You do not need to pay to see your credit score in Canada. Several options exist — from checking through your bank app to requesting a free report directly from Equifax or TransUnion. Knowing your score before you apply for credit puts you in a much better position to manage the outcome.
Most major Canadian banks and several fintech apps now offer free credit score monitoring as part of their services. These use soft inquiries, meaning they have zero impact on your score.
If your bank offers this feature, it is the easiest way to check your score regularly with no friction.
Several apps offer free credit score access without requiring a bank relationship:
These apps are legitimate and well-known in Canada. They make money through product recommendations (credit cards, loans), but the score access itself is free. Creating an account does not affect your credit score.
Under Canadian law, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from Equifax Canada by mail. This is the full report — not just the score, but every account, inquiry, and piece of data on file. To request it:
This free report does not include your live credit score — just the underlying data. But it is the most complete view of what lenders see.
TransUnion Canada also provides a free credit report by mail. Visit transunion.ca to find their consumer disclosure process. Similar to Equifax, you submit a form with ID and receive a report by mail. The online TransUnion score products are paid, but the mail-in report is free.
Free scores from apps and banks are often based on the same data as paid scores, but may use a different scoring model. For example, the score Borrowell shows is an Equifax score, but it may use a consumer-facing model rather than the proprietary lender-facing model your bank uses when assessing a mortgage application. The numbers will be close but not always identical.
Checking your own credit score is a soft inquiry and has no impact on your score, no matter how frequently you do it. Most Canadians benefit from checking monthly. At minimum, check once a year and always check before making a major application (mortgage, car loan, new credit card).
If you check your report and find an account you do not recognize, an incorrect balance, or a payment listed as late that was actually made on time, you have the right to dispute it. Contact the relevant bureau directly — Equifax or TransUnion — and file a dispute. Confirmed errors must be corrected, and this can improve your score once the fix goes through.
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