How to Check Your Credit Score for Free in Canada (2026)

You can check your credit score in Canada for free. It takes 5 minutes. You don’t need a credit card. It’s a soft inquiry, so it has zero impact on your score. Every Canadian has the right to access their credit information at no cost — the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) confirms this. And if you haven’t checked recently, you should. Your score changed last month. You just don’t know how.

Why You Need to Check Both Bureaus

Canada has two credit bureaus: Equifax and TransUnion. They collect data independently. Some lenders report to both. Others report to only one. That means your Equifax file and your TransUnion file tell different stories.

Priya in Mississauga applied for a mortgage last spring. Her TransUnion score was 712. Her Equifax score was 661. The difference? A $3,200 collection from a telecom provider showed up on Equifax but not TransUnion. She had no idea it existed. That 51-point gap pushed her mortgage rate from 4.89% to 6.24% — costing her roughly $2,400 per year in extra interest on a $400,000 mortgage.

If you only check one bureau, you see half the picture. Lenders choose which bureau to pull. You don’t get to pick. The only way to know what they’ll find is to check both yourself.

Borrowell gives you your Equifax score for free and updates it weekly. TransUnion offers direct access through its own consumer portal. Both are soft inquiries. Both are free. There is no downside to checking both.

How to Check Your Score for Free

Step 1: Choose Your Free Credit Score Service

You have two main paths:

• Borrowell — Shows your Equifax credit score and report. Free account, no credit card. Updates weekly. Over 3 million Canadians use it
• TransUnion Consumer Portal — Shows your TransUnion credit score and report. Free account through TransUnion directly

Start with both. Signing up for one does not prevent you from using the other. Checking both bureaus takes about 10 minutes total.

Step 2: Create Your Free Account

Each service needs your name, address, date of birth, and Social Insurance Number. The SIN is required to verify your identity — this is standard and required by the credit bureaus themselves.

Here’s what matters: both services use a soft inquiry to pull your score. A soft inquiry does not appear on your credit report. It does not lower your score. You can check every single day for the rest of your life and it will never affect your credit.

A hard inquiry is different. That happens when a lender pulls your report because you applied for credit. Hard inquiries drop your score by 5 to 10 points and stay on your report for 3 years. Checking your own score is never a hard inquiry.

Step 3: Review Your Credit Report for Errors

This is where most people stop too early. They see the number and close the app. Don’t do that.

About 25% of credit reports contain errors. One in four. That means if you’re reading this, there’s a real chance something on your file is wrong right now.

Look for:

• Accounts you don’t recognize — Could be identity theft or a mix-up with someone who has a similar name
• Incorrect balances — A credit card you paid off still showing a $4,800 balance
• Debts reported past 6 years — Most negative items must drop off after 6 years from the date of last activity (7 years in some provinces)
• Duplicate accounts — The same debt listed twice, once under the original creditor and once under a collection agency
• Wrong payment history — Late payments you actually made on time

Derek in Hamilton found a line of credit on his Equifax report that belonged to someone else entirely. Different middle name, different birth year. It carried a $7,100 balance and 3 missed payments. His score had been suppressed by roughly 80 points for over a year before he caught it.

Step 4: Dispute Any Errors You Find

File disputes directly with the bureau that has the error:

• Equifax — Online through their consumer portal, by phone at 1-800-465-7166, or by mail
• TransUnion — Online through their dispute centre, by phone at 1-800-663-9980, or by mail

Include supporting documents: bank statements, payment receipts, correspondence from creditors. The bureau must investigate within 30 days. If the creditor cannot verify the information, the bureau removes or corrects it.

Step 5: Set Up Monitoring Alerts

Borrowell sends you weekly score update emails and alerts when something changes on your Equifax report. TransUnion offers similar alerts through its portal. Turn both on.

Monitoring catches problems early. A new account you didn’t open. A sudden score drop from a reporting error. An address change you didn’t make. The sooner you catch it, the less damage it does. If you’re wondering whether paid monitoring is worth it, the free vs paid credit monitoring comparison breaks it down.

What Your Score Means

Canadian credit scores range from 300 to 900. Here’s what each range actually qualifies you for:

The difference between a 620 score and a 720 score on a $350,000 mortgage is roughly $150 to $250 per month in extra interest. Over a 5-year term, that’s $9,000 to $15,000 — money lost to a score you could have improved by catching errors and managing your report.

If your score shows an R7 or R9 rating, that reflects a consumer proposal or write-off on your file. Those ratings have specific timelines and recovery paths.

The Errors That Are Costing You Money

Most people assume their credit report is accurate. It isn’t. The 25% error rate means millions of Canadians carry mistakes on their file right now.

The three most common errors:

Paid debts still showing as active. You paid off a collection account 8 months ago. The collection agency confirmed it. But the balance still shows $2,300 on your report because nobody updated the file. This drags your score down every month it sits there.

Accounts that aren’t yours. Identity mix-ups happen more than you’d expect. If your name is common, or you share a name with a family member, the bureaus sometimes merge files. Janelle in Surrey discovered her father’s delinquent HELOC on her TransUnion report — they share the same last name and lived at the same address 6 years ago. It took her score from 710 to 588.

Incorrect credit limits and balances. Your credit card has a $10,000 limit, but the bureau shows $5,000. That doubles your utilization ratio instantly. A card showing 80% utilization instead of 40% costs you 50 to 80 points.

Every one of these errors has a dollar cost. Higher mortgage rates. Declined applications. Worse insurance premiums. The fix starts with checking your report — and it’s free.

What to Do If Your Score Is Lower Than Expected

A low score isn’t permanent. But fixing it starts with knowing why it’s low. Once you pull both reports, here’s where to focus:

Dispute errors first. This is the fastest way to recover lost points. A removed collection or corrected balance can boost your score by 30 to 100 points within 30 to 60 days.

Check for collection accounts you didn’t know about. Debts get sold to collection agencies. The original creditor stops contacting you. The collection agency may not reach you at your current address. But the hit to your score is immediate.

Understand your rating codes. An R7 rating means you’re in a consumer proposal. An R9 means a write-off or bankruptcy. If you’re currently in a proposal, check out strategies to rebuild credit during your proposal. If you’ve completed one, here’s how to rebuild credit after a consumer proposal — including a month-by-month timeline of what to expect.

Start rebuilding with the right tools. A secured credit card is the fastest path to adding positive payment history when your score is below 600. One card, used lightly, paid in full every month. That pattern alone can add 30 to 50 points over 6 months.

If you’re unsure which debt relief option fits your situation, compare your options side by side or use our tool to find a Licensed Insolvency Trustee near you for a free consultation.

Your Next Step

Your credit score affects what you pay for mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and insurance. Errors on your report cost you real money every single month they go uncorrected.

Checking takes 5 minutes. It’s free. It’s a soft inquiry. There is no reason to wait.

Sign up with Borrowell for your free Equifax score. Check TransUnion through their consumer portal. Review both reports for errors. Dispute anything that’s wrong.

Do it today. Your score changed last month — and you deserve to know what it says.