How to Get My Credit Report in Canada

While there may be a cultural divide at times between the United States and Canada, the countries have one similarity: credit reports. Canada has the three credit bureaus of Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, just like the U.S. does. They also work the same way in providing your credit report for free, assuming you don't mind getting the report by snail mail. If you want to get an instant credit report by email, you'll have to pay a fee.

Instructions

Obtaining by Mail

1

Select two pieces of identification that prove who you are and have your signature on them. These could be your driver's license, birth certificate, a bill statement, a credit card or a card proving your citizenship of Canada.

2

Photocopy the front and back of the two pieces of ID.

3

Write an optional cover letter asking for your credit report. Place this in a safely-sealed, 8-by-11 envelope with the photocopies of your I.D.

4

Mail to one of these credit bureaus in Canada:

Experian Canada
150 King Street West, Suite 805
P.O. Box 68
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5H 1J9

TransUnion of Canada
Consumer Relations Center
P.O. Box 338, LCD 1
Hamilton, Ontario
L8L 7W2

Equifax
Consumer Relations Department
Box 190 Jean Talon Station
Montreal, Quebec
H1S 2Z2

5

Receive your report in the mail in a couple of weeks.

Obtaining Online

6

Fill out an online order form on TransUnion Canada's website to get your credit report almost instantly in your email box. The first page asks for your personal information, including your email and Social Insurance number (the equivalent of a Social Security number in the United States).

7

On the second page, add your credit card information to pay for your credit report. TransUnion Canada charges $14.95 as of 2010. A credit score is also available for $7.95 as of 2010.

8

Verify your ID on the third page. The fourth page will take you to a page to view products, though you'll be able to finalize your payment before then.

9

Wait a few minutes for an email from TransUnion and open it to view your credit report.

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How to Obtain a Credit History

Applying for financing and being denied due to no credit history is frustrating. You need credit to build a good credit history. However, some creditors won't issue credit to people with little or no credit. The key is knowing what types of loans to get with no credit. Several options are available to help you get credit and obtain a good history. And once you acquire credit, regularly checking your credit history by ordering your credit report is essential to ensuring accuracy and protecting your identity.

Instructions

Building a Credit History

1

Apply for a loan in your name. Talk with a local bank and ask about a small bank loan (no more than $500). Put down collateral to help you qualify such as car title or jewelry. Pay back the loan balance within a few months to add positive credit to your report.

2

Piggyback. Share a credit card with someone who has an established credit history such as a parent of sibling. Request that they add your name to their account.

3

Acquire a federal student loan. Federal student loans are available to people with no credit history. If considering higher education, take out a student loan to begin developing a good credit history.

4

Obtain a credit card. Secured credit cards have helped numerous people establish and re-establish credit. Put down a deposit ($300 to $500) and request a card from your bank or credit union.

5

Use credit cards responsibly. You have to use credit to build a credit history. Keep one credit card in your wallet or purse and use it for inexpensive items.

6

Pay off cards. Don't carry a balance. Pay off your balances every month.

7

Avoid high revolving debts. Set a personal limit on your credit card and stick with this limit to avoid high balances. For example, if you have a $1,000 limit, aim to keep your balance under $200.

Obtaining a Credit History Report

8

Use the Internet. According to the FTC, Annual Credit Report provides consumers with one free credit report a year from each of the bureaus. This is a central website setup by the three major credit bureaus. Visit the site to order and view your complete credit history online.

9

Call the toll-free number. If you don't have access to the Internet, order your free report via telephone. Call 877-322-8228.

10

Request reports by mail. Download a credit report request form from the FTC's website and mail the form to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

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Credit Repair Information

You may see ads promising to repair your credit for a fee. Although they may sound tempting, you can repair your credit yourself rather than pay someone else. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report annually from TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, and you can use those reports to start the repair job, which involves challenging certain information on your report and managing your credit wisely.

Incorrect Items

You can dispute any incorrect items you find on your credit reports. The credit bureaus must remove these items if the company that reported the information cannot verify them. Every negative item that is removed because it is incorrect will raise your credit score.

In fact, the law requires credit bureaus to remove negative items that cannot be verified. Some items may not be incorrect, but they may be unverifiable for various reasons. For example, a creditor may go out of business or a bank may be taken over and not be able to find the necessary paperwork for proof. If you suspect that an item cannot be verified, disputing it can help repair your credit. However, if the company comes up with proof, it will remain on your credit report.

Payment History

Rebuilding a good payment history is an important part of rebuilding your credit. Although negative items typically remain on your credit report for seven years, the newer information carries more weight than the old. The longer you maintain a consistent history of paying your bills on time, the more attractive you look to potential creditors.

New Accounts

As you repair your credit, you may be tempted to open new credit accounts. This can help repair your credit if you do it carefully and responsibly. Your credit score is helped by having a variety of accounts, such as credit cards, installment loans and store accounts. However, your credit can be harmed by applying for too many new accounts all at once. Rebuild your credit through removing negative items and maintaining a perfect payment history for six months to a year. Apply for one account, and if your application is denied, wait several months before trying again. Having too many inquiries on your credit history will undermine your repair efforts.

Refinancing Loans

If you were able to get loans while your credit was bad, you may be paying extremely high interest rates. Try to negotiate unfavorable loan terms, and refinance the loan with another lender if your current company is unwilling to budge.

Renegotiating Credit Cards

You may have credit card issuers who raised your interest rates if you missed payments. Once your credit repair efforts have gone on for six months to a year, contact your credit card companies to see if they are willing to renegotiate the rate. Let them know you are willing to transfer the balance to another card with better terms if they refuse because your newly repaired credit will give you the option of opening other accounts.

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How to Boost Your Wife's Credit Score

Your credit score, or FICO score, is essential for opening accounts, borrowing money, getting low rates and sometimes being hired for a job. A credit score looks at your credit report to evaluate your financial health and responsibility with money with a single number from 350 to 850, with 850 being the best. Applying for joint accounts and loans with your wife can lead to a decline if your wife's score is low even if yours is high. You can boost your wife's credit score over a period of months and years through appropriate financial behavior.

Instructions

1

Request a copy of your wife's report and current credit score. View the report for any incorrect debts, accounts listed as open that should be closed, payments listed as late when you know they weren't, balances listed incorrectly or other errors. Report the errors as soon as possible so that the inaccuracies will be removed from her report.

2

Ask your wife to stop using credit cards or applying for new cards to freeze the ceiling of her existing debt where it is. Making monthly payments to loans and cards should bring debt levels down, but new spending can keep her debt to available credit ratio at a standstill.

3

Make payments to your wife's current creditors (loans, credit cards, etc.) before the due dates and in the minimum amount due or more. Set up bill-pay reminders to ensure the dates aren't forgotten or set up an auto-pay system either through the creditor or your bank's online banking. Catch up on any cards or loans that are behind as soon as possible.

4

Pay off debts as quickly as possible, either by paying them with cash saved in an account to make one final payment or making larger payments each month to pay the balance down faster. Resist the urge to transfer money from place to place because this doesn't pay down the balances. When possible, keep her card balances at 50 percent of the credit limit or less to avoid maxed-out cards.

5

Don't close credit cards she isn't using since this will decrease the amount of available credit she has, making her total debt ratio higher. Instead, leave unused, zero-balance credit cards open to show restraint and keep the credit history open. Request a credit limit decrease if she'll be tempted to spend more than the two of you can payoff within a two-to-three month period.

6

Request a copy of her report and score again after six months to a year of positive spending habits. Look for the score to increase over time and make sure all of the creditor and account information is now correct.

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How to Obtain a Free Credit Report & Score

It is important to regularly monitor your credit report and score. Your credit report helps you catch anyone who steals your identity. It will show you information for all of your accounts. Your credit score indicates the amount of risk you are to a lender. The higher your score the better interest rates you will qualify for. Checking your score will give you the opportunity to raise it before you apply for a mortgage or another loan.

Instructions

Credit Report

1

Go to AnnualCreditReport.com to obtain your free copy of your credit report. You are allowed to pull a free credit report once a year from each of the three credit bureaus. You can do all three at once or stagger them over the year to monitor your credit more closely.

2

Select your state in the drop-down box and then click "Request Report." This takes you to a form to fill out to prove you are the correct person. You need your Social Security number, your current address, your address for the last five years and your account information.

3

Click on the credit report you want. This takes you to another series of questions about your accounts and past addresses or names. Then the credit report opens up.

4

Make sure all your accounts are current and that you recognize each account. You can dispute discrepancies by contacting the credit bureau and the bank that reported the wrong information.

Credit Score

5

Visit creditkarma.com. This website provides a free credit score any time you want. You will receive credit card offers on the site which may lower your interest rates or help improve your score. You do not have to accept the offers.

6

Hit the "Get Started" button to move to a page where you fill out your address, your phone number and other information. Hit the "Submit" button.

7

Verify your identity by clicking the link the website emails you. Enter your Social Security number and check your credit score.

8

Raise your credit score by making on-time payments and reducing your debt-to-credit ratio. The more credit you have available the better it looks for your credit score.

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Can You Figure Out Your Credit Score From Your Credit Report?

Purchasing a FICO score can get expensive, because you need to buy one from each agency to know how lenders really view you as a risk. It also is not included in your free annual credit report. If you just want to know whether you are generally a good or bad risk and do not care about the specific score, you can estimate it for free.

Identification

Several FICO score estimators abound on the Internet, one even from the Fair Isaac Corporation itself -- designer of the FICO score. Jim Wang, financial expert and owner of Bargaineering claims that the score estimator gives a good gauge of where your credit falls. Since you receive one free credit report each year, you can probably get close to your actual FICO rating for free using data from that profile.

Benefits

An estimated FICO score might be just as good as one from the major credit bureaus, because lenders do not necessarily use the FICO score you can purchase from the major bureaus. Some creditors use an older version of the FICO scoring software, the VantageScore developed by the national credit agencies or come up with their own custom-tailored formula.

Disadvantage

Most FICO score estimators give a 50-point spread in which your credit score likely falls. This is a significant range, because you could have a range that falls between a good and excellent score. Since mortgage providers often set rates on your FICO score, going in with only an estimate could mean the difference of thousands of dollars during the course of the loan. Thus, you want to get as close as possible to your actual FICO score to determine if you need to bump it up before applying for a large loan.

Tip

In 2010, the Fair Isaac Corporation released an application for iPhone and iPad users to estimate their score, according to CreditNet. This app also links users to credit score educational material from FICO. Also, try to be as accurate as possible with an estimator, because you do not benefit from fudging on numbers.

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How to Challenge the credit bureaus

Credit bureaus exist for the purpose of being non-biased entities that report credit experiences of it's subscribers.
A subscriber is a creditor that supplies the payment history and account details of it's customers to the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus are required by law to investigate reported items that consumers dispute.

Instructions

1

Conduct an online search for the addresses to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Perform a Search using Google, Yahoo or Msn to get the contact information and addresses to the three major credit bureaus.

2

Order a copy of your credit report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
You will need a copy from all three credit bureaus to make sure that your information is correct.

3

Check your credit report for accuracy.
Your information will rarely match among credit bureaus. This is because credit reporting is not done in real time. In most cases, your creditors will know your balance as you use your credit card, however your information is not reported to the credit bureaus until the end of the month. Some subscribers report to only one or two credit bureaus.
Most subscribers now report to all three credit bureaus. When information varies, it causes your credit scores to be inconsistent.

4

Challenge information that is incorrect.
Write to each credit bureau that has errors on your credit report. It will typically take less than 30 days to receive a written response. When disputing information on your credit report, supply any proof that will help strengthen your case.

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