What is in Your Credit Report?
Below is a list of the major sections found in your
credit report:
Personal Identification: Includes key identification information, such as your name, address, date of birth and Social Insurance Number (SIN)
Consumer Statement: Allows you, the consumer, to add a brief comment about any information in your report
Credit Information: Provides details of your credit accounts and transactions and shows if payments are being made on time
Banking Information: Includes information on your bank account and NSF cheque history
Public Record Information: Contains information about secured loans, bankruptcies and/or judgments
Third-Party Collections: Contains information about any involvement with a collection agency trying to collect on a debt
Inquiries: Includes all organizations or individuals that have requested a copy of your
credit report in the past three years
*Note: Mortgage information - Details about your existing mortgage(s) may appear in your
credit report. Mortgage information is not used to calculate your credit score since it is not reported by all lenders.
How is information in my credit report used?
Credit information is gathered by credit reporting agencies, sometimes called credit bureaus. There are two major credit reporting agencies in Canada:
Equifax Canada Inc., and TransUnion of Canada. Governed by provincial and federal laws, credit reporting agencies store and maintain credit information about individual Canadian consumers for use by members of the credit reporting agency. Members include banks, finance companies, auto leasing companies, credit card companies and retailers.
Credit grantors update individual
credit reports regularly by providing information to credit reporting agencies about their customers' credit and payment activities. This ensures that credit reports remain up-to-date and as complete as possible. Other sources of the information contained in your
credit report can include public records from courthouses across the country and collection agencies.
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