Credit scores and credit reporting in Canada
While your credit score is a number to quickly show how creditworthy you are, your credit report is more detailed. It covers your entire credit profile and includes information such as personal information, credit account (including credit cards, lines of credit, mortgages...), bankruptcies... Watch this video by Scotiabank to learn what a credit score is and why it matters. Then learn how to check your credit score for free in Canada. You may also learn how borrowing can impact your credit score. If you check your credit report and your credit score is low, follow these tips for how to help increase credit scores.
English
Dealing with debt: Tips and tools to help you manage your debt
Dealing with debt – About this resource
DWD Worksheet #1 – Your money priorities – Fillable PDF
DWD Worksheet #2: What do I owe? – Fillable PDF
DWD Worksheet #3: Making a debt action plan – Fillable PDF
DWD Worksheet #4: Tracking fluctuating expenses – Fillable PDF
DWD Worksheet #5: Making a spending plan – Fillable PDF including calculations
DWD Worksheet #6: Your credit report and credit score – Fillable PDF
DWD Worksheet #7: Know your rights and options
Dealing with debt – Full booklet
Dealing with debt: Training tools
Resources
Managing debt , Ontario Securities Commission
Options you can trust to help you with your debt, Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
Debt advisory marketplace/ consumer awareness, Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
French
Gestion de la dette: Conseils et outils pour vous aider à gérer votre dette
01 – Vos priorités financières
02 – Combien ai-je de dettes?
03 – Faire un plan d’action
04 – Suivi des dépenses variables
05 – Faire un plan de dépense
06 – Dossier de crédit et cote de solvabilité
07 – Connaître nos droits et nos options
Ressources : Pour en savoir plus
Gestion de la dette : Livret complet
Ressources
Gestion de la dette, La Commission des valeurs mobilières de l’Ontario
Des options fiables pour vous aider avec vos dettes, Bureau du surintendant des faillites
Marché des services-conseils en redressement financier et sensibilisation des consommateurs, Bureau du surintendant des faillites
Managing debt
Managing debt doesn't have to be overwhelming. These tips and tools from the Ontario Securities commission can help you borrow wisely and pay off debt more quickly.
Pilot study: Buy now, pay later services in Canada
A key component of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC’s) mandate is to monitor and evaluate trends and emerging issues that may have an impact on consumers of financial products and services. Technological innovations in financial services and shifting consumer behaviours have resulted in a steady increase in retail e-commerce sales over the past several years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on how consumers make retail purchases. Retail e-commerce sales reached record levels during the pandemic. This has further contributed to the proliferation of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services in Canada.
Advancing equity: the power and promise of credit building
Credit is an essential ingredient for economic security and mobility. Without a high credit score and affordable, available capital, it is nearly impossible to get by financially, let alone get ahead. Our economic system, and the American Dream it is supposed to feed, is based on the belief that anyone has access to credit and can build economic security, wealth, and intergenerational transfer. This brief will analyze what is not working within our credit system and identify what philanthropy can do to reimagine a system that builds economic security and mobility for everyone, especially people of color and immigrants. An equitable credit system would create pathways to narrow the racial wealth gap instead of continuing to widen it. Solutions include nonprofit organizations and community A webinar is also available and you can view the webinar slides here.
development financial institutions (CDFIs) delivering financial products that are designed for the people who have been most excluded from the credit system, seeding their journey toward economic security, as well as systemic changes to make economic security and mobility more fairly attainable.
Debt consolidation calculator
Debt Consolidation is the process of combining multiple debts into one. Use this calculator to calculate what your new monthly payments would be, how soon you could be debt free, and how much your total interest amount would be when you consolidate your debts.
Debt got you down?
The CBA partnered with Credit Counselling Canada, an association of accredited non-profit credit counselling agencies, to offer the Debt and Money Quiz. The online tool helps Canadians assess their financial health and provides recommendations to help those who are struggling financially. Take a short “Yes” or “No” quiz to find out if you need support managing money and debt. See how you compare with other quiz respondents.
National Report on High Interest Loans
ACORN Canada undertook a study focusing on high interest loans, especially when taken online. For the purpose of the study, high interest loans were defined as loans such as payday loans, installment loans, title loans etc. that are taken from companies/institutions that are not regular banks or credit unions. The study was conducted to examine the experience of lower-income consumers in the increasingly available online high-cost credit markets. The study was divided into three phases - conducting a literature review and webscan which was undertaken by Prosper Canada; legislative scan to understand the regulatory framework; and a national survey to capture experiences of people who have taken high interest loans, especially online.
Creating Change: Momentum’s Contribution to High-Cost Credit Reform in Alberta
As part of Momentum’s systems change planning process that was grounded in both participant and community experience, the issue of payday loans and other forms of high-cost credit (e.g., pawn, installment, rent-to-own, title and car loans) emerged as a priority issue for Momentum to address the financial barriers for people living on low incomes to exit poverty and build sustainable livelihoods.
To evaluate its work for high-cost credit reform in Calgary and Alberta in the period of 2012 to 2019, an outcome harvest was conducted. This evaluation reflects the collective efforts of multiple partners, identifies outcomes achieved as well as Momentum’s contribution to these outcomes.
Money Mentors – Savings & Debt Resources
Collection of money management resources, including how create effective budgets, realistic spending plans, deal with your debts, save more money, build a stronger credit rating, and prepare for retirement.
State of Fair Banking in Canada 2020: Borrower and Lender Perspectives
The DUCA Impact Lab defines fair banking as any financial product or service that lives up to the following set of principles: Their Fair Banking 2020 report presents data on the following areas:
Attitudes Toward Debt and Debt Behavior
This paper introduces a novel survey measure of attitude toward debt. Survey results with panel data on Swedish household balance sheets from registry data are matched, showing that debt attitude measure helps explain individual variation in indebtedness as well as debt build-up and spending behavior in the period 2004–2007. As an explanatory variable, debt attitude compares well to a number of other determinants of debt, including education, risk-taking, and financial literacy. Evidence that suggests that debt attitude is passed down along family lines and has a cultural element is also presented.
Debt Relief Options in Canada – Long Term Outcome Comparison
This research report compares the long-term financial outcomes of Canadians, based on a study comparing consumers who used a debt management program (DMP), bankruptcy (BK), or a consumer proposal (CP) to obtain relief from debt.
Bien choisir son crédit : un guide pratique [A Practical Guide to Making Smart Credit Choices]
A guide comprised of 12 fact sheets for consumers to learn more about credit, grouped into the following topics: general information, warnings, credit products, and comparison tables. (Please note this is a French-language resource.)
Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada: Statistics and Research
The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada releases statistics on insolvency (bankruptcies and proposals) numbers in Canada. The latest statistics released on November 4, 2020 show that the number of insolvencies in Canada increased in the third quarter of 2020 by 7.9% compared to the second quarter.
Four Actions That Can Hurt Credit Scores
During the Four Actions that Can Hurt Credit Scores webinar, you'll learn about: Their guest speaker is Julie Kuzmic, the Director of Consumer Advocacy at Equifax Canada, and a recognized authority on consumer credit. In her role leading consumer advocacy within the organization, Julie helps Canadians build credit confidence.
Resources
Handouts, slides, and time-stamps
Read the presentation slides for this webinar.
Handouts for this webinar:
Report: Roadblock to recovery: Consumer debt of low- and moderate-income Canadian households in the time of COVID-19 (Prosper Canada)
Survey results: Canadians with incomes under $40K bearing the financial brunt of COVID-19 (Leger and Prosper Canada)
Time-stamps for the video recording:
4:42 – Agenda and introductions
7:52 – Audience polls
10:55 – Researching consumer debt (Speaker: Alex Bucik)
18:55 – How much does debt cost? (Speaker: Alex Bucik)
23:17 – How do different kinds of debt work? (Speaker: Alex Bucik)
29:17 – What are people using their credit for? (Speaker: Vivian Odu)
40:49 – What help is available to Canadian borrowers? (Speaker: Alex Bucik)
45:22 – Q&A
Quarterly Consumer Credit Trends: Recent trends in debt settlement and credit counseling
This report used a longitudinal, nationally-representative sample of approximately five million de-identified credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies. Trends in debt settlement and credit counseling during the Great Recession and in recent years are presented. This report shows that nearly one in thirteen consumers with a credit record had at least one account settled through a creditor or had account payments managed by a credit counseling agency from 2007 through 2019. Since 2016, the number of debt settlements has increased steadily, while credit counseling numbers are relatively unchanged.
Targeting credit builder loans: Insights from a credit builder loan evaluation
This report presents the results of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) funded evaluation of a Credit Builder Loan (CBL) product. CBLs are designed for consumers looking to establish a credit score or improve an existing one, while at the same time giving them a chance to build their savings. The study used random assignment to explore four research questions:
The Early Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Credit Applications
This report documents the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on credit applications, which are among the very first credit market measures to change in credit report data in response to changes in economic activity. Using the Bureau’s Consumer Credit Panel, how applications for auto loans, mortgages, credit cards, and other loans changed week-by-week during the month of March, compared to the same time in previous years was studied.
Majoring in Debt: Why Student Loan Debt is Growing the Racial Wealth Gap and How Philanthropy Can Help
More than 44 million people in America have taken on student debt to pursue a post-secondary education. These borrowers collectively owe around $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. Borrowers exist in every community, but some are particularly vulnerable to its impact. Women hold two-thirds of all outstanding student debt and Black and Latinx borrowers disproportionately struggle with repayment. This webinar discussed the disparate impact of student loan debt on black and Latinx students and the following topics:
Roadblock to Recovery: Consumer debt of low- and moderate-income Canadians in the time of COVID-19
Almost half of low-income households and 62 per cent of moderate-income households carry debt, with households on low incomes spending 31 per cent of their income on debt repayments, according to a new report published by national charity, Prosper Canada.
This report analyzes the distribution, amount and composition of non-mortgage debt held by low- and moderate-income Canadian households and explores implications for federal and provincial/territorial policy makers as they develop and implement COVID-19 economic recovery plans and fulfill their respective regulatory roles.
State of Fair Banking in Canada
Everyone needs to bank and nearly everyone has a relationship with at least one financial institution. Financial Institutions need relationships with consumers too, in order to thrive as businesses. The role these relationships play in financial decision making for Canadians is an important consideration for anyone seeking to understand the financial health of Canadians and the impact of the banking sector in Canada. This report discusses the findings from a national sample of both banking consumers and lenders who were asked about their perspectives on fairness, access, credibility and transparency.
Video: Debt collection scams
Dealing with debt collection issues can be challenging—especially when you’re not sure if the person you’re being contacted by is a legitimate debt collector or someone trying to scam you. This video from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the United States shares useful tips on spotting debt collection scams and protecting yourself from scammers.
Backgrounder: Preliminary findings from Canada’s Financial Well-Being Survey
This backgrounder reports preliminary findings from a survey of financial well-being among Canadian adults. Preliminary analysis of the survey data indicates that two behaviours are particularly important in supporting the financial well-being of Canadians. First, our analysis indicates that Canadians who practice active savings behaviour have higher levels of financial resilience as well as higher levels of overall financial well-being. In other words, regardless of the amount of money someone makes, regular efforts to save for unexpected expenses and other future priorities appears to be the key to feeling and being in control of personal finances. Secondly, Canadians who often use credit to pay for daily expenses because they have run short of money have lower levels of financial well-being. While this behaviour is likely symptomatic of low levels of financial well-being, our analysis indicates that a person can substantially improve their financial resilience and financial well-being by implementing strategies to reduce the frequency of running out of money and of having to rely on credit to get by.
Trading Equity for Liquidity: Bank Data on the Relationship Between Liquidity and Mortgage Default
For many, homeownership is a vital part of the American dream. Buying a home represents one of the largest lifetime expenditures for most homeowners, and the mortgage has generally become the financing instrument of choice. For many families, their mortgage will be their greatest debt and their mortgage payment will be their largest recurring monthly expense. In this report, we present a combination of new analysis and previous findings from the JPMorgan Chase Institute body of housing finance research to answer important questions about the role of liquidity, equity, income levels, and payment burden as determinants of mortgage default. Our analysis suggests that liquidity may have been a more important predictor of mortgage default than equity, income level, or payment burden.
Debt and mental health: A statistical update
Financial problems can be a significant source of distress, putting pressure on people's mental health, particularly if they are treated insensitively by creditors. Some people in financial difficulty cut back on essentials, such as heating and eating, or social activities that support their well being, to try and balance their budget. In many cases this has a negative impact on people's mental health. This policy note from draws on nationally representative data to update key statistics on the relationship between debt and mental health problems, and sets out implications for policymakers, service providers and essential services firms.
Resources
Handouts, slides, and time-stamps
Read the presentation slides for this webinar.
Access the handouts for this webinar:
How we help people – An overview (Webinar handout) – Credit Counselling Society
Our services (Webinar handout) – Credit Counselling Society
Debt solutions 101 (Webinar handout) – msi Spergel Inc
Time-stamps for the video-recording:
4:13 – Agenda and introductions
7:00 – Audience polls
12:31 – Debt in Canada (Speaker: Glenna Harris)
15:20 – Credit Counselling Society on debt management plans (Speaker: Anne Arbour)
34:05 – Spergel Msi on Consumer Proposals and Bankruptcy plans (Speaker: Gillian Goldblatt)
56:00 – Q&A
Debt and assets among senior Canadian families
Using data from the Survey of Financial Security (SFS), this article looks at changes in debt, assets and net worth among senior Canadian families over the period from 1999 to 2016. It also examines changes in the debt-to income ratio and the debt to-asset ratio of senior families with debt. This study finds that the proportion of senior families with debt increased from 27% to 42% between 1999 and 2016.
Mortgage and Consumer Credit Trends Report
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) publishes a quarterly report on Canadian trends relating to mortgage debt and consumer borrowing. Find out the level of Canadian household indebtedness, and emerging trends in outstanding debt balances in different urban areas and by age group.
Consumer Insights on Managing Spending
The CFPB conducted research on consumer challenges in tracking spending and keeping to a budget. The research found that consumers aspire to manage their spending but for many reasons, many consumers spend more than intended and sometimes have\ difficulty in staying within their budgets. In addition, we found that although most people would like to use budgets and plans, they often don’t use them to guide spending decisions in the moment. Budgeting and tracking spending are often considered to be overwhelming or too much of a hassle, and even those consumers who have a budget generally do not benchmark their spending to their budget frequently or regularly.
Does State-Mandated Financial Education Affect High-Cost Borrowing?
Using pooled data from the 2012 and 2015 waves of the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), this research finds that young adults who were required to take personal finance courses in high school were significantly less likely to borrow payday loans than their peers who were not. These effects do not significantly differ by race/ethnicity or gender, suggesting that financial education may be useful regardless of demographics.
Economic Well-being Across Generations of Young Canadians: Are Millenials Better or Worse Off?
This article in the Economic Insights series from Statistics Canada examines the economic well-being of millennials by comparing their household balance sheets to those of previous generations of young Canadians. Measured at the same point in their life course, millennials were relatively better off than young Gen-Xers in terms of net worth, but also had higher debt levels. Higher values for principal residences and mortgage debt mainly explain these patterns. Financial outcomes varied considerably among millennial households. Home ownership, living in Toronto or Vancouver, and having a higher education were three factors associated with higher net worth.
Financial Expectations and Household Debt
This Economic Insights article quantifies the degree to which families who expect their financial situation to get better in the next two years have, all else equal, more debt than comparable families. The study shows that even after a large set of socioeconomic characteristics is controlled for, families who expect their financial situation to improve in the near future have significantly more debt and generally higher debt-to-income ratios than other families.
Mortgage Calculator
This calculator from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada determines your mortgage payment and provides you with a mortgage payment schedule.
Debt and assets among senior Canadian families, 1999 to 2016
These results are from the new study "Debt and assets among senior Canadian families." released in April 2018. The study examines changes in debt, assets and net worth among Canadian families whose major income earner was 65 years of age or older. In recent years, household debt has increased. The level of debt and value of assets are especially important for the financial security of seniors. Because income typically declines during the retirement years, seniors often need accumulated assets to finance their consumption, especially if they do not benefit from a private pension plan. Debt can also be particularly problematic for seniors as repayment can be more difficult on a reduced income.
Indebtedness and Wealth Among Canadian Households
Understanding the health of the balance sheets of Canadian households is a complex issue that continues to generate considerable discussion. A new Statistics Canada study contributes to these discussions by highlighting the extent to which national measures of indebtedness and wealth mask significant variation across the country. The study is largely based on results from the 2016 Survey of Financial Security (SFS), which allow for a detailed profile by census metropolitan area (CMA) and by income groups.
Spotlight on Canadians and Debt: Who’s Vulnerable
Debt-to-income ratios in Canada have continue to rise since the 2008-2009 recession, especially in urban centres where housing prices have increased over the last few years. This infographic from Statistics Canada shows where debt-to-income ratios are highest across Canada.
Tout Bien Calcule
Pour souligner leurs 50 ans d’histoire, les Associations de consommateurs du Québec s’unissent pour offrir à la population québécoise un portail qui rassemble toute une gamme d’informations et d’outils développés au fil des années grâce à leur expertise en finances personnelles. Cette porte d’entrée donne accès à des services spécialisés en finances personnelles offerts par les associations, propose des outils adaptés, et à travers les différentes sections, offre une information claire, objective et critique afin de vous guider vers de meilleurs choix de consommation et une meilleure santé financière.
Debt and Consumer Rights: Credit repair
This educational brief from CLEO explains what a credit report is, and what to do if you want to fix your credit report or work with a credit repair agency.
Debt and High Interest Resource Portal
This is ACORN Canada's debt and high-interest lending resource portal. It contains links and resources on debt, credit, banking, and other topics.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Data Point: Becoming Credit Viable
Very little is known about the number or characteristics of credit This Data Point documents the results of a research project undertaken by Staff in the Office of Research of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to better understand how many consumers are either credit invisible or have unscored credit records and what the demographic characteristics of such consumers are.
invisibles or consumers with unscored credit records.
