Canadian Credit Reports

[Hez]

Hi there, I was just wondering if there are any Canadians here who have obtained their credit reports in the past. I was reading up on it here, and since that's a government site I'm presuming that the information is all correct, but I'd love to hear any personal accounts of getting your credit report, because I never have before! I'm in my early 20s and am 99.9% sure that mine would be fine, but it can't hurt to check it out, right? Was it helpful to you?

[Lemony]

Hi Hez,

I'm a Canadian. Unlike America's big 3 reporting agencies, Canada only has 2 (Equifax.ca and Transunion.ca) you can request your credit report once per year (for free) from them. You have to mail in for the free (the forms are available through the websites) and you'll have to provide a bit of information about yourself (name, SIN, etc).

Definitely check your report out! Even if you think everything is fine, there could be identity fraud or suspicious activity that you need to address ASAP.

Good luck!

[instantinfo4you]

Be very weary when getting a FREE credit report. Some of these companies that offer the report are just middle men for the actual company itself. They try to get your cc number so they can enroll you into whatever program is in the fine print. My advice to you is to always read the fine print when obtaining a free report. Also make sure you are giving your info to the right people. There are many scammers out there, so you must be careful.

[Hez]

lemony, thanks for the comment. I find it odd that it's free to mail in and get a report, but online there's a fee charged. I guess it's an incentive to distribute hard copies of the information so it's easier to track. *shrug*

instantinfo4you, as I said I was getting information from a government site, so I should hope that the companies they list aren't scammers. But yes I will be careful giving out personal information.