Fixing an Error on Your Credit Report

Mistakes happen, and they can occur on your credit report. To make sure there aren’t any errors on your report, you should get a copy of your report every year to check.

When looking at your credit report, you should look for:

  • Account errors such as an on-time payment that’s shown as late
  • Accounts you haven’t opened
  • Personal information errors

Errors in your credit report can have a negative impact on your credit score and can possibly lead to being denied credit. While you can’t change accurate information in your credit report, you can fix the mistakes. Here’s what the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada recommends you do:

Provide related documentation

Receipts, statements, and other documents might be needed to support your claim so make sure you have these just in case.

Get in touch with the credit reporting agencies

Both credit reporting agencies have forms you can use to fix mistakes and revise information. You should send these forms to both TransUnion and Equifax.

Before any changes can be made, they’ll often verify your claim with the lender. If the lender finds there was a mistake, the agencies will fix your credit report. But if the lender says the information is correct, the agencies won’t make a change to your report.

Get in touch with the lender

If the agencies can’t help, you should contact the lender about the mistake. Then ask the lender to double-check its files and give that new information to the credit reporting agencies.

Not satisfied?

If the error still hasn’t been corrected, try to contact a manager at either the credit reporting agency or the lender. If the lender is federally regulated and won’t fix the mistake, inquire about the process for handling complaints.

Add a statement to your report

If you’re still not happy, you can request that the credit reporting agencies include a consumer statement. This will allow you to add specific information on your report for free. Lenders who look at your credit report may consider your statement when making a decision.