Getting Free Credit Report In Canada

If you live in Canada and you want to apply for an auto loan or home loan, you need to be sure that your credit is good. Sometimes this is more difficult or complicated than you expect; but you can visit CreditReport360.

Over the last few years, credit reform has been a major concern in the United States. With the passing of the Fair Credit Act and the Credit CARD Act, though, things seem to be moving in the right direction. Part of the recent credit card reform in the United States aims to keep consumers more informed of their particular credit situations, allowing consumers to access the information on any of the credit reports from the three major credit bureaus every year. Apparently, Canada offers similar services with websites like Free Score, which lets you take a look at your financial standing according to TransUnion's credit report and score tallies.

What is Credit Report 360?

CreditReport360 is website that provides access to consumer credit reports. Obviously you can only request access to your own credit history, so the site will ask you for some personal information to get you started:

  • First name
  • Last name
  • E-mail address
  • Postal address

With this information they will contact you further regarding the more private things necessary to process your request.

What Is TransUnion?

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and employing approximately 3,600 people in over 24 countries, TransUnion is a privately held company that:

  • Offers credit-related information to potential creditors including credit card companies and mortgage lenders
  • Markets credit reports directly to consumers

They are the third-largest credit reporting agency in the United States (under Equifax and Experian).

What You Get

When you fill out the application at CreditReport360.com, you will not only receive access to your credit report, obviously, but you will also appreciate:

  • 24/7 credit monitoring and alerts
  • Identity theft insurance
  • Instant online delivery of all requests and orders you make
  • Peace of mind knowing that your information is secured by both Verisign and McAfee Security
  • Free 7-day trial

In terms of the identity theft insurance, your account will be covered by a policy from Coverdell Canada Corporation and Underwritten by companies that belong to the Traveller’s Insurance family.

When you finish your application you will likely be taken to a page that will display several things for you. First of all, you will get to see your credit score, followed by how you compare among people in your demographic. This is followed by a section that shows you how lenders view you, which can be extremely helpful when you are trying to determine what could be preventing the approval of any applications.

Next you will see a section that contains all of your personal information. It is crucial that you check this information thoroughly because many people have blemishes on their credit report simply because the information on file is not accurate.

Below this you will see a record of your payment history, which is also an area you should check for inaccuracies. This is one of the most crucial places to look for errors because if there is an issue in this section it is likely that this is precisely why you might be having issues getting credit.

Finally, you can see who has been checking your credit report. This is also good because you will know which applications you filled out were actually pursued and you can reapply with them if you find discrepancies or inaccuracies.

Some Fine Print

Much like in the United States, Canadian residents can request the disclosure of one credit report from credit bureaus, including TransUnion at no charge every year. Of course, you can order as many reports as you would like, but each one subsequent of the first will cost you some cash.

Also, the offer for monitoring, insurance, and other benefits is not available to people in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland, as well as financial customers in the United States, of course.

Conclusion

In this day and age, when the economy is a little slow and digital crimes like identity theft are on the rise, it's important to make sure that your credit report is saying the right things about you. Websites like Credit Report in Canada aim to make sure that it does.

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