I've read about the availability of online credit reports and scores at the following website:

http://www.equifax.com/EFX_Canada/

Is this a worthwhile purchase? Any comments and/or personal experiences would be welcome. TIA.

Are credit reports usually FREE when one visits an EQUIFAX office?

Dave

Don't have any experience with Equifax, but I have written to the credit bureau and received my report in the mail, free. You could probably call your local credit bureau and they could tell you if it's free to go in and receive it.

I ordered the "Score Power Credit Score" and the credit report earlier this week because:
1) It's quick and easy compared to the free method (link fixed)
2) You don't get your FICO score through the free method, and I was curious to see what it said


The report looks just like the sample here. The last time I got a free report from Equifax was a few years ago, and it didn't have as much detail as the report I received online this week. I don't know if that is still the case.

I think the online credit score report was a good purchase for me, but I'll stick with the free version for future reports.

If you have a good relationship with your banker, they'll tell you your score and anything that needs to be cleaned up after you've applied for a credit product with them.

If you want to know in advance, the credit report with FICO score is worth it. I wouldn't get the cheaper report - AFAIK that's just your free report, the difference being you don't have to go through the process of mailing in a request and waiting for them to mail you back your free report.
If you want to get a better score:
- the fewer credit cards you have the better
- the lower any outstanding credit balances you have, the better

Even if you have "emergency" credit cards with 0 outstanding credit balance, it will count against you - people with a lot of unused credit are considered a higher credit risk.

Rehan, your "free" link doesn't work for me... try this


There's also another company that maintains your credit history:
Transunion

Good site it is nice to know what your FICO score is. It is worth the money if you need to see your credit report now, to get it through the mail usually takes 6-8 weeks

Thanks, Costa...I fixed the link.

Here's a third agency:
http://www.creditbureau.ca/

Originally posted by DavidY I've read about the availability of online credit reports and scores at the following website: http://www.equifax.com/EFX_Canada/ Is this a worthwhile purchase? Any comments and/or personal experiences would be welcome. TIA. Are credit reports usually FREE when one visits an EQUIFAX office? Dave

Hey there - I've used both Equifax and Transunion. They were both free and took about a month to get back to me. They were backlogged at the time so that's probably why it took so long. Make sure you give them all the information they want right away because if you leave something out, they will send you a letter requesting it, then you'll have to send it in, then they have to process the whole thing allllllllll over again. Make sure your photo ID is clear they'll really nab you for that one.

Hi All,

I found a great service online at www.iquiri.com. They offer canadians their credit report online instantly!. I got my report and included a personal credit analysis which rated my report (i guess it's like the score). They use data from the third national credit bureau in Canada called NCB? never heard of them but apparently they have recently went national and have great data.
Hope that helps!

Pico

Originally posted by picodog Hi All, I found a great service online at www.iquiri.com. They offer canadians their credit report online instantly!. I got my report and included a personal credit analysis which rated my report (i guess it's like the score). They use data from the third national credit bureau in Canada called NCB? never heard of them but apparently they have recently went national and have great data. Hope that helps! Pico

That link won't work for me

http://www.canadacreditreport.com/c...information.htm
perhaps www.iquiri.com Edited to add, site doesn't allow you to use Netscape, and it costs $13.95.

Originally posted by ronnie99 That link won't work for me http://www.canadacreditreport.com/c...information.htm perhaps www.iquiri.com Edited to add, site doesn't allow you to use Netscape, and it costs $13.95.

I don't use Netscape and yes the $13.95 is worth it so i didn't have to wait the 3 weeks.

Originally posted by picodog I don't use Netscape and yes the $13.95 is worth it so i didn't have to wait the 3 weeks.

I agree its worth not waiting, however I don't have a credit card so I can't check online. I found that It wouldn't load in IE 5.0 and it was terribly slow with Nescape 6.23, took 15 minutes for two full pages to load...then tell me it won't work!

They can't seem to decide if they're Canada's "premiere" source for online credit or its "premier" source.

I ordered the report online from www.equifax.ca, it cost around $20, so you need a credit card to order it, the information was very detailed, it gave me my credit score as well. In that version (with the credit score) they give you a lot of detailed tips to help make your credit better, very helpful if your planning on making a large purchase on credit, like a home, in the next year or 2. It was nice to be able to see what the credit companies see.

Originally posted by just_me I ordered the report online from www.equifax.ca, it cost around $20, so you need a credit card to order it, the information was very detailed, it gave me my credit score as well. In that version (with the credit score) they give you a lot of detailed tips to help make your credit better, very helpful if your planning on making a large purchase on credit, like a home, in the next year or 2. It was nice to be able to see what the credit companies see.

I have found the Equifax report useful, in particular for telling me that both MBNA and Citibank both won't close your credit card account unless you repeatedly beg them. They like to keep the account open "for your convenience", which lowers your credit rating.