Understand what’s in your credit report

Ontario law says what can and cannot be included in a credit report. A credit report can include credit information and personal information. If there is wrong or missing information on your credit report, you can ask the consumer reporting agency to fix it.

What can be included

Your credit report can include information about you like:

• your name and age
• where you work and your job title
• where you live now and where you lived in the past
• your education and work qualifications, including diplomas, degrees, and trade licences
• how much money you make

It can also include information about your family:

• your partner’s name and age
• if you are married or in a common-law relationship
• how many children and other dependents you have

And it can include information about what you own and what you owe:

• what you own, such as a home or car
• if you have paid your bills on time, paid them late, or not paid them at all
• your debts, for example, car loans and credit card balances
• your regular living expenses, for example, rent or mortgage payments

Personal information about what kind of a person you are, your health, what you look like, and your habits can be included in your credit report. But if any of this kind of information is unfavourable, the consumer reporting agency must make reasonable efforts to confirm it. If the agency cannot confirm it, they must say so in your credit report.