In Canada, there are two credit bureaus: Equifax and TransUnion. Your credit score is a number ranging from 300 to 900, which is determined by credit bureaus. Your credit score reflects your creditworthiness and the probability of you repaying your debts. Scores over 660 demonstrate that you can manage credit effectively and that a lender should feel secure in granting you a loan at a competitive rate.
Your credit score helps determine how much money you can borrow and the interest rate you will pay. It is important to keep a good credit score. To help with this, don’t exceed your credit limit; try to use less than 35% of your available credit. Having a higher credit limit and using less of it each month is better. Lenders see you as a greater risk if you use a lot of your available credit. This is true even if you pay your balance in full by the due date.
You can monitor both Equifax and TransUnion credit scores free online.
Borrowell.com – Monitors your Equifax credit score. Equifax is the main score used by mortgage lenders for qualification.
CreditKarma.ca – Monitors your TransUnion credit score. Some lenders will use this score for qualification. It is often a higher number.
If you think your credit score could be impacting your mortgage application, let’s talk.