How to Get Your Canadian Credit Reports and Repair Your Credit
A Credit Article Contributed by Brandie King
How to Get Your Canadian Credit Reports for Repairing Your Credit
Before you can repair your credit, you have to get your Canadian credit reports. Following is the contact information for the three Canadian credit bureaus that you need to get your reports from. You should get all three. They may all three be different because different creditors report to different credit bureaus and do not usually report to all three of them. You should order your Canadian credit reports at least once every single year.
This allows you to keep a very close eye on them so that not only can you catch errors early, but you can watch for suspicious activity that might indicate that you have become the victim of an identity thief.
Equifax Canada, Inc.: Consumer Relations Department, Box 190 Jean Talon Station, Montreal, Quebec H1S 2Z2. Telephone: (514) 493-2314, Toll Free: 1-800-465-7166, Fax: (514) 355-8502. http://www.equifax.com/EFX_Canada/
Trans Union: Consumer Relations, 709 Main Street W Suite 3201, Hamilton, On L8S 1A2. Telephone: 1-800-663-9980, Fax: (905) 527-0401. http://www.tuc.ca/
Northern Credit Bureaus, Inc. (Be careful here because they are also a collection agency.) 336 Rideau Boulevard, Rouyn-Norand PQ. Fax: 1-800-646-5876. http://www.creditbureau.ca/
Repairing a Canadian Credit Report
When you receive your Canadian credit reports you should review them for errors and incorrect information. This is the first step in repairing them. You should have received information on how to dispute errors and incorrect information along with your paper copies of your credit reports. You have to be both patient and persistent when trying to get incorrect information on your credit reports fixed, and it may take more than one try before being done.
In addition, never sign up with a company that offers to repair your credit for you. They are usually scam artists that will do nothing more than take your money and run. Why pay somebody else to do something that you can do yourself for free anyway?
Tips to Help You Keep Your Canadian Credit Reports Clean after Repairing
Immediately, right this minute, put away all of your credit cards. Do not use them anymore. Pretend that they do not exist, put them in a block of ice in the freezer, bury them in the backyard, whatever you have to do to keep from using those cards. You only need one single card, and the main point in having that one single card is to help you to rebuild your credit after you have repaired it.
Make absolutely certain that you always pay that one credit card bill on time and never go over the limit. This is key to rebuilding your credit. On credit cards where you still have balances, start making more than the minimum monthly payments. Look at your spending habits. Eliminate what you are able to and cut back on what you can. These are ways to help keep yourself from getting further into debt.
