So, you want to know what’s in your credit report
Does your credit report know you better than you know yourself? If you’re like most people, you might only have a rough idea of what’s in it. No judgement here, by the way. Life gets busy and no one’s idea of a fun day off includes reviewing financial documents. But this particular document can be very useful when it comes to improving your financial health.
Your credit report is created when you open your first credit account or borrow money from a bank for the first time. Your lender contacts the credit bureaus (or major credit reporting agencies) with information about your accounts. The credit bureau then uses that data to create your personal credit report, providing you with an overview of your history with credit.
Tip: Remember to check in on your credit report from time to time, especially if you’re preparing for a life milestone like moving out or buying your first car. It can provide insight into how lenders see you when considering you for a loan or credit card.
Your credit history, all in one place
Your credit report provides a summary of your credit history and includes details about who you are. No, no, we’re not talking about whether you’re a parsley or cilantro person. Or whether you like to watch TV with the subtitles on. We’re talking about hard facts. Like your name, date of birth and, of course, your credit activity.
Here’s an overview of some of the things you might find in your report:
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Personal information like your name, date of birth, social insurance number, driver’s license, passport number and current and previous employers, addresses and phone numbers.
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Your credit score, which is a very important number between 300 and 900 that represents your behaviour with credit.
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Credit inquiries that count as hard hits. A hard hit is when a lender checks your credit history to make credit decisions like approving or rejecting a loan application, and it can impact your credit score. Be mindful of how many hard inquiries you agree to and where possible use a soft inquiry tool (like Quick Check®) beforehand. Soft hits can help you know whether or not you qualify for certain credit offers without being tied to an application or impacting your score.
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Information about your credit history including your credit accounts and when they were opened, how much you owe on each account and if you’ve missed any payments or gone over your credit limit. It also includes closed accounts.
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Other financial information like fraudulent accounts, money owed or non-sufficient funds payments, which is when there isn’t enough money in your account to cover the amount of a cheque you wrote (a.k.a. a bounced cheque).
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Information from public records such as a bankruptcy or debts that are being handled by a collections agency.
Tip: The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada has a ton of great information on how to order your credit report, check it for errors and report any issues you find.
If you’ve checked your credit report lately and weren’t happy with what you found, don’t panic. There are plenty of ways to improve your credit score and overall financial health. To get started, check out our top tips for improving your credit score.
* The credit score and report information by Credit Keeper is intended for educational purposes only. Lenders and other commercial users may use a different type of credit score and other information when making credit decisions.
Credit Keeper is a service offered by Capital One and is powered by credit information provided by TransUnion. Availability may vary depending on our ability to verify your identity and obtain your information from TransUnion.