Check Your Personal Credit Report
Posted in Money Matters
Note: This is Canadian information. Checking credit reports will vary based on the laws of your region.
Is the information in your credit file accurate?
Before approving your application for a credit card or a loan, a business may check your credit history before making a decision to give you the money or the credit card. This information – known as your credit rating – comes from reporting agencies such as Equifax Canada Inc. and TransUnion of Canada.
These private businesses keep files on individuals who apply for credit. Reports can be given to lenders, insurers, your creditors and anyone involved in business transactions with you. Anyone you authorize in writing can also get reports.
Your credit file may include information about your:
- Occupation and places of employment
- Past and present addresses
- Marital status
- Spouse or interdependent partner’s name and age
- Number of dependents
- Education or professional qualifications
- Estimated income and assets
- Existing debts and paying habits
- Fines and restitution orders
- Cost of living responsibilities
- Enquiries made by others
- Comments you have made
Your credit file cannot include:
- Unfavourable personal information about you unless it has been confirmed and the source of the information is on the file
- Health or health care history
- Sexual orientation
- Unfavourable information about a debt if more than six years have passed since the date of the last payment on that debt or from the date the debt was incurred
- Judgments more than six years old unless the creditor confirms in the file that the debt has not been paid
- Bankruptcy if you were discharged more than six years ago unless you have been bankrupt more than once
- Charges under federal, provincial or territorial law charges if you haven’t been convicted
- Convictions, fines and prison terms more than six years old
- Court actions taken against you in the past year unless the report includes the current status of the action
- Race, creed, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin, religious or political affiliation
- Family details other than the name and age of your spouse or your adult interdependent partner
- Information obtained verbally unless the content of the report is noted in writing in the file
Checking Your File
You or your representative have a right to find out what is in your file. When you make your request to learn the contents of your file, make sure you have identification. Your representative will also need proof that he or she is your representative. Without identification and proof, the reporting agency doesn’t have to provide the information.
The agency must provide:
- All the information in your file as of that date
- Where the information came from unless it is obvious
- Who has received a copy of your report in the past six months
You can ask for copies of any reports the reporting agency has provided in the past six months.
When requested, a reporting agency must provide you or your representative with a report once a year at no charge. However the agency may charge you a reasonable fee for additional reports or information requested in that same year.
Correcting Information
To explain or add information, write a statement of 100 words or less to explain why you believe the information in the file is not accurate or complete. The agency must put this information in your file and include it in any report it provides about the item in question.
If you believe an item is not accurate or complete, write a statement of 100 words or less to protest the information. The agency must check the accuracy or completeness of the information. Within 45 days, it must confirm, correct, add to or delete the information in question. If the agency corrects, adds to or deletes information, it must tell you and everyone who received your report within the last six months.
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Did you know that “These credit bureaus collect and maintain information on the vast majority of Americans, but they are not affiliated with the government in any way. The credit bureaus are for-profit corporations and they sell your personal information for money.” ? Come and give you opinion on http://restoremycreditreport.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/what-is-a-credit-report/