Credit Bureaus and Your Rights

At Equifax, we want to help you live your financial best. This can mean different things to different people, however all consumers in Canada share a number of rights when it comes to your information at registered credit bureaus (also known as credit agencies). We are here to work with you.

You are entitled to:

1. Be informed
   You can access your credit report and a credit score free of charge. When you access your own credit report and score, there is no impact to any credit score calculations.  
2. Be proactive about security
   There is no charge to place a security alert on your credit report. Depending on the circumstances, the security alert may be an identity alert or a fraud warning. For Quebec residents only, you are also entitled place a credit lock which restricts access to your credit report at no charge.  
3. Be heard
   You can add an explanatory statement, sometimes called a consumer statement, to your credit report, free of charge. This is an opportunity to provide information you would like to be included with your credit report any time it is reviewed by a third party.  
4. Accuracy
   It is important to all of us that your information is as accurate as possible. There is no charge to let us know that something doesn’t look right on your credit report. We will work with you to investigate and update your credit report as applicable.  
5. Privacy
   We take appropriate steps under applicable legislation to verify the identity of consumers contacting us for assistance. We do not share your credit information with third parties except as allowed under applicable legislation. For more information please visit our Privacy Policy.  
6. Have negative credit information removed from your credit report after a period of time
   Generally speaking, negative information such as late or missed payments, accounts that have been sent to collection agencies, or a bankruptcy stays on credit reports for approximately six years. Here is more information about how long different types of information will remain on your Equifax credit report.  

Help us help you. When you contact us, we will ask you to:

1. Prove your identity
   In order to protect your privacy, we need to be sure that the person we are talking to matches the identity of the credit report. We will ask for proof of identity in order to discuss any of your specific information.  
2. Explain your concern or request
   Once we understand your concern or request, we can work through the appropriate steps with you.  
3. Provide evidence
   At Equifax we operate on facts and we expect you to do the same. Depending on the nature of your question or concern, we may need different pieces of government ID or supporting documentation. For example, if you are requesting an address change on your credit report, we will need to see evidence that the new address is yours.