Finally Free Credit Score Comes to Canada

How to Check Your Credit Score for Free

First Published Date: July 9, 2016

Canadians have always had access to free credit reports, but not free credit scores. All that has changed recently – now you are able to know your credit score for free and there is no need to pay $24 each time.

Two online loan providers are giving free access to your credit score when you open an account with them. There is no catch, really. Your free account will show your credit score and better yet, you will have an updated credit score every three months for free as well.

These two providers are: www.borrowell.com and www.mogo.ca. I opened an account with Borrowell to try it out and I was surprised at the ease and simplicity of the whole process. Within 5 minutes I was able to view my score on-screen. To make things better, there are free online credit courses and free articles on how to improve your credit score also.

Keep in mind that the credit score you are provided for free is an Equinox credit score, which is a proprietary model of Equinox. This is different than FICO®, which is a proprietary model created by Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO).

It is a good idea to keep an eye on your credit score and since this is free it makes even more sense. One more thing, don’t worry about your score dropping when you check

What Is A Good Credit Score?

Understanding Credit Score Range

First Published Date: March 13, 2016

Your credit score is a three digit number that reflects the well being of your credit worthiness or how efficiently you are managing money or debts. Various credit reporting agencies such as Equifax and TransUnion provide this information and Fair Isaac Corp. produces the most commonly used credit scoring algorithm known as FICO, although various other credit scoring models exist.

The credit score ranges are very similar for most of the credit scoring models and they can run from the upper 200 to upper 900 range. I will use the FICO score to illustrate what a good credit score is in this article, as FICO is the most widely used credit scoring model.

What is considered a good score or a bad score varies according to the lender and what type of loan is being sought because lenders have their own set standards to approve or deny you credit.

Here is a very general guideline for FICO score range (300 – 850):

350 – 629 = Bad

630- 689 = Fair

690 – 719 = Good

720 + = Excellent

The highest FICO score possible is 850 and not many are able to achieve that. However, anything above 720 in general is considered an excellent credit score and those who achieve it most likely will get approved for whatever they apply.

Although having a score above 800 is kind of like having an elite status in score, lenders usually treat those within the range from 750 to 850 the same way. In other words, if your score is 750 you will most likely get the same rate as someone at 820.

Canada Gets New Credit Card Rules

Understanding the New Credit Card Laws

First Published Date: Oct 17, 2010

In an effort to make it easier for customers to pay back their credit cards and not fall behind to the point where they are swimming in debt. These rules actually came in effect on Sept. 1, but many residents of Canada do not know about them. To help educate people on the new rules, here is a brief rundown of what you need to know.

1.    There is a minimum grace period now of 21 days that are interest free on all new credit card purchases when a customer pays the outstanding balance completely.

2.    When a customer pays the minimum payment in excess, meaning they pay more than the minimum payment, the credit card company must allocate the excess so that it is put on the balance with the higher interest rate first, and then distributed proportionally to all other types of balance such as cash advances.

3.    Credit card issuers must inform consumers of their monthly statement and how long it will take to fully repay the balance if only the minimum payment is paid. This gives you a better understanding of how much time it is going to take for you to pay it off if you make no purchases on it.

4.    Another rule is that there must be a complete disclosure of interest-rate increases prior to those rates taking effect at all.

The biggest problem with these rules is that the Canadian public has not been educated on them, so many do not even know that they exist. The main reason is the government has not worked hard enough to publicize the rules, which means that many credit card companies can break the rules illegally, and consumers will not even know that their rights are being stepped on. It is very important that consumers learn these rules and pay attention to their credit cards so they can know whether or not they are being cheated out of the regulations put in effect to help them.

There was a voluntary code in place that would help to stop merchants from paying higher and higher costs from credit card companies but the problem was that credit card companies chose not to comply with it. As a result, those temporary rules became permanent and credit card companies are now forced to follow them, including allow merchants to cancel contracts without a penalty.

Credit card debt can literally sink a household and make it impossible for the house to pay their bills and survive day to day on what they have left. As a result, Canada is making it much easier for consumers to pay their credit card bills by ensuring that there are rules in place to protect the consumer. However, it is up to you as the consumer to know the rules and to make sure that the credit card companies are following them when they are dealing with you. It is your right as a Canadian citizen, so do not let credit card companies off the hook.

How Financial Crisis Affected Credit Card Borrowers

Record Debts Being Written Off

Published Date : Sep 29, 2009

The financial crisis in which we have been living for some time now has changed the realities which we had accepted for some time, and many of those realities have changed for the worse. But for borrowers on credit cards who had been panicking about the pursuit from the issuers, there is one statistic which has improved. The issuers of credit cards are charging off a record amount of debt – meaning that they have accepted that people are not able to make their payments, and chasing them for those payments will not change the reality that they simply cannot afford to pay. It should be noted that this is not the case for every customer – if you can afford to pay but don’t want to, then the status quo will remain.

The simple truth of the matter is that with the unemployment rates having increased due to the global financial crisis, there are more and more people who simply cannot meet their credit card payments. Traditionally, this has led to  a troublesome situation where the banks pursue people to make any kind of payment at all, promising in many cases that if you can make “just a small payment” your account will be held for a while and that pursuit will be ended. For many customers, this pleasant notion has been miles away from the reality, which has been that a small payment alerts the company to the fact that you are responding to pressure, and the pressure just gets ramped up that little bit more.

When a company finally accepts that there is nothing they can take from you, they charge the debt off. What this means in practice is that they lay off collections activity and write the amount off, taking a hit on their profits which needs to be covered by the amount of money each bank sets aside for such reasons. It does mean that annual bonuses for the bank workers will be a little bit lower, but you will find fewer and fewer people complaining about that eventuality. As much as the everyday workers at a bank are relatively blameless for the profligacy of the bank’s lending policy, we are all having to cut out coats according to our cloth these days.

The fact remains that people who knowingly borrow and spend recklessly will have to be pursued to make their payments. Now is not a good time to take out a credit card and run up a mountain of debt which you have no intention of meeting. Quite apart from anything else, banks are still hugely reluctant to lend large amounts of money unless they are sure, on the basis of their own research, that they will see a good return on that investment. If you have a good credit rating, they may well still lend to you – but would you want to risk a good rating now of all times? If, however, you are looking for a fresh start, now could be the best time to get that start.

Follow These Simple Credit Card Tips

Don’t be a slave to your credit card

First Published Date: Nov 25, 2009

All Canadians agree that the credit card is one of the best things to happen on us of this generation. It comes in handy at those times you just need that item and you have no cash in your wallet, or sometimes you just do not like carrying cash all over the place. All you do is simply swipe your card and the transaction is done. Even with all the convenience that the credit card has brought, many people are discovering that little care needs to be taken in their management, lest one becomes a total slave to the plastic card.

When the credit card is not used intelligently, one will actually end up losing a lot of their money and begin a vicious circle of earning to repay a never ending debt. But with good insight and following some simple tips, anyone is bound to save themselves a big load of their cash. These are tips that have been followed universally and you can benefit from them as well.

To start with, the worst thing you will ever do with your card is to carry over a balance. Avoid carrying a balance on your credit card like you would avoid the plague. Canadian credit card providers are the beneficiaries when you do not pay up you whole balance. However, when it looks like you are stuck in a corner and may have to carry over a balance, it would be better if you considered alternative borrowing methods which are slightly cheaper.

Coming on the heels of that tip is the second one which simply says you desist from taking cash advances. When you use your credit card for buying purposes only, most Canadian banks give you an interest free grace period during which you can actually pay back the debt. However, trouble is when you dare take a cash advance using your credit card. Here there is nothing like a grace period. From the moment the cash rolls from the machine to your hands and until you pay up, there is a great interest consideration. And on top of that interest you must remember that the dispenser of the cash will also post charges that you pay for. Once again in the unlikely case that you have to borrow cash this way, it is in your best interest that it is paid as soon as possible.

Today every other Canadian banking institution is advertising their credit cards but the wise person will take time to read the fine print before they commit themselves to any particular card. It is usually the things they do not say loudly in the adverts that really count. Choosing one without care may tie you down to a card whose condition you may not meet adequately in the future.

The one important tip we cannot forget to mention is the importance of you always paying up on time. You actually opt for pre-authorized monthly payments which will ensure you are always on time with your payments. The secret with credit cards is to make sure you do not get to pay interest at all, and this becomes possible only when you pay your bills within the grace period. Of all the loans that people procure, credit card debt is the most expensive of them