Equifax Canada Credit Bureau Overview

What is Equifax Canada?

Equifax Canada is known for its credit report and credit score, a number between 300 and 900 designed to represent the likelihood that you will pay your bills on time. But it also offers other tools, including credit monitoring products and an online education center.

Equifax offers credit tools for individuals, such as credit reports and credit scores (free of charge). If necessary, Equifax provides you with a tool to dispute information on your credit file. It also offers credit monitoring products for a monthly fee. Finally, Equifax has an (online) education center with information on credit and identity theft.

But Equifax doesn’t just offer tools for individuals. Equifax offers products and services for businesses. These include credit reports, credit trends, market data and economic overviews.

Equifax products

Equifax Canada offers two credit monitoring products for consumers:

1. Equifax Complete^TM Premier
2. Equifax Complete^TM Friends and Family

*For residents of Quebec, this feature is not available for new product purchases.

To learn more about Equifax products, visit this page: “Comparison of credit monitoring options” (Equifax Canada)

The Equifax Complete^TM Premier product is designed, among other things, to help protect individuals against identity theft.

If your identity has been stolen, Equifax Complete^TM Premier can help you restore it.

How is the credit score calculated?

The credit score, also called credit score, is a number between 300 and 900 designed to represent your credit risk. It is consulted by lenders and creditors to help them decide whether or not to grant you a loan. Examples include mortgage, car loan, credit card, line of credit, or cell phone plan.

There are several rating models, but here are the factors taken into consideration:

• Payment history: around 35% of your credit score comes from your ability to pay your balances on time.
• Utilization: around 30% of your credit score comes from your monthly use of credit lines granted by various lenders (mortgage, line of credit, credit cards, etc.).
• Credit history: about 15% of your credit score comes from your credit history in Canada for accounts on your credit report (credit cards, mortgages, car loans, student loans, etc.).
• Types of credit: about 10% of your credit score comes from diversifying your types of credit (mortgage, line of credit, credit card, etc.).
• New applications: about 10% of your credit score comes from new credit applications (cards, loans, etc.).

To learn more or improve your credit score, read our guides “How is the credit score calculated in Canada?” and “How can I improve my credit score?”.

Equifax Canada – Get your free credit report

Equifax allows you to monitor your credit file. You can obtain your free Equifax credit report online or by mail.

• Get your Equifax credit score and credit report online (free)
• Get your Equifax credit score and credit report by mail (free)

The report includes the following:

• Identification information
• Credit accounts including information on account opening date, payment history and credit limit.
• Information on requests for access to your credit file.
• Credit report locking (Quebec residents only)

To help you understand your credit report, consult this guide:” How to read your Equifax credit report”.

Equifax Canada – Credit report dispute

Equifax provides you with a tool to dispute information on your credit file. If you find inaccurate or incomplete information in your Equifax credit file, you can submit a dispute request online or by mail :

1. Online: processing time is 10 to 15 days.
2. By mail (to the address below): processing time is 15 to 20 days.

Equifax Canada Co.
National Consumer Relations
P.O. Box 190
Montreal, Quebec H1S 2Z2

Equifax Canada – Credit lock (Quebec)

A credit lock helps prevent fraud and identity theft. In Quebec, consumers can activate the credit file lock option free of charge. This measure was added following passage of the Credit Assessment Agents Act (Bill 53).

As a result, as of February 1, 2023, Quebec residents can activate, suspend or remove their credit file lock from their online account (“myEquifax”), by calling customer service or by mail.

When the lock option is activated, Equifax restricts access to your credit file and credit score to any requester (lenders, creditors, financial institutions, etc.).

To find out more about credit locking, read this article: “Credit lock: what you need to know about securing your file”.

Equifax Canada Education Centre

Equifax has an online education center with articles and videos on credit and identity theft. These resources will help you strengthen your knowledge of credit in Canada.

Topics include:

• Credit score
• Credit Score
• Identity theft

To find out more, visit the Equifax Education Center.

Equifax Canada Customer Service

Equifax Canada customer service can be reached by chat or telephone:

• Phone: 800-871-3250
• Hours : Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (ET) and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET)

In addition, you can find answers to frequently asked questions about credit reports, identity alerts and products in the FAQ section of the Equifax Canada website.

Bottom Line

In short, Equifax Canada is a credit reporting agency offering products and services to individuals and businesses. Although Equifax is known for its credit report and credit score, it also offers other tools such as credit monitoring products.

Its products Equifax Complete^TM Premier and Equifax Complete^TM Friends and Family can help you detect identity fraud faster and help you recover.

For more information, please visit the Equifax Canada website or contact customer service.

Frequently Asked Questions