Tag: credit karma canada

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

CREDIT REPORTING BODY: WILL THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ERASE MY DEBT?

What is a credit reporting body?

A credit reporting body is also known as a credit bureau or credit reporting agency. It collects, saves, makes use of and reveals personal credit scores about individual consumers. The bureau refines these details to report on the credit rating or creditworthiness of a person. Businesses considering extending credit to people subscribe to and make use of such a credit reporting body.

One thing the bureaus do is report a listing and condition of your debts. More on this below. People with financial problems who come to see me many times are confused as to how a credit reporting agency operates. Many times people are confused between the credit reporting agency’s reporting of debts where the creditor can no longer sue. The reason they can’t sue is because of the statute of limitations in Ontario (again, more on this below). Yet, the debt is still listed by the credit bureau.

I recently came across an Ontario court decision, that describes perfectly why debts can still be listed on your credit report, even though the creditor has run out of time to sue you.

What are the major credit reporting agencies in Canada?

In Canada, there are 2 such reporting companies for consumers: Equifax and TransUnion. For companies, one of the most prominent credit reporting company is Dun & Bradstreet Canada.

How do I get a free copy of my credit file?

You are able to get your complimentary credit report once every 12 months from each of the two nationwide rating companies. If you need a current report more often than that, you can pay TransUnion or Equifax to get it. You can get your credit report by phone, fax, online or in person. Each credit bureau provides instructions on how to do it.

There are also two online services that will provide you with your credit score and report for free. They are Borrowell and Credit Karma Canada.

The Court case

This court case was somewhat unique in that it was a small claims court case. The 10-page decision clearly shows that a statute of limitations will not erase the debt. The case is Harvey v Capital One Bank, 2019 CanLII 69716 (ON SCSM).

Mr. Harvey sought $25,000.00 against Capital One Bank for purportedly posting to the credit reporting body firms, defamatory details impacting his professional reputation. Mr. Harvey admits he owed money to Capital One however asserts the debt can no longer be pursued, as it is beyond the 2 year limitation period for enforcement according to the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B. Capital One Bank confessed it reported the debt but was fully justified in doing so according to the Consumer Reporting Act, RSO 1990, c. C.33.

The agreed statement of facts

Mr. Harvey and Capital One Bank submitted an Agreed Statement of Facts:

  1. Mr. Harvey had two Capital One Bank accounts. The account concerned was opened up on or about March 5, 2009. The second account was opened on or around June 2018.
  2. Mr. Harvey was contacted by collection firms acting on behalf of Capital One from 2015 to 2018 in an attempt to collect the debt.
  3. Capital One provided disclosure regarding the terms of the account when Mr. Harvey was originally authorized. He received duplicates of the account statements created, which were accurate, consisting of the balance owing, repayments, interest and fees or charges. All rates of interest and various other fees were correctly applied.
  4. Mr. Harvey was advised many times that his failure to pay the outstanding balance would be reported to the credit reporting body companies and it can adversely affect his credit rating.
  5. Mr. Harvey paid $200.00 on the account in question on October 27, 2014. He failed to make the minimum payment due on December 4, 2014. He as well failed to make any type of subsequent repayment, other than for a $200.00 payment around August 20, 2018.
  6. When Capital One charged off Mr. Harvey’s very first account on June 2015, the balance owing was $841.78.
  7. All details about the Capital One debt in the credit reports generated by Mr. Harvey were accurate and true, with the exception of one amount of $1,449.00 for a different Capital One account which Mr. Harvey would not admit to. In his testimony, he deposed that he has no particular memory of the components of that account or any understanding of the accuracy of the information.
  8. Other non-Capital One credit accounts referenced in Mr. Harvey’s credit record included unfavourable credit history reports. Some of his other non-Capital One credit rating accounts had actually been charged off and sent to a debt collector.
  9. Mr. Harvey acquired a brand-new Canadian Tire Bank MasterCard around January 2019 with a $300.00 credit line, a brand-new FIDO cell phone account around September 2019, a brand-new credit line for a car loan of $22,465.00 around September 2019 and also a new Capital One MasterCard with a credit line of $300.00 around June 2018.

Capital One Bank’s evidence

Capital One’s evidence was straight forward. Credit cards revolve and are reported to the credit reporting body companies on a regular monthly basis. There is a standard conventional rating system used by all financial institutions when reporting to the reporting agencies:

Rating scoreMeaning
R1Indicates settlement on time or 1 to 30 days delinquent.
R231 to 60 days delinquent
R361 to 90 days overdue
R4120 days overdue
R5121 to 150 days overdue
R6Does not exist
R7Used only for credit counselling and bankruptcy
R8Repossessions
R9Account has been charged off

Mr. Harvey’s Capital One debt was reported to the credit bureaus in conformity with the legislation. By April 9, 2015, the account, 5 months overdue, was completely limited, meaning it cannot be re-opened to make purchases. An R5 score was reported to the credit reporting body companies. By May 9, 2015, it was 6 months overdue. R5 was reported once again.

Once it is 180 days past due, the account is charged off and also an R9 rating is reported. When an account is charged off, it is still reported to the credit reporting agencies and remains an R9 score. After the account was charged off, Capital One engaged various collection companies as normal to attempt to collect the debt.

As the account remains overdue, Capital One continues to report to the credit bureaus up until reporting becomes statute-barred after seven years, based upon the date of the very first payment missed. That was December 4, 2014.

This 7-year reporting period is based on legislative provisions for credit report coverage. After seven years, Capital One makes one final entry in the record which erases the entire line from the credit bureau history. The credit reporting body companies have a similar procedure so they will remove this information also.

The Court’s analysis

The Court’s analysis was simple. It rejected all of the plaintiff’s submissions. The Court stated that the plaintiff never even produced any evidence in support of his claim that he has suffered damages through a loss of reputation.

The Court correctly analyzed the situation. The Deputy Judge found that by Mr. Harvey’s own admission the debt was never paid and stays outstanding. Capital One is not insisting on a claim to title; it is asserting its right to report an unpaid debt throughout the 7-year reporting period under the Ontario Consumer Reporting Act. The Ontario Limitations Act and Consumer Reporting Act serve completely different legislative purposes. They are also not in conflict.

The Court sided with Capital One’s position that the case relied upon by Mr. Harvey entails an argument concerning a right vs. a remedy. In Ontario, the limitation period acts to limit the remedy to sue but not the right to be repaid.

The Court’s decision

Capital One Bank lost the right to sue Mr. Harvey after the 2-year period expired. However, on a mutually exclusive basis, it had the right to report the outstanding amount owing for a 7-year period under different provincial legislation.

The Court further stated that the ramifications to companies extending credit to others might be harmed if such information was inaccessible, merely because the creditor did not commence legal proceedings for repayment of the debt prior to the 2-year limitation period. A person’s failure or refusal to pay their debts is vital details for other creditors, to whom that very same borrower has looked to for more credit.

The Court, therefore, found in favour of Capital One Bank and awarded costs against Mr. Harvey.

Summary

This case perfectly answers the question many people ask me when they come for their free consultation. The question is either: (1) Why is this debt still showing up on my credit report because it is too late for the credit card company to sue me?; or (2) Does the statute of limitations erase my debt? As seen in Mr. Harvey’s case, the limitation period and the reporting period are two different and separate issues.

Do you have way too much debt? Prior to you getting to the phase where you can’t make ends meet and your credit report looks awful, reach out to a licensed insolvency trustee (previously called a bankruptcy trustee). In fact, if you understand that you can’t pay your financial debts, contact us.

We understand the pain and stress excessive financial debt can trigger. We can aid you to get rid of that discomfort as well as address your financial problems offering prompt action and the ideal plan.

Call Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc. today. Make an appointment with one of the Ira Smith Team for a free, no-obligation consultation and you can be on your way to enjoying a carefree retirement Starting Over, Starting Now. Give us a call today so that we can help you get back to stress and pain-free life, Starting Over, Starting Now.

credit reporting body

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

BORROW WELL REVIEW GUIDE: BORROWELL REVIEW FREE CREDIT SCORE METHOD

borrow well review

If you would prefer to listen to the audio version of this Brandon’s Blog Borrow Well Review please scroll to the bottom and click on the podcast

Introduction

Have you ever before wondered what your credit score is and what your credit history looks like? I’m certain if you ever before looked for a home mortgage, a loan, to rent a home or apartment or applied for an insurance policy, you recognize that your credit rating ends up being crucial. The loan provider, landlord or insurance provider will certainly decide on you based upon your credit history. This Brandon’s Blog is about the totally free credit report system of Borrowell Inc.; a Borrow Well review.

Inspecting your credit rating has actually generally been a really laborious job and nobody really liked to do it. With the surge of consumer FinTech over the last couple of years, two businesses have actually seen a method to produce an on the internet industry for personal loans in Canada; 1. Credit Karma Canada; and 2. Borrowell Inc. Credit Karma Canada is owned by its United States parent. Borrowell is a 100% Canadian owned firm.

Borrow Well review

I have previously blogged about Credit Karma Canada. Borrowell runs in a comparable way. Borrowell’s goal is quite straightforward. They wish to assist Canadians to make fantastic choices concerning credit and debt. They began life as a consumer lender. Borrowell thought that customers wanted personal loans. They started the firm making loans for people with excellent credit.

Borrowell discovered that it was pricey to obtain customers. Their customer acquisition cost was very high. It was a tough issue to fix. What they did was come to be the 1st business in Canada to supply credit scores absolutely free. They assumed this would be a wonderful method to obtain clients and promote what Borrowell did. They thought that it would certainly be an excellent method to make loans.

How it works

The trouble was that they were thousands of people a week inspecting their credit report, however, few of them either desired or fit the Borrowell standards for, loans. Borrowell found that people desired various financial products and not everyone had good credit. So they invested most of 2017 in developing a marketplace.

They developed an online forum for around 40 various financial institutions and other lenders. That enabled a person to get their credit score with Borrowell, and then they can after that be taken into the sales funnel. Borrowell would after that advise of products, solutions, and pointers customized for every person from their forum of lender members. Borrowell earns a fee on loans made and other financial product sales.

They wound up discovering a high level of product market fit for roughly half a million direct customers that first examine their credit report with Borrowell. Canadians now had a very easy way to regularly see their credit score and inspect their credit history.

Utilizing the Borrowell system does not influence your credit report, unlike when you apply for a loan and the potential lender performs a credit check on you. In order to ask you the setup questions, and to have the ability to provide you with your cost-free credit report and record, Borrowell acquires information from one of our two credit reporting companies, Equifax.

Borowell additionally browses particular public document data sources to try to find various other details such as:

  • Bankruptcy: A legal process used by people and companies looking for particular relief from all or some their debt.
  • Civil Judgment: A non-criminal judgment in a court, calling for the person or company to make full or partial restitution.
  • Registered Items: Other things found in public documents, like a lien against your car or truck or a home mortgage or other loan registered against your house.

Know that you are in the Borrowell sales funnel

In order to stay top of mind, Borrowell updates you on your credit rating on a monthly basis and if it has actually changed for better or for worse. This is, obviously, advantageous for any person trying to enhance their credit history. Borrowell will inform you monthly the result of the activities you are taking to boost your credit score.

Borrowell will also help you recognize what variables are affecting your credit score. In this way, they inform you what you need to do to boost your credit rating. This is particularly great for anybody trying to learn about finances and general money matters. Borrowell also provides recommendations on just how to improve your credit rating.

So their system helps you to learn about:

  • payment history
  • credit usage
  • bad comments on your credit report
  • account inquiries
  • your credit score and report
  • tips for improvement

Borrowell offers you a very easy way to see just how you’re doing financially, just how much money you have invested between credit cards and automobile and various other loans. It likewise

To learn what goes into calculating your credit score and what it all means, check out my blog, WHAT IS A GOOD CREDIT SCORE IN CANADA? THE UNTOLD CREDIT SCORE SECRETS.

Is there any drawback to the Borrowell app?

The positive side is that this is a very easy and effective method of looking into yourself in a reliable way none of our Canadian banks have actually done. Nonetheless, I likewise have some worries.

The financial partners in the Borrowell financial marketplace have to pay a fee. That charge needs to be accounted for in the price of the financial products sold. If there is competition amongst marketplace financial members, this may keep pricing consistent and competitive within the various credit score buckets. Perhaps this marketplace also gives people access to financial products they otherwise may not be able to find or get on their own.

It is safe to presume that people using this system are working on boosting their credit score. The financial partners might be costing their products for those that have actually not attained sufficient credit strength to go and negotiate the price they will be paying with any Bank. So for those with a good credit rating, this may mean that the cost of any kind of financial product via the Borrowell portal could be greater than otherwise readily available to them if they spent the time investigating.

My main concern is more generic. It would be the same as with any system like this. They maintain a great deal of highly personal and sensitive information on Canadians which they regularly update.

There are many criminals around the world who would like nothing better than to hack the Borrowell database in order to get at this information to further their devious and illegal schemes. Stealing your identity, or identity theft is, of course, the big one.

Think no further than September 7, 2017, when Equifax announced that months-long illegitimate access to its credit-report databases had led to the breach of personally identifiable information of over 148 million people, nearly all in the USA. That is the real danger I am talking about. As I mentioned, that is a danger with any computerized system storing highly sensitive information, not just a Borrowell issue.

Borrow Well Review: Do you have a negative credit report?

I hope this Borrowell review has helped you gain a better understanding. Question: Have you lost the ability to borrow because of a bad credit score? Are you having trouble making your monthly payments? Is your business dealing with financial challenges that require to be addressed immediately?

Call the Ira Smith Team today if so. We have years and generations of experience helping people and businesses seeking financial restructuring or a debt negotiation strategy. As a licensed insolvency trustee, we are the only specialists acknowledged, accredited and overseen by the federal government to supply insolvency advice and implement solutions to help you to remain free from bankruptcy.

Call the Ira Smith Team today so you can end your anxiety, anxiousness, and discomfort today. With the roadmap we establish one-of-a-kind to your scenario, we will promptly return you right into a well balanced, healthy and carefree life.

You can have a no-cost evaluation to help you to fix your credit and debt difficulties. With you, we will discover your monetary pain factors and make use of an approach to free them from your life. This will definitely enable you to start with a clean slate, Starting Over Starting Now.

 

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

WHAT IS A GOOD CREDIT SCORE IN CANADA? THE UNTOLD CREDIT SCORE SECRETS

What is a good credit score in Canada: Introduction

I have previously written reviews of the two main companies that can give you your credit score for free in Canada. The two are Credit Karma Canada and Borrowell. It is one thing to know what your credit score is. But what does that number mean? Do you have control over how to increase your credit score? To answer those questions, you must know the topic I am writing about in this Brandon’s Blog. What is a good credit score in Canada?

Your credit rating

There are three main points you need to learn about your credit rating. In Canada, your credit score is a number between 300 and 900. Lenders use this to forecast just how likely you are to be responsible with the money they are considering providing you. Will you pay back the cash you are asking they fund you?

The greater your score number, the more probable you are to be an excellent wager to be able to pay back what you owe. Your credit history is composed of five elements:

  1. Your payment history composes 35%.
  2. How much debt you owe comprises 30%.
  3. The length of your history makes up 15%.
  4. 10% comes from the sorts of loans or credit cards you have.
  5. Just how often you typically apply to borrow has a 10% effect.

A better understanding

Let’s drill down on this a little more. The greatest chunk is your repayment history. This checks out whether you’re making your payments on time. If you’re late on repayments, exactly how often are you late or are there financial obligations in the enforcement and collection process. How much debt you owe takes into account how much debt is owed and how much borrowing room is still available to you.

The length of your borrowing history considers how long you’ve had your loan products for. The longer you’ve had them the better it is for your history. Types of credit look at the range of items you have. A brand-new application is when you ask for a new loan. New loan applications stay on your report for three years. Applying many times decreases your score.

The theory is that if you keep applying, you are having 2 problems. The first is that you keep needing new loans for some reason. The second problem is that you must keep being turned down in order for you to need to keep applying.

Hard and soft hits

When you apply for a new loan, the potential lender performs a check on you. This produces what is known as a hard hit which can negatively impact your score. When you pull your own reports, such as through Credit Karma Canada or Borrowell, this makes what they call a soft hit. This won’t negatively impact your score.

How often should I check my score?

You might be wondering do you need to look at your own score monthly? I am here to tell you that you don’t. Your rating adjusts throughout the month based on the five items I spoke of above. So your rating can look different from month to month.

If you’re exercising excellent credit rating behaviour a new report will certainly show that. Likewise, if you are not acting responsibly, your report and your score will show that. What I do recommend you do is check your rating by pulling an annual credit report. You do this to ensure that your record is exact and there are no errors in it.

The most effective time to check the accuracy of your report would certainly be prior to you making a huge purchase for something like a home or vehicle. You recognize that your lender will certainly perform a check. It is to your benefit to make sure everything on your rating profile looks good and is error free.

In that situation, where a lot is riding on the precision and completeness of your report, you would go directly to the two main score rating companies in Canada; Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada. You will certainly have to pay for them to generate an Equifax or TransUnion score and history report for you. What you pay them to understand that your record is precise and totally error-free is worth that peace of mind.

4 things you must know about your score

To summarize, the 4 things you must know about your score are:

  1. Your credit score in Canada is a number between 300 and 900.
  2. Lenders use your credit score to forecast just how likely you are to be responsible with the credit they are considering providing you.
  3. The greater your credit score number, the more probable you are to be an excellent wager to be able to pay back what you owe.
  4. Your credit history is composed of five elements:
    1. your payment history composes 35%;
    2. how much debt you owe comprises 30%;
    3. the length of your credit history makes up 15%;
    4. 10% comes from the sorts of credit you have;
    5. just how often you typically apply for new credit has a 10% effect; and
    6. lastly, you don’t need to check the credit score all the time.

You might have a concern about, and ask yourself, is Credit Karma Canada safe? Is Borrowell safe? The answer is yes, but you still may have a concern. You are providing each of them with very personal information about yourself when you first sign up for their respective services. Then they do on a regular basis perform a credit score check on you. These are soft hits, so it won’t affect your score. However, they are updating your private personal information which stays on their database. Anytime such sensitive information is on a computer server, there is, of course, a danger from hackers.

The reason they regularly check your credit situation is so they can then send you an email about any change to your credit score – good or bad. They do this for two reasons. The first is to alert you about their latest finding of your credit report. The second reason is to give you a reason to go to their website. Their hope, of course, is while you are on their site seeing the change to your credit score, perhaps you will stay and look at some of the products they offer to produce revenue for themselves.

What is a good credit score in Canada: What about you?

I hope this what is a good credit score in Canada blog has helped you gain a better understanding. Question: Have you lost the ability to borrow because of a bad credit score? Are you having trouble making your monthly payments? Is your business dealing with financial challenges that require to be addressed immediately?

Call the Ira Smith Team today if so. We have years along with generations of experience aiding people and companies looking for financial restructuring or a debt settlement plan. As a licensed insolvency trustee, we are the only professionals recognized, licensed and supervised by the Federal government to provide insolvency advice and services to assist you to stay clear of bankruptcy.

Call the Ira Smith Team today so you can end your stress, anxiety and pain today. With the roadmap we develop unique to your situation, we will swiftly return you right into a balanced, healthy and carefree life.

You can have a no-cost assessment to assist you to repair your credit and debt troubles. With you, we will uncover your financial discomfort points and use a method to rid them from your life. This will absolutely allow you to begin a fresh start, Starting Over Starting Now.what is a good credit score in canada

 

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

EQUIFAX DATA BREACH: 3 THINGS YOU MUST DO NOW

3eadaee332085a4a6c58b13577cfd47b

Introduction

You may have listened to the news about the Equifax data breach.

Equifax originally said that it impacted only a limited number of Canadians. They have now amended that report to say that 100,000 Canadians are affected. If your details were endangered, Equifax intends to get to you straight away with support as quickly as they have determined that.

In comparison, the Equifax data breach may have affected more than 143 million Americans!

Exactly what took place?

According to Equifax, the violation lasted from mid-May through July 2017. The hackers accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, birthdays, addresses and, in some instances, vehicle driver’s permit numbers. They also swiped charge card numbers as well as disagreement files with individual identifying information. And they also obtained details of people in the UK and Canada too.

Equifax, is one of the two Canadian credit bureaus, was the subject of a data breach by hackers. This violation has affected lots of Americans, but for now Equifax believes the Equifax data breach has affected just a restricted number of Canadians. Equifax reminds everyone that the hacked US website is for US social security numbers, and does not work for Canadian consumers.

What information was taken?

In Canada, the hackers may have gotten sensitive details, such as names, addresses, and Social Insurance Numbers. Equifax believes that only a limited number of Canadians could have been impacted. They are working to figuring out the exact information. Equifax will update this information as they learn more.

Litigation and investigations begin

Considering that it is one of the largest hacks of the year, the compromised business is now dealing with loads of lawsuits. At least one legal action claims, among other things, that Equifax pumped up financial results to bring up the share price, prior to the hack being revealed. No allegations have yet been proven in Court.

After Equifax announced the Equifax data breach violation about $3 billion was cleaned away from the business’s market cap as its shares dropped by 17% immediately following the disclosure. Lawmakers are concerned that people’s delicate information was not correctly safeguarded. Investigations are ongoing.equifax data breach

Exactly how will this impact me?

The thing is that people who never bought any Equifax services will be negatively affected by the hack. If your details were jeopardized, it may put you at the threat of identity theft. Identification theft is when a person steals your personal information to open new accounts or dedicate activity utilizing your name. We urge you to check your credit score and stay alert in checking your credit card and any other financial account statements.

Equifax data breach: Have my details been endangered?

If you’ve ever before made an application for credit, as an example by requesting a charge card or a cellular phone service, Equifax has gathered your details. Equifax will only contact you if they have identified that your information has been breached. That is why we strongly recommend that you must carefully check all account statements you receive to make sure that: 1. You recognize the account as being yours; and 2. You do not see any suspicious activity in your accounts.

Equifax is the largest credit report bureau in Canada and is extensively made use by lenders, including banks, to prove creditworthiness. Equifax accumulates information from your bank as well as other sources to find your credit history, which is then given to lending institutions.

This case is the tip of the importance of data protection, which is something you must take very seriously. That is why IT people always recommend that you use bank-level encryption to safeguard your data. The Equifax data breach proves them right.

Canada’s privacy commissioner is interested in the Canadian data breach.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has received complaints and calls of concern about this data breach. The privacy commissioner is now considering the matter.

Equifax data breach: Your next steps

  1. Check your credit rating

It’s important you watch your credit report as well as your various financial accounts. That way you will be aware of any kind of adjustments or suspicious activity.

You can do what is called a “soft” credit check on yourself at no cost using one of two Canadian services. We explain it all in our blogs:

  1. Screen your credit card accounts as well as bank accounts

Your charge card and bank accounts are additionally important to watch. Keep an eye out for any transactions you did not make or approve as well as report any problems to your bank or credit card company right away.

  1. Record any theft or crime

If you find a suspicious activity that could involve the theft of either your identity or assets or other criminal offences, report the event to your regional police. You could also report the rip-off or fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Inform your financial institution as well as bank card firms. As well shut any accounts and cards that could have been hacked instantly.

To find out more, please call Equifax at 1-866-828-5961 or visit their website here.

Equifax data breach: Are you struggling with too much debt?

If you’re struggling with too much debt, give the Ira Smith Team a call. We can help with budgeting and credit counselling so that you can get back on track Starting Over, Starting Now.

equifax data breach

 

Categories
Brandon Blog Post

#VIDEO- GOOD AND BAD CREDIT LOANS REVIEW CANADA #

Good and Bad credit loans: Introduction

I am always asked where can you get both good and bad credit loans. The first question I ask is how do you know you have a bad credit score? Have you checked it recently?

Last week we reviewed the new entrant to the Canadian financial marketplace, Credit Karma Canada and its service for checking your credit score for free. Right now Credit Karma Canada does not offer loan products, so it cannot help you with good and bad credit loans.

Good and Bad credit loans: First know your credit score, good or bad

This week we are reviewing another website where you can check your credit score for free, and if you wish, also use the site to get a loan product – Borrowell.com.

If you have a good credit score, you may very well qualify for a loan from Borrowell.com. If you have a bad credit score, being one below the Borrowell minimum credit score, Borrowell can’t give you a loan. In that case, they have partnered with a lender who may be able to. If you have a bad credit score, Borrowell will immediately tell you who to contact to apply for a bad credit score loan.

Good and Bad credit loans: About Borrowell

It’s never been so easy to swipe a credit card when you go shopping, but when people can’t control or manage their swiping, they will fall deep into debt. Then, they’ll have to go to their bank to borrow more money, but could face a big objection, depending on what their credit score is.

Borrowell is a Canadian company and a new breed of lender. Borrowell is in the growing group of fintech – defined as “computer programs and other technology used to support or enable banking and financial services”. Borrowell has teamed up with Equifax Canada, to allow anyone to check their credit score for free.

Checking your credit score this way, will not impact on your credit score, unlike when a lender, or potential lender, does an Equifax or TransUnion Canada credit check on you. Borrowell has also partnered up with third-party vendors, to offer financial products. Once you have checked your credit score, you can on a fairly seamless basis, apply for a personal loan for almost any purpose.

You can combine your debt, finance a purchase or borrow for your business. Borrowell has partnered with lenders for those with either good or bad credit scores.

Good and Bad credit loans: Hidden secret – Credit score, credit rating and credit report

The tool the banks use to measure creditworthiness is a person’s credit rating and credit report. But not everyone takes the time to check there’s out. You probably found out your credit rating the last time you applied for a mortgage or other loan, but have since forgotten what it was.

Regardless, time has passed and your credit rating has now changed. Here is the hidden secret. If you don’t know your credit score, you have no idea what needs improving. Once you know your credit score, you can drill down to work on what needs improving. Borrowell allows you to check your credit score for free.

“I would say anything above 650 is deemed to be a good rating” says Andrew Graham, the CEO of Borrowell.com. It’s the first lender in Canada to give free credit scores online. Proving that you are able to treat credit properly over an extended period is everyone’s goal. If you want to improve your credit score, the first and most important thing you can do is to check out where it is now at either Borrowell.com or Credit Karma Canada.

Good and Bad credit loans: Your credit score is an important number

Your credit score is an important number. One that can impact:

  1. your ability to borrow money in the first place;
  2. the rate of interest that you’re going to pay;
  3. your ability to find a rental if you don’t own;
  4. your ability to get a job;
  5. your home mortgage rate;
  6. your insurance policy charges; and
  7. even your job expectations.

We have written before on these issues, including:

  1. GOOD CREDIT SCORES HAVE SEX APPEAL
  2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOUR CREDIT SCORE AND INSURANCE RATES
  3. THE 10 MOST COMMON CREDIT SCORE MISTAKES
  4. A GREAT CREDIT SCORE DOESN’T MEAN YOU WILL GET THAT LOAN
  5. CREDIT REPORT: CHECK IT TO IMPROVE A POOR CREDIT SCORE OR A BAD CREDIT SCORE
  6. CREDIT SCORE RATING: YOU HAVE A GREAT ONE BUT YOU WERE STILL REJECTED
  7. CREDIT SCORE CHART MATCHMAKING SECRETS
  8. #VIDEO-CANADIAN CREDIT SCORE CALCULATOR: FREE SECRETS PROFESSIONALS USE REVEALED#
  9. CREDIT SCORES ONTARIO: USE YOURS TO SCORE THAT DREAM DATE!
  10. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CREDIT REPORT AND CREDIT SCORE: KNOW YOUR CREDIT REPORT SCORE CARD?

3Best 0
bankruptcy receivership markham scarborough ira smith trustee

Good and Bad credit loans: Don’t tense up!

Even if you think your credit rating is good, people tense up and they get really nervous and uneasy because they don’t know. People I see in our insolvency practice are always concerned about their credit rating, sometimes unnecessarily so. In fact, the people I see care more about their credit rating than the debt they can’t repay!

Whether you know or not it’s not going to change the result so I say it’s better to know than not know. You wouldn’t ignore going to the doctor if you thought something was wrong, so why ignore your finances?

Good and Bad credit loans: Hidden secret to demystify your credit score

To demystify your credit score a bit, it is on a scale from 300 to 900 and the higher the score the better. So you want to have a relatively high credit score to be assured that you get the best possible borrowing rates.

What would cause you to have a low credit score? Things such as not paying off your credit cards, if you’ve missed payments, and if you are late by 30, 60, or 90 days. That’s a big red flag, because again your credit score reflects how likely is this person to make their payments that they signed up to or not.

If you have a large unused credit ability, say you have five charge cards each with a $10,000 limit, but you pay it off every single month you’d think that would produce a good credit rating. However, the lenders will say, you can get into trouble really quickly. So if you have a lot of charge cards, you should focus on reducing the number you have open and reduce it to just a few.

Can I use a good credit rating to my advantage? Can I negotiate better interest rates? Yes, absolutely. They’ll know, so they’ll have an idea about your ratings and offer you pretty good terms, but you can certainly negotiate. If you’re a renter, you know when you’re dealing with potential landlords, if everything about you is the same as everyone else, except for your credit score, and yours is poor compared to another applicant, the rental will go to the other applicant.

Good and Bad credit loans: It doesn’t have to be like that forever

Does your credit rating stay with you eternally? If I was a broke student and racked up indebtedness, is that still going to affect me in my forties? Probably not. What happens is your rating will change as your circumstances change. So as long as you set up a record of responsible credit behavior, even if circumstances were really bad a very long time ago, you probably can still have a really good credit rating.

So it all starts with knowing your credit score and Borrowell.com can help you. Once you know the credit score, the secret to getting that loan you need at a reasonable price is to first do the things you need to do to improve your credit score. But even with a bad credit rating, Borrowell.com, through one of its partners, may still be able to get you that bad credit loan.

Good and Bad credit loans: Hidden secret to fix the problem without more debt

Our final hidden secret is to let you know that normally, more debt will not fix your problems. You need to find out why you have a bad credit score, why you cannot use your existing income to pay your bills and debts and why you need to borrow more money. We can help you unlock all those answers, and unlock the hidden secret for you to get your life back on track.

If so, contact Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc. as quickly as possible. With immediate action and a solid financial plan for moving forward we can help you deal with debt and learn to manage it well in the future, Starting Over, Starting Now. We’re just a phone call away.

 

Good credit bad credit 1
private lenders for personal loans canada bad credit personal loans canada no credit check credit score borrowell interest rates
Categories
Brandon Blog Post

# VIDEO – CREDIT KARMA CANADA REVIEW: IS IT REALLY FREE AND LEGITIMATE? #

Credit Karma Canada review: Introduction

Credit Karma Canada has arrived recently from the United States. Its website is creditkarma.ca. Right now they run in most provinces but not yet in Quebec, Nunavut, the Yukon or the Northwest Territories; but they are working on it. The purpose of this blog is to provide our Credit Karma Canada review, tell you what it is and to let you decide if it will be helpful or not for you or someone you know.

Since 2007, Credit Karma USA (CKUSA) has attempted to simplify credit and finance for more than 60 million CKUSA members. They advertise very heavily on US television to attract new members. Becoming a member is free, and it allows any member to get access to their free credit score and credit report, with the option to update every single week. CKUSA also provides financial education to put credit into context.

It’s mission statement is:

“Everyone deserves to feel confident about their finances. Our job is to give you the tools, the education and the opportunities you need to make real, meaningful progress.”

Credit Karma Canada review: Is it really free? Is it legitimate?

So far so good. Like a lot of things advertised as being free, you may wonder to yourself is it really free? Is it legitimate?

The answer is yes; accessing your credit score, your credit report and the financial and educational aspects are free. However, it is a money-making operation. They make money in at least two ways:

  1. They have ads to make money. So if you don’t like ads, just ignore them; and
  1. They do promote various credit card, mortgage and loan programs which they hope members will purchase when needed. When someone takes an offer through CKUSA, it makes money from one of its partners (like the bank that issues a credit card or the lender who funds a loan). Presumably, Credit Karma Canada (CKC) will be following that model by establishing such partnerships.

Credit Karma Canada review: So how does it work?

So this is how it works. When you first open your account and set up your unique password, it’s going to ask you different questions to confirm your identity, including your date of birth and social insurance number. They are trying to become the best-known credit bureau of Canada.

It might include things like where did you get your last car, what kind of car do you have, what addresses have you lived at in the last five years, what address do you currently live at. All of the questions offer you multiple choices to choose from. Once you finish that process your account is open. This allows you to log in either from the app or from their website.

In order to ask you the setup questions, and to then be able to give you your free credit score and report, CKC obtains information from one of our two credit reporting agencies, TransUnion. In the United States, Credit Karma uses both Equifax and TransUnion.

CKC also searches certain public record databases to look for other information such as:

  1. Bankruptcy: A legal filing by people or businesses seeking certain types of relief from all or some their debt.
  2. Civil Judgment: A non-criminal ruling in a court of law, often requiring the person or business to pay damages.
  3. Registered Items: Other items included in public records, like a lien against your car or a mortgage or loan registered against your house.

Credit Karma Canada review: Does using it lower my credit score?

You can watch your score through CKC anytime you want. Unlike a potential or real lender performing a check on you, the more times you go into the CKC database it does not affect your score. The TransUnion and Equifax credit score algorithm reduces your score every time someone does a check on you.

The theory is that each credit check is either related to your having applied for new loan(s), or an existing lender feels the need to check up on you. The algorithm interprets this as your need for more borrowing. If the checks are too often or too close together, their algorithm assumes you are experiencing some financial problems requiring more loans. The CKC algorithm prevents this from happening, which is a good thing.

However, remember that the CKC algorithm is different from the one used by TransUnion and Equifax; this is an important distinction which I will explain shortly.

Credit Karma Canada review: Things I like about it

A feature that I do like is that the CKC report will help you understand what factors are impacting your score, thereby telling you what you need to work on to improve your score. This is especially for young people who are just learning about borrowing and personal finance for the very first time. CKC gives advice for how to help improve your score and things not to do.

So it is handy to find out about:

  1. payment history;
  2. credit use;
  3. derogatory remarks on your financial history;
  4. total account and inquiries;
  5. your full report; and
  6. credit advice.

CKC gives you an easy way to see how you’re doing financially, how much money you have tied up between charge cards and auto and other loans. It also gives you tips on how to improve your score, all for free.

It is an easy and efficient way of checking up on yourself that TransUnion, Equifax or any of our Canadian financial institutions have never done. So, in my view, CKC is providing a real service and benefit.

Credit Karma Canada review: Things I do not like about it

So are there any downsides? Since CKC is not yet advertising who its financial product partners are, I have to look at the US operation. So, my comments come from a review of only CKUSA.

I’m not convinced that I would personally recommend any of the financial partners. Here are the reasons why:

  1. The financial partners have to pay a fee to CKUSA, and that fee has to be reflected in the cost of the financial product itself, making it higher.
  2. It is safe to assume that CKUSA members are working on improving their scores. The financial partners may be pricing their products for those people who have not achieved enough of a score to go and negotiate the rate they will be paying with any Bank. Again, this means the cost of any specific financial product through CKUSA could be higher than otherwise available to people with a better score.
  3. So if you do have a good score, you can probably get a better deal by going to the Bank you normally deal with.
  4. Once CKC establishes its Canadian financial partners, we will have to see if it follows this higher priced US model.
  5. The most common complaint in the US is that the score through CKUSA is different from the score calculated by either Equifax or TransUnion.

Recall that I gave an example of how the CKUSA algorithm was different from the one used by the credit reporting agencies? Well, it is further differences in the algorithms that causes this disparity. I am not talking about a small disparity either. Complaints show that the difference could be as much as 100 points!

CKC states that it shows the same credit rating and report that TransUnion shows. Again, time will tell if the Canadian experience is the same or different from in the United States.

My final point is not a criticism, but merely a fact. CKC describes their system as being safe, they respect your privacy and do not share your information with any third-party.

However, when you give personal information on a website, and especially financial information including your social insurance number, this always provides an opportunity for hackers and phisher scam artists to attempt to either hack the system or use phishing emails and websites to attempt to steal your identity.

Credit Karma Canada review: Only you are in control of your credit and debts

I hope that you realize from this blog that understanding your credit score and credit report and obtaining more financial education are all positive things and are necessary to be able to have a good financial life. However, sometimes life gets in the way and good people experience debt problems.

Only you can be the one to deal with your debt to get on top of it and gain back your life. If you don’t know how to go about reducing your debt, start by contacting Ira Smith Trustee & Receiver Inc. There are many ways to deal with debt. As experts we can help you make the best choice and set you on a path to debt free living Starting Over, Starting Now. Make an appointment for a free, no obligation today.

credit karma canada review

Call a Trustee Now!