Consumers should regularly request and monitor their credit reports to for many reasons, especially before applying for a car loan in Ontario.

Credit reports are valuable for protecting against identity theft and making sure that credit is up to par for the securing of auto loans, personal loans and other lines of credit. Credit reports can be pulled annually from each of the main credit bureaus. This means that a consumer can pull their credit report every four months from a different credit reporting bureau.

1. Choose one of the reporting bureaus. The credit reports between these bureaus should usually be identical but they all have slightly different ways of calculating their scores and knowing all possibilities before buying cheap used cars within Ontario is important. Credit reports are available for free on an annual basis through these reporting bureaus but credit scores usually need to be paid for. A report through any of the main bureaus should usually be sufficient to check for identity theft.
2. Go to the Annual Credit Report website. The annual credit report website has been set up by the government to let consumers get their credit reports quickly and easily. Consumers need to make sure that they are using the proper website and not another website such as Free Credit Report. The correct website will not ask the consumer for any payment information such as a credit card.
3. Fill out the requested information. The annual report website will ask for some basic information such as the consumer’s date of birth and social security number. Once the consumer has given this information it will ask a few questions regarding the consumer’s past such as if they have an auto loan from a specific company and whether they have lived in a specific location within the past few years. These questions serve as verification of the consumer’s identity.
4. Receive the credit report. The credit report is immediately given to consumers that can prove their identity. The consumer can also choose to have a paper copy of their report sent to them. Reports should always be printed or saved immediately so that they can be referenced later.
5. Check for any errors. Identity theft will show up on the credit report as accounts that the consumer has not opened or credit inquiries that the consumer did not request. Some companies will perform soft pulls of credit that will show up as a credit inquiry. These will be marked differently and consumers should not be alarmed by them.

Ultimately in Ontario, your credit report will be essential when going to get a car loan after bankruptcy, going to get a new car with great credit, or just a regular used car purchase and having your identity stolen can ruin every single one of those possibilities by ruining your finances completely.