Most Canadians do not realize they have two separate credit reports — one held by Equifax Canada and one by TransUnion Canada. Both are independent companies that collect credit information from lenders, compile it into reports, and calculate credit scores. Your scores at each bureau may differ by 10 to 50 points or more, because not all lenders report to both bureaus.
Understanding how both bureaus work, why your scores differ between them, and how to access your reports is essential to managing your credit health in Canada.
Both companies are credit reporting agencies (CRAs) — they collect financial data from lenders, credit card companies, telcos, and other creditors, aggregate it into credit files, and sell access to those files to lenders who want to assess creditworthiness. In Canada, Equifax has been operating since 1919 and TransUnion since the 1990s.
When a lender checks your credit before approving a card, mortgage, or loan, they pull your credit report from one or both bureaus. The lender then decides whether to approve you and at what rate based on what they see.
The most common reason for score discrepancies between Equifax and TransUnion is that not all lenders report to both bureaus. Some banks report to only one. A credit card from a regional credit union might appear only on TransUnion, meaning that account's positive payment history is invisible to Equifax.
Additionally, the two bureaus use slightly different scoring models. Both use variants of the FICO scoring algorithm, but version differences, factor weightings, and proprietary adjustments mean the same underlying data can produce different scores. A 20 to 40 point gap between your Equifax and TransUnion scores is common and normal.
Different lenders have preferred bureau relationships. Some banks pull exclusively from Equifax, others from TransUnion, and major banks often pull both. Unfortunately, lenders do not publicly disclose which bureau they use for specific products, and this varies by product type (mortgage vs. credit card vs. auto loan).
Because you cannot know which bureau a specific lender will check, the safest approach is to maintain a good score at both bureaus by ensuring positive accounts report to both wherever possible.
Equifax Canada is headquartered in Toronto. Their credit reports list your personal information (name, address, employment), credit accounts, public records (bankruptcies, judgments), and inquiries. Equifax scores in Canada range from 300 to 900.
Free access to your Equifax Canada score and report is available through Borrowell — a Canadian fintech that provides weekly score updates and explains which specific factors are affecting your score positively or negatively. For your full credit report, you can also request it directly from Equifax by mail or online at their website for a small fee, or via the free annual mail request.
TransUnion Canada is headquartered in Burlington, Ontario. They operate similarly to Equifax but use a different scoring model (the TransUnion CreditVision Risk Score) which claims to incorporate more payment history factors. TransUnion scores also range from 300 to 900.
Free access to your TransUnion Canada score is available through Credit Karma Canada, which provides free credit monitoring with TransUnion data. Credit Karma updates your score weekly and provides factor-by-factor breakdowns, making it easy to track the impact of specific actions on your score.
Credit report errors are more common than most Canadians realize. A Consumers Council of Canada study found that a significant percentage of Canadians have at least one error in their credit file. Common errors include: accounts that do not belong to you (identity mix-ups or fraud), incorrect balance amounts, accounts incorrectly showing as delinquent, and outdated negative information that should have been removed.
Pull your reports from both bureaus at least once per year. For each account listed, verify: the lender is correct, the balance and payment status are accurate, and no unfamiliar accounts or inquiries appear. If you find an error, dispute it directly with the bureau in writing — they are legally required to investigate and correct verified errors within 30 days.
To dispute a credit report error in Canada:
If the bureau sides with the creditor but you believe the error persists, you can add a consumer statement (up to 100 words) to your credit file explaining your position. Lenders who pull your report will see this statement.
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