How do I receive a free copy of my TransUnion Personal Credit report? How do I add a Fraud Alert to my credit report? How can I identify who some of the creditors are on my report so that I may contact them to cancel accounts? If I pay accounts, will they come off my credit report? Why are some of my accounts showing as joint, even after a divorce? What is in my credit report? What is an inquiry? What are account review inquiries? Can you tell me what is on my report over the telephone? Who can access my credit report? How do I build a good credit history? Where do you get the personal information that is on my credit report? How often should I check my credit report? What do lenders look at when deciding whether or not to approve a loan or credit card? What is a consumer-reporting agency or credit bureau and what does it do? What is Credit? What is a Credit Report? How long does TransUnion keep my information on file?
The statement requests that creditors viewing your report contact you before making a decision to extend credit based on the information in your credit report. The protective statement is applied to your credit file and remains for 6 years, however if any time you wish to have the statement removed, we require a written request with two pieces of acceptable identification to do so.
Please refer to our Fraud Victim Information.
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A divorce decree does not override an original contract with a creditor. Any credit history established jointly before a divorce can be reported under both names shown on a contract or an application. If you have notified the creditor(s) and they are willing to release you from your obligation, please notify us and we will re-investigate the account.
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Once you enter into a relationship with an organization, they may also review your credit file to monitor your account. These inquiries are not disclosed to other organizations requesting your file and will report on your file for up to one year
Contact numbers are provided for each organization listed that has inquired on your file. If you do not recall authorizing their use of your information, please contact them to identify what authorization they obtained to access your information.
Finally, when you receive a copy of your personal credit file, a notation will be made to your file. Your inquiry to your own file will not be disclosed to other organizations receiving your information.
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TransUnion may only provide organizations with access to your information if they have a permissible purpose as defined by provincial consumer reporting legislation. These permissible purposes typically relate to an extension of credit, collection of a debt, employment, tenancy, insurance and the establishment of a business relationship between you and an organization.
Finally, you also have the right to access your credit report.
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When you apply for credit, you may wish to see if the company reports account information to a credit-reporting agency. Companies are not required to report account information but most do.
If you are declined credit, find out why. You may be have been declined for various reasons including your not having met with the creditors minimal income requirement or not having been at your current residence or job for the required amount of time. You can overcome these obstacles with time.
If you have problems establishing credit, you may wish to ask a person with established credit to co-sign an application for you. This allows the creditor to base the decision on both applicants’ credit histories. Please note that a signer and co-signer are equally responsible for repayment of the debt. Payment history on this type of debt may be reflected on both parties’ credit reports. Once timely payments have been made on the account, you may again wish to apply for individual credit.
Each creditor has different requirements for issuing credit. If you are declined credit, contact the creditor to determine the reason for the decline.
When filling out credit applications, it is important to use complete and accurate personal information.
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A credit score based on your TransUnion credit report is one of several tools that lenders use when evaluating your application for credit. It provides a summary of how likely you are to repay a loan as agreed and based on how you have managed your credit obligations in the past. Lenders may also evaluate other information in their loan evaluation process. This may include information you provide on the credit application (income, length of time at current address and other banking relationships you may have).
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TransUnion, a consumer reporting agency, facilitates consumer transactions by providing consumer credit reports to its clients, which include banks, credit-card companies, finance companies and other institutions. By their nature, these consumer credit reports must include some personal information about consumers. Accordingly, TransUnion regularly collects, uses and discloses personal credit information of Canadian consumers. Credit grantors and other institutions provide TransUnion with factual information about how their customers pay their bills and other debts. Credit reporting agencies, such as TransUnion, compile and assemble this information, along with public record information, into a "file" for each consumer. In return, credit grantors and authorized institutions, pursuant to the applicable provincial consumer reporting legislation, are able to obtain credit reports about consumers.
TransUnion generates millions of credit reports every year to make credit buying fast, easy and safe for qualified applicants. The availability of these reports benefits both businesses and consumers. The credit reports allow our clients to make informed credit decisions and portfolio management decisions based on reliable information and consumers, in turn, benefit from rapid access to credit facilities in order to purchase cars, major appliances and other household items.
TransUnion also provides a suite of authentication services to assist its clients in identifying potentially fraudulent transactions. In the course of providing these services, TransUnion may use personal information contained in the credit reports to see if it matches the information that has been provided by an applicant, typically to credit granting institutions or merchants. While preventing fraud is in everybody’s best interest, these services may benefit consumers directly if someone is attempting to pose as a consumer by misappropriating the consumer’s identity and personal credit information.
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TransUnion will maintain a record of positive credit information (i.e. accounts that were paid and have no negative history) for a period of twenty (20) years. This retention period benefits most consumers by recognizing their previous involvement with the credit granting industry, even when the consumer has limited or no current credit history.
INQUIRIES:An inquiry by a business purchasing a service from TransUnion will be automatically removed from your file after six (6) years. However, account review inquiries will only report for one (1) year. The system will maintain a minimum of six (6) credit inquiries on your file.
ACCOUNTS WITH ADVERSE CREDIT HISTORY:These accounts will automatically be removed from your file six (6) years after the date you defaulted on the account.
DEBTS SATISFIED THROUGH AN ORDERLY PAYMENT OF DEBT OR CREDIT COUNSELING PROGRAM:All debts reported as included in the debt repayment program will be removed from your file two (2) years from the date the program was satisfied.
CONSUMER PROPOSAL:The consumer proposal and all accounts reported as satisfied through the proposal will be removed from your file three (3) years from the date you satisfied the proposal.
BANKRUPTCY:TransUnion maintains this information on your file for the maximum length of time permitted by provincial credit reporting legislation. When a bankruptcy is removed from your file, all accounts reported as included in that bankruptcy will also be removed from your file. For a single bankruptcy, TransUnion maintains this information as follows:
TransUnion maintains this information on your file for the maximum length of time permitted by provincial credit reporting legislation TransUnion maintains this information as follows:
These accounts will automatically be removed from your file six (6) years after the date you defaulted on the account with the original creditor.
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