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Who Sees Your Credit Report
Federal and provincial laws prevent just anyone from being able to see your credit history. Only those with a legal, permissible purpose may pull your credit report. Examples of "permissible purpose" include issuing credit or loans and collecting debts. Employers, landlords, and insurers can also check your credit before hiring, leasing to, or insuring you. Typically, anytime you form a business relationship with an organization--such as applying for a credit card or signing a lease--you are giving it permission to review your credit history.
Your credit report contains a list of those who have accessed your credit report within the past three years. This is called a "search inquiry" list. Review it to see who has checked your credit and when, and make sure all of the names look familiar to you.
Note that each time an organization checks your credit history, your credit score takes a slight hit. It has been statistically proven that consumers searching for more lines of credit are higher-risk borrowers, so the more credit you apply for, the lower your credit rating. Just take care not to approach too many different credit issuers at once and the impact to your score will be minimal.
Of course, you can also review your report at any time. It's a good idea to periodically check your credit, making sure all the information on it is correct and that you don't see any signs of identity fraud. You could be the victim of identity theft if you see an account that you did not open. To get a copy of your credit report, visit each credit bureau's website, or sign up with a credit monitoring service like SpendOnLife.ca. The bureaus will send you a free credit report by mail upon request. They may charge a fee if you want to see your report online. Note that pulling your own credit report does not affect your credit score.
