Reading your credit report
Getting both files costs nothing and takes about ten minutes. Reading them properly is where the value is — errors are more common than most people expect, and they only get corrected if someone notices.
Ask for the right thing
The document you want is called a consumer disclosure. That's the full file, and it's what you're legally entitled to see. It differs from the version a lender receives: your disclosure lists every inquiry, including account reviews and your own checks, while the lender version is abbreviated.
Both bureaus provide it free, by three routes:
Online. Fastest. Create an account at equifax.ca or transunion.ca and view your file, typically refreshed monthly. You'll need to verify your identity, which usually means answering questions drawn from your own credit history.
By phone. If online verification fails — which happens to people with thin files or recent moves — both bureaus have consumer lines that will process the request.
By mail. Slower, a couple of weeks, but it works when nothing else does. Each bureau publishes a request form; you send it with photocopies of two pieces of ID.
The score is a separate question from the report
The report and the score are not the same product, and free access to one doesn't guarantee the other.
Equifax currently provides both the report and a score free online. TransUnion's position is narrower: under provincial legislation, residents of Ontario and Quebec are entitled to see their score and score factors on the consumer disclosure. Outside those provinces you may need a paid product or a third-party service to see a TransUnion number.
Free apps like Borrowell and Credit Karma show a score and a summary, which is fine for tracking movement. For finding errors, get the full disclosure — the summary versions leave things out.
Decoding the rating codes
Each account carries a letter and a number. The letter describes the account type: R for revolving (credit cards), I for instalment (fixed payments, like a car loan), O for open (balance due in full each cycle).
The number describes how it's been paid, on a scale of 1 to 9:
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R1 | Paid as agreed, within 30 days of the due date |
| R2 | Paid 30 to 59 days late |
| R3 | Paid 60 to 89 days late |
| R4 | Paid 90 to 119 days late |
| R5 | 120 days or more late, not yet written off |
| R7 | Being repaid under a formal arrangement rather than the original terms |
| R8 | Repossession |
| R9 | Written off by the lender or placed with a collection agency |
R0 appears occasionally and simply means the account is approved but unused. R1 is what you want everywhere. R9 is the most damaging entry on the scale.
What to look for
Work through the file in this order. It takes about twenty minutes the first time.
Accounts you don't recognize. The most important check, because an unfamiliar account is either an error or identity fraud, and both need action quickly. Look carefully — fraudulent accounts are often opened with a slight variation of your name.
Balances and limits that are wrong. A limit reported lower than it actually is inflates your utilization and costs you points for no reason. This is a common error and an easy correction.
Payment marks you dispute. If you were marked late in a month you paid on time, that's worth challenging — and it's worth digging out the evidence, because a single late mark carries real weight.
Duplicate collections. When an account is sold between collection agencies, it sometimes appears twice — once under the original creditor and once under the buyer. One entry is legitimate; two for the same amount is not.
Dates. This matters more than people realize, because the date drives when an item drops off. If the date of first delinquency is reported later than it actually was, the entry stays on your file longer than it should.
Old addresses and name variants. Cosmetic, mostly, but worth cleaning up — mismatched personal information is a common cause of files getting mixed between people with similar names.
How long things stay
Retention varies by bureau, by province, and by item type, and published sources disagree on the edges. The figures below are the general shape rather than a guarantee for your specific file.
| Item | Roughly how long |
|---|---|
| Late payments | About 6 years from the missed payment |
| Collection accounts | About 6 years; both bureaus generally apply a six-year purge, though Ontario legislation permits up to seven |
| Court judgments | 6 to 10 years depending on province and bureau |
| Accounts repaid under a formal arrangement | Generally about 6 years |
| Inquiries | 3 years with Equifax, up to 6 with TransUnion |
| Accounts in good standing | Often 10 to 20 years — positive history is kept longer than negative |
Two clocks people confuse
How long something stays on your credit report and how long a creditor can sue you over it are entirely separate questions, governed by different laws.
The reporting period is roughly six years. The limitation period — the window in which a creditor can start a court action — is set provincially and generally runs two to six years, in Ontario two. They start at different times and end at different times.
One important trap: in most provinces, making a payment or acknowledging that you owe an amount can restart the limitation clock. If an old account resurfaces and someone is pressing you to make a small good-faith payment, that payment may be doing something you didn't intend. Get advice before you make it.
Correcting an error
Both bureaus are required to investigate disputes, and you file them directly — online, by phone, or by mail. There's no fee, and you don't need anyone's help to do it.
What makes a dispute succeed is specificity and evidence. "This is wrong" achieves little. "This account shows a limit of $2,000; the attached statement shows $5,000" gets corrected. Gather the statement, the payment confirmation, or the letter before you file.
File with both bureaus if the error appears on both files. They investigate independently and a correction at one does nothing at the other.
Expect roughly thirty days. If the investigation goes against you and you still disagree, you have the right to add a brief statement of explanation to your file, which lenders will see alongside the disputed item.
On "pay for delete"
You'll find Canadian sites suggesting you negotiate with a collection agency to remove an entry in exchange for payment. That advice is imported from the American system and doesn't work here. Both bureaus require accurate information to remain for its full retention period, and they can refuse a deletion request even when the agency asks for it.
Paying a collection is often still worth doing — the entry updates to show as paid, which lenders read differently from an outstanding one, and the effect fades as it ages. Just don't pay expecting it to disappear.