Understanding your credit report

From: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Financial information on your credit report

Your credit report may contain the following financial information:

non-sufficient funds payments, or bad cheques
chequing and savings accounts closed “for cause” due to money owing or fraud committed
credit you use, including credit cards, retail or store cards, lines of credit and loans
bankruptcy or a court decision against you that relates to credit
debts sent to collection agencies
inquiries from lenders and others who have requested your credit report in the past three years
registered items, such as a lien on a car that allows the lender to seize it if you don’t make payments
remarks, including consumer statements, fraud alerts and identity verification alerts

Your credit report contains factual information about your credit cards and loans, such as:

when you opened your account
how much you owe
if you made your payments on time
if you missed payments
if your debt has been transferred to a collection agency
if you went over your credit limit
personal information that’s available in public records, such as a bankruptcy

What to look for on your credit report

Lenders use codes to send information to the credit bureaus about how and when you make payments.

These codes have two parts:

a letter shows the type of credit you're using
a number shows when you make payments

You may see different codes on your credit report depending on how you make your payments for each account.

Table 1: What letters mean in a rating on a credit report
Letter	Meaning	Example
I	Installment credit You borrow money for a specific period of time. You make regular payments in fixed amounts until you pay off the loan.	Car loan
O	Open status credit You may borrow money when you need to, up to a certain limit.	Mobile phone account
R	Revolving or recurring credit You may borrow money up to your credit limit on an ongoing basis. You make regular payments in varying amounts depending on the balance of your account.	Credit card
M	Mortgage loan Mortgage information may be included on your credit report.	Mortgage

Table 2: What numbers mean in a rating on a credit report
Number	Meaning
0	Too new to rate Approved, but not yet used
1	Paid within 30 days of billing Pays as agreed
2	Late payment: 31 to 59 days late
3	Late payment: 60 to 89 days late
4	Late payment: 90 to 119 days late
5	Late payment: more than 120 days late, but not yet rated “9”
6	This code isn’t used
7	Making regular payments using one of the following debt management options: a consolidation order orderly payment of debts consumer proposal debt management program with a credit counselling agency
8	Repossession
9	Written off as a “bad debt” Sent to collection agency Bankruptcy

For example:

If you have a credit card account that you paid on time, it’ll be reported as “R1”
If you have a line of credit, and you missed a payment by 45 days, it’ll be reported as “O2”
If you have credit card debt and you’re being contacted by a collection agency for payment, it’ll be reported as “R9”

The best rating is 1. Any number higher than 1 will likely hurt your credit score.

Sample credit reports

To better understand how to read your credit report, find a sample credit from:

Note: These examples are for illustration purposes only. They may not include all information typically provided in a credit report. The presentation has been modified for online display.

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Understanding your credit report

Sample credit reports

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