If you plan on borrowing money in the future, your credit report will determine whether or not you can borrow, and what interest rate you are charged, so keeping your credit report and credit score in good order is important. But what if you are one of the 150,000 Canadians who declared bankruptcy or filed a consumer proposal in the last year? We know that the personal bankruptcy rate in Canada is up by almost 50%, and obviously that will make have an impact on the credit reports of 150,000 Canadians, making it more difficult for them to borrow in the future. What can you do to improve your credit score, if you have gone through a personal bankruptcy in Canada, or even if you haven’t?
First, start by getting a copy of your credit report. Then, review your credit report for mistakes. It’s critical that you contact the credit reporting agency to have mistakes fixed before you attempt to borrow money. In Canada 21 million people have credit reports, so it’s not surprising that there are errors on some of those reports, so get them fixed now.
Tomorrow we will discuss whether or not credit monitoring services are worth the money.
