How to Improve Credit Score in Canada: 9 Fast & Simple Ways (2024)

Do you know how to increase your credit score in Canada? If not, you’re not alone.

Credit scores can be confusing, and there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how to improve credit scores fast.

But don’t worry – we’re here to help.

Your credit score is used by lenders to determine whether or not you’re a good candidate for a loan and can even affect your insurance rates.

Few people in Canada can do without loans or credit cards these days. However, there is one thing that can stand in your way of getting faster approval for credit cards or excellent loan terms – your credit score.

It’s simple. A bad credit score means limited access to credit facilities. Fortunately, the score is not always static. If it’s terrible, you can improve it in different ways.

Let’s see how to improve your credit score in Canada.

What Is Credit Score, and What Is an Excellent Credit Score?

A credit score is a three-digit number between 300 and 900 that reflects your creditworthiness to lenders and other credit facility providers.

A credit score requires different things to calculate it, from the time it takes you to repay your debts to how faithful you are to your monthly repayments.

Credit Score Ranges:

Everyone starts at the lowest possible score of 300 and works their way to 900, the highest. The higher the score, the better since lenders do not see you as too much risk. They can thus lend you money without fear. Therefore, the closer you are to 900, the better for you.

A score above 750 is excellent since it means you can access most standard loans and credit facilities at attractive interest rates.

The average credit score for Canada is 650, so you should not be too worried if your credit score is around this number. But if your score is significantly lower than 650, how do you get there? Here is how.

How To Improve and Increase Credit Score in Canada Fast

Did you know that one of the most important aspects of your financial wellness is your credit score? Your credit score is a representation of how responsible and reliable you are with money.

If you’re looking to improve your credit score, follow these tips!

1. Pay Your Credit Debts Promptly

Your payment history plays a significant role in increasing your credit score. If you have a credit card, aim to pay the balances as promptly as possible without fail. Failure to do that will make your credit score receive a hit and thus remain low.

Therefore, if you want to increase your credit score, avoid late bill payments. Pay your bills on time!

To ensure prompt payment of your bills, we recommend that you automate your bill payments through your bank or credit card issuer. You can set up automated payments from your Neo Money™️ account and never miss a bill. This will help alleviate a situation where you forget to make the payment manually.

Alternatively, you can set up bill payment alerts on a personal finance app or digital calendar.

Furthermore, you could use Borrowell to track your bills and credit score weekly for free.

2. Scrutinize Your Credit Report

The Federal Trade Commission asserts that two in every ten consumers usually have errors in their credit reports, negatively affecting their credit score. That’s why it is always wise to start by scrutinizing your credit report and score first.

Credit bureaus have a legal obligation to provide you with your credit report annually if you request.

Request for your report and scrutinize it for any inconsistencies and errors. If you find any, raise the issue with the credit bureaus and wait for their response.

The errors to look out for include wrongful payment information, lack of information on debts you already repaid, wrong names, or damaging information that should no longer apply.

See >> How to Get Free Credit Report in Canada

3. Diversify Your Credit

As the famous adage goes, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. Similarly, it pays to diversify your credit accounts. Starting with a credit card and then diversifying into installment loans, mortgages, or lines of credit will see your score improve.

Lenders think that if such a person has managed all these credit accounts well, they are good borrowers. That will then correspond to a higher score.

For example, your Equifax credit report will generally list four different kinds of credit accounts:

• Revolving Credit: Revolving loans have limits, which means you can access the credit anytime, but you must pay a minimum balance each month. Revolvingcreditismadeupofthingslikecreditcardsandlinesofcredit.

• Installment Credit: A loan paid back over a specified length of time. Late payments incur penalties, although monthly payments rarely change. An example of an installment loan is a term loan or car loan.

For secured or unsecured personal loans, we recommend LoanConnect. With LoanConnect, you complete a simple and free online application and get pre-approved in minutes from up to 22 available lenders.

• Mortgage Loan: If you took out a mortgage to buy a home, the amount of your mortgage loan will appear on your credit report.

• Open Status Credit: On your credit report, open status accounts could be anything from a mobile phone account to utility bills.

Don’t worry if you don’t have many credit accounts. You shouldn’t open multiple additional accounts only to diversify your credit mix unless you intend to make use of them.

4. Keep Your Credit Utilization as Low as Possible

Credit utilization is the amount of credit you have used up relative to the amount available to you.

For instance, if your credit card has a credit limit of $10,000 and you have used up $8,000, that will be a very high utilization score at 80%. Lenders think that you are not financially sound if you accrue that much debt.

The higher the credit utilization score, the lower your credit score.

Keeping the utilization score at 30% of the total or less will help you increase your credit score.

5. Go Over the Minimum When Paying Credit Card Balances

Despite the amount of debt on your credit card, there is always a minimum amount of money you have to pay back.

It is always a good idea to pay more than the required minimum amount, as this will help keep your credit utilization low.

Keeping your credit utilization low will help increase your credit score in the long term.

6. Increase Your Credit Card Limit, But not The Spending

This would be the last thing on many people’s minds, but it can help you increase your credit score. How?

We have already seen that the credit utilization rate affects the credit score. But what if you agree to an offer to increase the limit on your credit card? That means if you maintain your spending, your credit utilization rate decreases, thereby resulting in an increase in your credit score.

7. Don’t Throw Away Your Old Credit Card

Older credit accounts with a good credit history usually help boost credit scores. That’s because lenders favour a long history of consistent payments.

Thus, you should not get rid of your old credit card even if you no longer have any use for it.

To avoid the possibility of your credit card issuer deactivating it because of inactivity, you can automate small payments to be charged to the card.

8. Try Getting a Secured Credit Card and/or a Credit Builder Loan

This is an ideal way for newcomers to Canada to start their journey toward a good credit score.

Unlike the usual (unsecured) credit cards, a secured credit card needs you to deposit a specific amount that will serve as the card’s spending limit. For example, if you deposit $500 upfront, you are issued a credit card with a $500 credit limit.

Of course, you’re still expected to pay off the credit card balances on time as required. However, this method will help increase your credit score with each payment you make with a secured credit card.

Refresh Credit Builder Loan is not your average loan – it’s a smart way for Canadians to increase their credit score while taking advantage of essential financial education tools. Here’s how it works.

Instead of receiving funds upfront, you open a secure account, and the loan amount is deposited into this account. By making monthly payments on the loan, you improve your credit rating, boosting your chances of qualifying for other financial products such as mortgages or personal loans.

Use Refresh Credit Builder Loan to Build Your Credit History

9. Don’t Apply for New Credit Frequently

Applying for new credit frequently may be deemed irresponsible by lenders.

An inquiry is created when lenders or others request your credit report from a credit agency. Credit checks are another term for inquiries.

If your credit record contains too many credit checks, lenders may believe you’re:

• seeking credit urgently
• attempting to live above your means

Therefore, you should limit your number of credit applications and/or credit checks as it could reduce your credit score depending on whether it is a soft inquiry or hard inquiry. Hard inquiry/hits negatively affect your credit score, while soft inquiry does not affect your credit score.

How Long Does It Take to Improve Credit Score in Canada?

It’s a common question: How long does it take to improve credit scores in Canada?

The answer, unfortunately, is not simple. Credit scores are complex and ever-changing, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you understand how long it might take to see an improvement in your score.

One of the most important factors in credit score is payment history. Late or missed payments can have a major impact on your score, and it can take months or even years to recover from those mistakes. If you have recent late payments, it will likely take some time to see an improvement in your score.

Another important factor in credit score is credit utilization. This refers to the amount of credit you’re using relative to your credit limit. It’s important to keep your utilization low because high utilization can hurt your score. If you’re currently using a high percentage of your available credit, it will likely take some time to see an improvement in your score.

Finally, keep in mind that credit scores are always changing. As new information is added to your credit report, your score may go up or down.

In general, it could take you 3 to 6 months to increase the score by 100 or 200 points if you actively take all measures possible.

Do not be fooled; there are no shortcuts, and you can’t cheat the system.

Increasing your credit score will require you to spend wisely and commit to paying your debts on time. Consolidate your debts and start dealing with them one by one. Gradually you will see your credit score increase.

READ ALSO >> How to get a Mortgage with Bad Credit in Canada

How to Know Your Canadian Credit Score

Canada’s two major credit rating agencies – Equifax and Transunion – will give you your credit score for $20. However, you don’t have to pay if you don’t want to since you can get your credit report for free in Canada through third-party companies (such as Borrowell) or select banks (such as Royal Bank of Canada – RBC).

• Borrowell will give you your free Equifax credit score.
• Credit Karma will provide your credit score and report for free via Transunion.

FAQs: How To Increase Credit Score in Canada

Final Thoughts on How To Improve Credit Score, Canada

It might seem like a tall order to increase your credit score to the appropriate level. However, it isn’t impossible, especially if you follow all the outlined tips. You need to be at your best financial behaviour to boost your credit score.

That means paying off your debts, making credit card payments on time all the time, diversifying your credit accounts, or efficient utilization of your credit card. If you do that, it won’t take long before your credit score has risen to the level you want. It will take time, though.

AUTHOR

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Charity (Charee) Oisamoje is the founder of TheFinanceKey - TFK. She leads the editorial team, which is comprised of subject-matter experts.

Her professional competencies and expertise make her qualified on this topic. She is an expert at collecting details, verifying facts, and making complex subjects easy to understand.

Backed by Solid Credentials: MBA in Finance Canadian Investment Funds (IFIC) Graduate Masters Degree in International Business Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) Candidate ✔️Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) ✔️BSc Accounting

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