www.Equifax.com/home/en_ca