Credit Report

The report and the score are not the same thing

Your credit score is a single number calculated from your file; the credit report is the file itself. Lenders look at both: the score for a quick read, the report for the story behind it, like how recent a missed payment was, whether it was a one-off or a pattern, and how much room is left on your cards.

The distinction matters because you can only fix, dispute or protect what is actually in the report. Keep the underlying file accurate and healthy, and the score takes care of itself.

What is in it, and what is not

A Canadian credit report contains five broad kinds of information:

• Identity information. Your name, date of birth, current and past addresses, and employers you have listed on credit applications.
• Credit accounts, called tradelines. Every credit card, loan, line of credit and reported mortgage, with the limit, the balance and a month-by-month payment history that can cover six years or more.
• Hard inquiries. A record of each lender that pulled your file to decide on an application.
• Collections. Debts sent to a collection agency, which can include unpaid telecom, gym or utility bills.
• Public records. A consumer proposal, a bankruptcy, and in some provinces court judgments related to debt.

What a credit report never contains

Just as important is what is not in the file: the credit score itself (calculated separately from the report's contents), your income, your assets and investments, your chequing and savings balances, and your medical history. A lender who wants to know what you earn or own has to ask you directly; the bureaus do not track it.

Equifax and TransUnion: two files, not one

Canada has two credit bureaus, Equifax and TransUnion, and each keeps its own separate file on you. Lenders are not required to report to both: some report to one bureau only, others to both, and a few report to neither.

That is why your two reports rarely match perfectly. An account can appear in one file and not the other, and a dispute resolved at Equifax does nothing at TransUnion. When you check your credit, check both.

Free access is your right

You never have to pay to see your own file, and you do not need a paid monitoring subscription just to look. Both bureaus must provide your credit report free of charge, and free online access is now standard at both Equifax and TransUnion (as of July 2026). Many bank and credit union apps also let you view your file, or a summary of it, right from your account.

Checking your own report is a soft inquiry and has no effect on your score, no matter how often you look. Reading both full files once a year, and again before any big application like a mortgage, is a reasonable habit.

Errors happen: the dispute process

Errors are common enough to justify that annual check: accounts that are not yours, paid-off debts still showing a balance, an on-time payment marked late, or an ex-partner's debt tangled into your file.

Each bureau runs its own dispute process. You file the dispute online or by mail with supporting documents, the bureau contacts the lender that reported the information, and the item is corrected or removed if it cannot be verified. If the dispute ends in a stalemate, you can add a short consumer statement to your file giving your side of the story, and lenders who pull the report will see it.

Fraud alerts, freezes and locks

If your identity has been compromised, or you simply want a tripwire, you can place a fraud alert on both files. It tells lenders to take extra steps to verify your identity before opening new credit in your name.

Québec residents also have a legal right under provincial law to freeze their credit file, which blocks new credit from being opened in their name, and the bureaus offer similar freeze or lock features in various forms across the country. A freeze is the strongest protection because it stops new accounts cold, and you can lift it temporarily when you apply for credit yourself.

How long things stay on your report

Negative information does not stay forever. The exact clock varies by bureau and by province, but the typical retention periods look like this: