How to Dispute Credit Report Errors in Canada (2026)

You dispute credit report errors in Canada for free by filing directly with Equifax and TransUnion. Each bureau has 30 days to investigate under PIPEDA and provincial consumer protection law. About 1 in 4 credit reports contain errors — wrong balances, discharged debts still showing as active, duplicate accounts, identity mix-ups. Fixing these mistakes recovers 20 to 100+ credit score points. The entire process costs nothing and starts with pulling your free credit reports from both bureaus.

Errors That Hurt Your Score the Most

Not all errors carry the same weight. These are the ones that do the most damage:

• Collection accounts that don’t belong to you. A single collection drops your score by 100 to 150 points. If it’s not yours, that’s the largest single recovery available. Read more about how collection accounts affect your credit report.
• Wrong balances on revolving accounts. Your credit card has a $12,000 limit but the bureau shows $6,000. Your utilization jumps from 25% to 50% overnight. That costs you 40 to 80 points.
• Late payments on accounts you paid on time. Payment history is 35% of your credit score. One false 30-day late mark costs 60 to 110 points and stays for 6 years.
• Discharged debts still showing as active. After a consumer proposal or bankruptcy, included debts should show a zero balance. If they still report as owing, your debt-to-credit ratio stays inflated.
• Duplicate accounts. The same debt listed under both the original creditor and the collection agency. This doubles the negative impact.

Step 1: Get Your Free Credit Reports

Pull reports from both bureaus. Errors on your Equifax file may not appear on TransUnion, and vice versa. You need the full picture before disputing anything.

• Equifax — Free through Borrowell (weekly updates) or by mail directly from Equifax Canada
• TransUnion — Free through Credit Karma or by mail directly from TransUnion Canada

For a walkthrough of each method, use our guide to checking your credit score for free.

Go line by line through every account. Check the creditor name, account number, balance, credit limit, payment history, and status. Mark anything that looks wrong, unfamiliar, or outdated.

Step 2: Document Every Error

Create a list with four columns for each error:

1. Account name and number
2. What the report currently says
3. What it should say
4. Your supporting evidence

Gather your documents before filing. The stronger your evidence, the faster the resolution.

Documents that win disputes:

• Payment receipts or bank statements showing cleared payments
• Certificate of Full Performance (after consumer proposal completion)
• Bankruptcy discharge certificate
• Letters from creditors confirming account closure or balance correction
• Government-issued ID (for identity mix-up disputes)
• Correspondence showing the creditor acknowledged the error

Marcus in Kitchener completed his consumer proposal in November 2025 and received his Certificate of Full Performance. Three months later, two of the five debts included in the proposal still showed active balances totalling $8,400 on his Equifax report. His R7 rating had not updated to reflect completion. He gathered his Certificate, the original proposal filing, and a creditor confirmation letter. His dispute resolved in 12 business days. His score jumped 74 points once the balances zeroed out and the rating updated.

Step 3: File a Dispute With Each Bureau

Disputing With Equifax Canada

Online (fastest): Log into the Equifax Consumer Portal at consumer.equifax.ca. Navigate to “Dispute Information” and select the item you want to dispute. Describe the error and upload supporting documents. You receive a confirmation number immediately.

By mail: Send a written dispute to Equifax Canada Co., National Consumer Relations, P.O. Box 190, Station Jean-Talon, Montreal, QC H1S 2Z2. Include your full name, date of birth, SIN, current address, a description of each error, and copies (not originals) of supporting documents. Send by registered mail so you have proof of delivery.

By phone: Call 1-800-465-7166. The agent walks you through the dispute verbally. Follow up with documents by mail or through the online portal. Phone disputes without documentation take longer to resolve.

Disputing With TransUnion Canada

Online (fastest): Go to transunion.ca and navigate to the Consumer Dispute Centre. Select the account or item you want to dispute, describe the error, and upload supporting documents. You receive an email confirmation with a case number.

By mail: Send your dispute to TransUnion Consumer Relations, P.O. Box 338, LCD1, Hamilton, ON L8L 7W2. Include your full name, date of birth, SIN, current address, the details of each error, and copies of supporting documents. Use registered mail.

By phone: Call 1-800-663-9980. Same process as Equifax — verbal dispute followed by document submission.

Equifax vs TransUnion Dispute Process

File with both bureaus if the error appears on both reports. Each bureau investigates independently. A correction on one does not automatically fix the other.

Step 4: Wait for the Investigation

Once your dispute is filed, the bureau contacts the creditor or furnisher to verify the information. Under PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), the bureau must complete its investigation within 30 days. Provincial laws like Ontario’s Consumer Reporting Act and British Columbia’s Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act reinforce this deadline.

Three outcomes are possible:

1. Error confirmed — item corrected or removed. The creditor cannot verify the disputed information. The bureau updates your report. Your score adjusts within one reporting cycle.
2. Creditor verifies the information. The bureau keeps the item as-is. You receive a written explanation.
3. Partial correction. The bureau updates some details but not others. You can re-dispute the remaining errors with additional evidence.

Renée in Gatineau disputed a $3,200 Bell Canada balance that she had paid in full 14 months earlier. She uploaded her bank statement showing the final payment. TransUnion contacted Bell, who confirmed the payment. The balance was corrected to zero within 18 days. Her TransUnion score increased by 43 points on the next update.

Step 5: Escalate If the Dispute Is Denied

The bureau does not always side with you. When they don’t, you still have options.

File a complaint with the FCAC. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada oversees federally regulated financial entities. File at canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency or call 1-866-461-3222. The FCAC investigates whether the bureau followed proper dispute procedures under federal law.

Contact your provincial consumer protection office. Each province has its own consumer reporting legislation:

• Ontario: Consumer Reporting Act — file with the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery
• British Columbia: Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act — file with Consumer Protection BC
• Alberta: Consumer Protection Act — file with Service Alberta
• Quebec: Consumer Protection Act — file with the Office de la protection du consommateur

Add a consumer statement. Both Equifax and TransUnion allow you to add a statement of up to 100 words to your credit file. This statement appears whenever a lender pulls your report. Use it to explain the disputed item — for example, “This account was included in a consumer proposal filed June 2024 and completed in full November 2025. The creditor confirmed zero balance.”

Re-dispute with new evidence. If you find additional proof — a letter from the creditor, an updated bank statement, a court document — file a new dispute. There is no limit on how many times you can dispute the same item as long as you provide new information.

When to Dispute With the Creditor Directly

Sometimes the error starts with the creditor, not the bureau. The bureau reports what the creditor tells them. If the creditor’s records are wrong, disputing with the bureau alone creates a loop: the bureau asks the creditor, the creditor confirms the bad data, and the dispute gets denied.

Contact the creditor directly when:

• You have proof of payment that the creditor never applied to your account
• A debt was included in a consumer proposal but the creditor never updated their records
• The creditor is reporting a late payment on an account you closed years ago
• The account belongs to someone else and the creditor can verify your identity against their files

Send a written request to the creditor’s customer service or compliance department. Include your account number, a description of the error, and copies of supporting documents. Ask them to send a corrected report to both Equifax and TransUnion. Keep a copy of everything you send.

Special Scenarios After Insolvency

After a Consumer Proposal

When you complete a consumer proposal, every debt included in it should update to show a zero balance. Your credit rating on those accounts changes from R7 (regular payments under a debt management plan) to reflect the completed status. The consumer proposal notation stays on your report for 3 years after completion or 6 years after filing, whichever comes first.

Errors to watch for:

• Included debts still showing active balances after you receive your Certificate of Full Performance
• R7 ratings not updating after completion
• The proposal completion date recorded incorrectly, extending your 3-year countdown
• Creditors continuing to report missed payments after the proposal filing date

If you spot these errors, dispute with the bureau and include your Certificate of Full Performance as evidence. Track your month-by-month score recovery to confirm the corrections are taking effect.

After Bankruptcy

After discharge, debts included in the bankruptcy should show a zero balance with an R9 rating. The R9 notation drops off after 6 years from discharge with Equifax and 7 years with TransUnion for a first bankruptcy. Read more about the full timeline for rebuilding after bankruptcy.

Common errors after discharge:

• Discharged debts still reporting balances owed
• Creditors reporting new missed payments after the bankruptcy filing date
• The discharge date recorded incorrectly
• Second-time bankruptcy timelines applied to a first bankruptcy (14 years instead of 6-7)

Tanya in Red Deer filed for first-time bankruptcy in March 2024 and received her discharge in December 2024. In February 2026, she pulled her Equifax report and found a $6,700 CIBC Visa balance still showing as “charged off — unpaid” rather than included in bankruptcy with a zero balance. She also discovered that her discharge date was listed as March 2025 instead of December 2024 — adding 3 extra months to her R9 removal timeline. She filed disputes for both errors with her discharge certificate attached. Equifax corrected both within 22 days. Her score increased by 61 points.

How Many Points You Gain From Successful Disputes

The score recovery depends on the type of error removed:

• Removing a collection that isn’t yours: 80 to 150 points
• Correcting a wrong balance on a revolving account: 20 to 80 points depending on how much utilization drops
• Removing a false late payment: 30 to 110 points depending on how recent the reported late payment was
• Zeroing out discharged debt balances: 20 to 60 points per account
• Removing a duplicate account: 40 to 100 points

These are real ranges, not guarantees. A single correction on an otherwise thin file produces a larger swing than the same correction on a file with 15 active trade lines. The newer the error, the more points you recover by fixing it.

Disputes are just one of seven optimization tactics that accelerate your credit rebuild. The credit score optimization guide covers utilization timing, credit mix strategy, and authorized user shortcuts that stack on top of dispute wins.

Monitor Your Reports After the Dispute

A successful dispute does not mean the error stays gone. Creditors sometimes re-report incorrect data during the next reporting cycle. Collection agencies sell debts to new buyers who re-report the same account under a different name. Errors reappear.

Set up ongoing monitoring with both bureaus. Free vs paid credit monitoring breaks down your options. At minimum, check both reports every 90 days for the first year after a dispute to catch any errors that come back.

If you’re rebuilding your credit alongside disputing errors, a secured credit card and a credit builder loan add positive payment history while you clean up the negative items. That combination — removing errors and adding clean trade lines — produces the fastest score recovery.

Your Next Step

Pull both credit reports today. It takes 5 minutes and costs nothing. Mark every error. Gather your documents tonight. File your disputes tomorrow.

Every month an error stays on your report costs you real money — higher interest rates, declined applications, worse insurance premiums. The dispute process is free. The 30-day investigation clock starts the day you file.

Start with your free reports from Borrowell and TransUnion. If your total debt is the bigger problem, compare debt relief options or start a free debt assessment.