Understanding Credit Reports
A section-by-section walkthrough of your Canadian credit report — what Equifax and TransUnion actually track, and what to check for.
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Your credit report is the raw data behind every borrowing decision a lender makes about you. Knowing how to actually read it lets you catch errors, track your own financial health, and understand exactly what a lender sees.
Reading It Section by Section
Get Your Report First
Canadians are entitled to one free report (without the numerical score) per year from each of Equifax and TransUnion — request online, by mail, or by phone. Instant access or the score itself may come with a fee from some services.
Pull both Equifax's and TransUnion's reports — they don't always have the same information, since some lenders report to only one bureau.
Check Your Personal Details
Start with your name, current and past addresses, date of birth, and SIN. Errors here can point to identity theft or just confuse how a lender reads your file.
Any mismatch in your personal info — contact the bureau right away to get it corrected.
Review Every Account Listed
This is usually the largest section — every credit card, line of credit, mortgage, and loan, with the lender, a partially masked account number, original amount or limit, current balance, and payment history. Flag anything you don't recognize or any balance that looks off.
Scrutinize the payment history closely — even one late payment can hurt your score and stay on file for years.
Check Public Records and Collections
This section covers bankruptcies, consumer proposals, judgments, and anything sent to collections — these carry more weight and stay on your report longer than a simple late payment.
Public records and collections do real damage — dispute any error here immediately.
Look at Your Inquiries
This lists who's pulled your report. "Hard" inquiries come from lenders when you apply for credit and can temporarily ding your score; "soft" inquiries — your own checks, pre-approved offers, existing lenders monitoring an account — don't affect it at all.
A pile of hard inquiries in a short window reads as risky to lenders — space out new credit applications.
Read Any Remarks or Statements
Some reports let you attach a brief explanation to a specific item — a late payment tied to a billing dispute, for instance — plus general definitions of the codes used throughout.
A consumer statement can add useful context for future lenders while a dispute is still pending.
Dispute What's Wrong
Found an error, an unrecognized account, or something plain wrong? Dispute it right away through Equifax's or TransUnion's formal process, with whatever supporting documents you have.
Keep a paper trail of every step in the dispute — dates, names, copies of anything sent or received.
A Few More Things to Know
- Check your report at least annually as basic fraud prevention
- Watch for R-codes next to each account — R1 typically means on-time, R9 means bad debt
- Your report is the raw data; your score is the number derived from it — they're not the same thing
- A closed account should read "closed by consumer," not "closed by lender"
- Be skeptical of any company promising to "fix" your credit for a fee instead of just disputing errors directly
Frequently Asked Questions
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