Hi folks,
It’s getting closer to summer and as the weather warms up, so do our curiosities about our personal and financial well being.
I received a call today about a topic I’ve touched on many times but never as directly:
UPDATING YOUR PERSONAL CREDIT REPORT
In Canada, as an adult consumer, you have a personal credit report. Even if it has little to no history, the report exists.
You have a right to review the personal and financial information being reported about you AND you have the right to provide proof of any inaccuracies and to have those proven inaccuracies corrected within 30 days.
Normally, the first step is to check your Equifax and TransUnion credit reports followed by reporting and proving if any inaccuracies are discovered.
As long as your address is up to date, you can order your free credit report any time 24/7/365 without any mailing or faxing or human interaction using the automated services at the following phone numbers:
| Equifax | 1-800-465-7166 |
| TransUnion | 1-800-663-9980 |
If your address is NOT up to date with Equifax or TransUnion, you’ll be unsuccessful using the above telephone services until you send in THIS FORM. When the address update is done, they’ll immediately mail you a free copy of your credit report.
The types of update that are commonly required are:
- Update that a collection has now been paid
- Update address or employment
- Merge a duplicate report
- Un-merge a report if inaccurate
The main reasons for keeping your personal Equifax and TransUnion credit reports accurate are:
- Credit worthiness
- To impress cell phone providers, landlords, employers as these parties often use our credit report (with permission) to accompany our requests to do business together
- To prevent fraud
I truly hope this information has helped you. If you’d like to see similar information from other perspectives, please check out my previous posts such as Nov. 8 2017 or Feb. 25 2020 or Sept. 1 2020
Chow for now,
DGB
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