Best Credit Monitoring Services in Canada (2026): Free and Paid Compared

Use Borrowell and Credit Karma together. That is the answer for 90% of Canadians. Borrowell monitors your Equifax report. Credit Karma monitors your TransUnion report. Both are free with weekly score updates and report change alerts. You get full dual-bureau credit monitoring at $0 per month. Paid services like Equifax Complete ($19.95/month) and TransUnion Direct ($24.95/month) add dark-web scanning and identity theft insurance — features that matter only after confirmed fraud. Below is every service ranked by cost, bureau coverage, alert speed, and identity protection.

All 7 Services Compared: Features at a Glance

The paid services cost $240-$300 per year. Free services from Borrowell and Credit Karma deliver 80% of the same functionality. The 20% gap is dark-web scanning, real-time alerts, and identity theft insurance — features you need only in specific situations.

1. Borrowell — Best Free Equifax Monitoring

Borrowell provides free access to your Equifax credit score and report. Over 3 million Canadians use the platform. No credit card required. No trial period that auto-converts to paid. Genuinely free, permanently.

What you get:

• Equifax credit score updated weekly every Monday
• Full Equifax credit report with account details, balances, and payment history
• Credit factor breakdown showing what helps and hurts your score
• Score change alerts via email and push notification
• Credit building tips personalized to your profile
• Product recommendations for credit cards, loans, and banking — this is how Borrowell earns revenue

What you do not get:

• TransUnion data (use Credit Karma for this)
• Dark-web monitoring
• Identity theft insurance
• Real-time alerts for new inquiries or account openings
• Phone support for credit disputes

Borrowell uses a soft credit pull every time it checks your score. Zero impact on your credit. You can open the app daily without any negative effect.

Priya in Edmonton filed a consumer proposal in August 2025 for $27,400 in credit card and line of credit debt. She signed up for Borrowell the same week to track her R7 rating and score recovery. Her score started at 518. Borrowell’s weekly updates showed her first improvement at week 14 — a 12-point jump to 530 after her secured card started reporting. By March 2026 (7 months), her score reached 589. She tracked every movement without spending a dollar on monitoring.

Best for: Primary credit monitoring for everyone. Start here.

Check your credit score free with Borrowell →

2. Credit Karma — Best Free TransUnion Monitoring

Credit Karma provides free TransUnion credit score and report access. The platform operates identically to Borrowell but pulls from Canada’s other major credit bureau. Using both services simultaneously gives you complete dual-bureau monitoring at zero cost.

What you get:

• TransUnion credit score updated weekly
• Full TransUnion credit report with all accounts, inquiries, and public records
• Credit score simulator showing how actions like paying off debt or opening new credit affect your score
• Score change alerts via email and push notification
• Tax filing tool (free, integrated into the platform)
• Product marketplace for credit cards, loans, and insurance

What you do not get:

• Equifax data (use Borrowell for this)
• Dark-web scanning
• Identity theft insurance
• Real-time new-account alerts

Credit Karma’s score simulator is genuinely useful for rebuilding. Input “pay off $3,000 credit card balance” and the tool estimates your score change. Input “open a secured credit card” and see the projected short-term dip and long-term gain. No other free service offers this feature.

Best for: TransUnion monitoring and score simulation. Pair with Borrowell for complete dual-bureau coverage.

Why You Need Both Borrowell AND Credit Karma

Canadian lenders pull from different bureaus. TD Bank pulls Equifax for 92% of lending decisions. CIBC pulls TransUnion primarily. RBC varies by product — Equifax for mortgages, TransUnion for credit cards. If you monitor only one bureau, you miss half the picture.

Some creditors report to only one bureau. A secured credit card from Capital One reports only to TransUnion. Your credit card from a credit union may report only to Equifax. A collection account from one agency may appear on Equifax but not TransUnion.

Using Borrowell and Credit Karma simultaneously catches these discrepancies. If a paid-off debt still shows as owing on one bureau, you catch it weeks earlier and dispute the error before it costs you a loan approval.

Derek in Kitchener discovered a $1,400 collection account on his Equifax report through Borrowell in February 2026. The account did not appear on his TransUnion report through Credit Karma. The collection agency had reported to only one bureau. Derek disputed the account (which belonged to someone with a similar name) and had it removed within 35 days. Without dual monitoring, the error would have gone unnoticed until a lender pulled Equifax and denied his application.

Setup takes 10 minutes total: 5 minutes for Borrowell, 5 minutes for Credit Karma. You need your name, date of birth, SIN, and current address. Both services verify your identity through knowledge-based questions about your credit file.

Learn how to check your full credit report for free →

3. Equifax Complete — Best Paid Option After Identity Theft

Equifax Complete Premium costs $19.95 per month ($239.40 per year). It upgrades your free Equifax access with features designed for identity theft victims and fraud prevention.

What the paid plan adds over free Borrowell:

• Daily score updates instead of weekly
• Real-time alerts for new credit inquiries, new account openings, address changes, and public record filings
• Dark-web scanning that checks your SIN, email addresses, phone numbers, and credit card numbers against known data breaches
• Credit score simulator for modelling financial decisions
• Up to $50,000 in identity theft insurance covering lost wages, legal fees, and out-of-pocket expenses from fraud
• Dedicated fraud resolution support with a case manager

Who actually needs this:

• You have confirmed identity theft or fraudulent accounts on your file
• Your personal data appeared in a known data breach (check haveibeenpwned.com)
• You are a fraud victim working through the resolution process
• You want real-time alerts for new account openings in your name

Who does not need this:

• General credit monitoring and score tracking (Borrowell covers this free)
• Rebuilding credit after consumer proposal or bankruptcy (free monitoring is sufficient)
• Checking your score before a loan application

The $240 annual cost buys peace of mind for fraud victims. For everyone else, Borrowell delivers the same Equifax score and report for free. The daily updates versus weekly updates rarely matter — your score does not change meaningfully in 7 days unless a major event hits your file.

Best for: Confirmed identity theft victims who need real-time fraud alerts and insurance coverage.

4. TransUnion Direct — Best for Maximum Identity Protection

TransUnion Direct costs $24.95 per month ($299.40 per year). It is the most expensive consumer credit monitoring product in Canada and the most comprehensive for identity protection.

What you get:

• Daily TransUnion score with historical tracking
• Real-time alerts for inquiries, new accounts, balance changes, and address updates
• Dark-web monitoring scanning your SIN, email, phone, and banking details
• Up to $25,000 in identity theft insurance
• Credit lock — instantly freeze and unfreeze your TransUnion file from the app
• Score trend analysis showing 12-month patterns

The credit lock feature is genuinely valuable during active fraud. Standard credit freezes through TransUnion require phone calls and processing time. TransUnion Direct’s lock toggles in seconds from the app. This stops fraudsters from opening new accounts instantly while you resolve existing fraud.

Best for: Active fraud situations where you need instant credit lock capability and are already monitoring Equifax through the paid plan.

5. KOHO — Best for Credit Building + Monitoring Bundle

KOHO is a fintech spending account that bundles credit monitoring with a credit-building feature. The free tier includes basic Equifax score access. The paid tier ($9.99/month for KOHO Extra) adds weekly credit score updates and a credit-building program.

How KOHO’s credit building works: You set aside a small amount ($5-$50/month) that KOHO reports as a positive credit tradeline to Equifax. It is not a loan. It is not a secured card. KOHO reports your consistent savings activity as a positive credit account.

• Free tier: Basic spending account with Equifax score access
• KOHO Extra ($9.99/month): Weekly Equifax score, credit building feature, 0.5% interest on balance
• KOHO Everything ($19.99/month): Same as Extra plus higher cashback rates

KOHO makes sense for Canadians who want a spending account, credit score access, and credit building in one app. It does not replace Borrowell or Credit Karma for monitoring depth — you get score only, not your full credit report.

Best for: Borrowers who want a simple credit-building tool bundled with basic monitoring, not standalone monitoring.

6. Bank Apps — Convenient but Incomplete

RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, and CIBC all offer credit score access through their mobile banking apps. These are free for existing customers and require no separate sign-up.

What bank apps provide:

• Monthly credit score from one bureau (varies by bank)
• Basic score trend over 6-12 months
• General credit health indicators

What bank apps lack:

• Full credit report details
• Alerts for new inquiries or account changes
• Dispute tools
• Second bureau coverage
• Dark-web scanning

TD shows your TransUnion score. RBC shows Equifax. Scotiabank varies by product and region. You get one number once a month with no context about what changed or why. Bank apps are a quick temperature check — useful for confirming nothing dramatic happened, but inadequate for active monitoring.

If you already bank with one of the Big Five, use their app as a third data point alongside Borrowell and Credit Karma. Do not rely on it as your only monitoring source.

Best for: Quick monthly score glance for existing banking customers. Not a replacement for dedicated monitoring.

7. Equifax and TransUnion Free Mail Requests

Under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), you have the legal right to request your full credit report from both Equifax and TransUnion for free by mail. This is not a monitoring service — it is a one-time snapshot.

How to request:

• Equifax: Mail a completed request form with two pieces of ID to Equifax Canada Consumer Relations, Box 190, Jean Talon Station, Montreal, QC H1S 2Z2. Report arrives in 5-10 business days.
• TransUnion: Mail a completed request form with two pieces of ID to TransUnion Consumer Relations, PO Box 338, LCD1, Hamilton, ON L8L 7W2. Report arrives in 5-10 business days.

Both bureaus also offer online instant access to your report for free — but the process is clunky and sometimes fails identity verification. Borrowell and Credit Karma provide the same data through a simpler interface.

Best for: Formal credit report requests for dispute documentation or legal proceedings. Not practical for ongoing monitoring.

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Credit Monitoring for Specific Situations

After a Consumer Proposal

Your credit report shows an R7 rating on every account included in the proposal. This rating stays for 3 years after you complete your proposal or 6 years from the filing date — whichever comes first. Free monitoring through Borrowell and Credit Karma tracks the month-by-month recovery.

Adèle in Gatineau filed a consumer proposal in September 2024 for $34,600. Her Equifax score dropped to 492. She signed up for both Borrowell and Credit Karma. She opened a secured credit card that reported to both bureaus. Borrowell showed her first Equifax improvement at month 5 — a 27-point jump. Credit Karma showed her TransUnion score climbing 31 points over the same period. By month 12, both scores crossed 600. She tracked every data point using free services and paid nothing for monitoring.

You do not need Equifax Complete or TransUnion Direct during a consumer proposal. The R7 rating is expected. Weekly score updates through free services show your recovery clearly. Read the full month-by-month credit score recovery timeline to know what to expect.

After Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy produces an R9 rating — the lowest possible. It stays on your Equifax report for 6 years after discharge (7 years in PEI, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, and Quebec for first bankruptcies; 14 years for second bankruptcies). TransUnion follows similar timelines.

Free monitoring tracks the exact date your bankruptcy drops off your report. Borrowell shows when Equifax removes it. Credit Karma shows when TransUnion removes it. Mark the expected removal date and check weekly as it approaches. If the entry stays past the legal removal date, dispute it immediately.

Paid monitoring adds no value during standard post-bankruptcy rebuilding. The exceptions: if your bankruptcy involved identity theft or if you suspect someone else is using your SIN, upgrade to Equifax Complete for real-time new-account alerts.

After Identity Theft

This is where paid monitoring earns its cost. After confirmed fraud, you need:

• Real-time alerts when anyone opens an account in your name
• Dark-web scanning to see if your SIN or banking details are circulating
• Identity theft insurance to cover resolution costs
• Quick credit lock capability to prevent new fraudulent accounts

Subscribe to Equifax Complete ($19.95/month) for at least 12 months after identity theft. Consider TransUnion Direct ($24.95/month) simultaneously if the fraud is severe or ongoing. Total cost: $44.90/month for dual-bureau real-time protection. Cancel after 12 months of clean activity and downgrade to free monitoring.

Learn how to dispute credit report errors →

How Credit Monitoring Actually Works

Every credit monitoring service — free or paid — works through the same basic mechanism. The service pulls your credit data from Equifax, TransUnion, or both at regular intervals. When something changes, you get an alert.

Soft pulls do not affect your score. Borrowell, Credit Karma, and every monitoring service uses soft inquiries. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada confirms that soft pulls are invisible to lenders and have zero impact on your credit score. Only hard inquiries from formal credit applications affect your score.

What triggers an alert:

• New credit inquiry (someone pulled your report)
• New account opened in your name
• Account balance change above a threshold
• Missed payment reported by a creditor
• Public record added (bankruptcy, consumer proposal, judgment)
• Address change on your file
• Account closed

Free services send alerts for most of these events on a weekly cycle. Paid services send alerts in real time — within minutes of the change posting to the bureau. The weekly delay in free services is acceptable for credit rebuilding. It is inadequate during active identity theft, when a fraudster can open multiple accounts in hours.

Setting Up Your Free Monitoring Stack in 10 Minutes

Minutes 1-5: Sign up for Borrowell.

1. Go to borrowell.com and click “Sign Up Free”
2. Enter your name, email, date of birth, and current address
3. Create a password and accept terms
4. Answer 3-4 knowledge-based verification questions about your credit file
5. View your Equifax credit score and report immediately

Minutes 5-10: Sign up for Credit Karma.

1. Go to creditkarma.ca and click “Sign Up for Free”
2. Enter your name, email, date of birth, SIN, and current address
3. Create a password and accept terms
4. Answer verification questions
5. View your TransUnion credit score and report immediately

After setup:

• Enable push notifications on both apps for score change alerts
• Set a weekly calendar reminder to check both scores every Monday
• Compare your Equifax and TransUnion scores — differences of 30+ points suggest one bureau has data the other does not
• Review your full report on both services for errors, unknown accounts, or incorrect balances

Kevin in Red Deer set up both services in 8 minutes on a Sunday evening in January 2026. His Equifax score (Borrowell) showed 612. His TransUnion score (Credit Karma) showed 587 — a 25-point gap. The discrepancy led him to discover that a $2,200 collection account from a telecommunications company appeared on TransUnion but not Equifax. He disputed the account through TransUnion (the debt belonged to a former roommate) and had it removed by March 2026. His TransUnion score jumped 43 points after removal.

Without dual monitoring, Kevin would never have known about the collection account until a lender pulled TransUnion and denied his application.

Free vs Paid: Decision Framework

Use free monitoring (Borrowell + Credit Karma) if you are:

• Rebuilding credit after consumer proposal or bankruptcy
• Tracking your score before applying for a loan, mortgage, or credit card
• Monitoring for general changes and errors
• On a tight budget where $20-$45/month matters
• Not a recent victim of identity theft or data breach

Upgrade to paid monitoring if you:

• Have confirmed identity theft with fraudulent accounts
• Discovered your SIN or banking details in a data breach
• Need real-time alerts for new account openings (not weekly)
• Want identity theft insurance covering legal and resolution costs
• Are in active dispute with a creditor or collection agency over fraudulent debt

For rebuilding Canadians, the $240-$300 annual cost of paid monitoring is better spent on a $500 secured credit card deposit that actively builds your score. Monitoring shows you the score. The secured card moves the score. Prioritize the tool that creates change over the tool that measures it.

Pair Monitoring with Credit Building Products

Credit monitoring without credit building is like checking the thermometer without turning on the heat. You see the number. It does not move. Pair your free monitoring with active credit-building tools:

• Secured credit cards: Home Trust Secured Visa reports to both bureaus. $500 deposit. 12-18 months of payments can add 50-100 points.
• Credit builder loans: Small instalment loans designed to build payment history. $25-$100 monthly payments reported to credit bureaus.
• KOHO credit building: $5-$50/month reported as positive tradeline to Equifax. No debt involved.
• Authorized user status: Ask a family member with good credit to add you as an authorized user on their credit card. Their payment history boosts your score within 30-60 days.

Use Borrowell and Credit Karma to track the impact of each building tool. When you see your secured card payments hitting your Equifax report through Borrowell and your TransUnion report through Credit Karma, you know the rebuild is working.

Follow the complete 12-month credit rebuild plan for a step-by-step sequence combining monitoring with active credit-building tools.

Find a Licensed Insolvency Trustee for free credit rebuild guidance →