Your credit report is a record of how you've handled credit: which accounts you have, how much you owe, whether you've paid on time, and who has looked at your file. Lenders use it, along with your credit score, to decide whether to lend to you and at what rate. Equifax and TransUnion lay their reports out differently, but both contain the same five kinds of information.
The five sections
- Personal information: name, date of birth, addresses, sometimes employers
- Accounts (tradelines): credit cards, loans, lines of credit, mortgages and their payment history
- Inquiries: who has requested your report, and when
- Collections and public records: debts sent to collection agencies, bankruptcies, consumer proposals, judgments
- Consumer statements: notes you've asked to add to your file
1. Personal information
Check that your name, date of birth and current address are correct, and that you recognise every past address listed. Your social insurance number may appear partly masked, or not at all. Supplying it to lenders is optional.
What to look for: addresses you've never lived at, or name variations you've never used, can be a sign of mixed files or identity theft.
2. Accounts, or tradelines
This is the heart of the report. Each account usually shows:
- The lender's name and the account type
- The date opened, and the date of last activity or last payment
- The credit limit or original loan amount, and the current balance
- Any amount past due
- A payment status, often shown as a rating code
- A month-by-month payment history, often for the last few years
Rating codes: R1, I1, O1 and so on
Many Canadian reports describe each account with a letter and a number. The letter is the type of credit, and the number shows how well it's been paid.
| Letter | Account type |
|---|---|
| R | Revolving credit, such as a credit card or line of credit |
| I | Instalment credit, such as a car loan or personal loan, paid in fixed amounts |
| O | Open credit, where the full balance is due each month, such as some charge cards |
| M | Mortgage |
| Number | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Too new to rate, or approved but not used |
| 1 | Paid as agreed, within 30 days of the due date |
| 2 | 30 to 59 days late |
| 3 | 60 to 89 days late |
| 4 | 90 to 119 days late |
| 5 | 120 days or more late |
| 7 | Paying through a consolidation order, consumer proposal or debt management plan |
| 8 | Repossession |
| 9 | Bad debt, written off or sent to collections |
So "R1" is a credit card paid on time, which is what you want to see. "I3" is an instalment loan that was 60 to 89 days late. Newer report formats may spell out the status in words instead of codes, but the meaning is the same.
Check balances and limits. If a limit is reported lower than it really is, your credit utilization looks higher than it is, which can pull your score down. That's worth disputing.
3. Inquiries
Inquiries are records of who has pulled your report.
- Hard inquiries happen when you apply for credit. They're visible to lenders and can lower your score slightly, especially several in a short time.
- Soft inquiries include checking your own report, pre-approval offers, and existing lenders reviewing your account. Only you can see them, and they don't affect your score.
Equifax keeps lender inquiries for 3 years and TransUnion for 6 years. An inquiry you don't recognise could mean someone applied for credit in your name.
4. Collections and public records
This section lists debts passed to collection agencies, and legal items such as bankruptcies, consumer proposals and court judgments. These are the most damaging entries, and each has its own removal date. See how long information stays on your report.
5. Consumer statements
You can ask a bureau to add a short statement to your file, for example to explain a dispute that wasn't resolved in your favour, or to flag possible fraud. Lenders who view your report will see it.
A five-minute checklist
- Every address and name is yours
- Every account belongs to you
- Closed accounts are shown as closed
- Balances, limits and payment histories are correct
- Every hard inquiry matches an application you made
- Old negative items have dropped off on schedule
Found something wrong? It's free to fix. See our guide to disputing a credit report error.
Frequently asked questions
What does R1 mean on a credit report?
R means revolving credit, such as a credit card or line of credit, and 1 means it's been paid as agreed. R1 is the best rating for that type of account.
What does R9 or I9 mean?
The 9 means bad debt: the account was written off or sent to collections. It's the most serious rating.
Is my credit score on my credit report?
Not always. The report and the score are separate products. Some free reports don't include a score, though both bureaus offer free scores in some or all provinces.
Why is an account missing from my report?
Lenders aren't required to report to both bureaus, and some smaller lenders don't report at all.
Sources
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, Credit report and score basics
- Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, How long information stays on your credit report