Consumers are entitled to a free credit report from each of the three main reporting bureaus every year before they apply for an auto loan in Ontario. The three main credit reporting bureaus are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. Consumers can request their credit reports directly through they website or they can use the government-monitored Annual Credit Report website.

Consumers need to be cautious when they request their credit report because there are websites and services available that will claim to offer them a free credit report or even a free credit score and then charge them an annual fee.

Consumers that are interested in a credit report from a specific agency can go directly to that agency’s website. This may be useful if the consumer already knows that the company that they are seeking credit with uses a specific agency. As an example, a consumer purchasing a car may ask the car dealership where they pull their credit scores from. If the dealership happens to use Transunion for their credit scores the consumer can pull their credit report from Transunion to see if there are any problems on the report before applying for an automobile loan. Once on the bureau’s website, the consumer will simply have to enter some biographical data and their social security number and they will be given a few challenge questions to answer. If they answer these screening questions correctly they will be allowed to view and print their credit report.

Consumers that want to pull their credit reports from all three bureaus at once can use the Annual Credit Report website. The annual credit report website will allow the consumer to fill out their information a single time and then be redirected to each of the three bureaus to receive their credit report from each one. The credit reports at each bureau will usually be mostly the same but there may be a few differences on each one. Conscientious consumers can correct any errors by contacting the reporting bureaus directly.

When obtaining a free credit report to know if you need bad credit auto loan financing, a consumer should never be asked for any payment information such as a credit card. If the consumer is asked for a credit card or to sign up for a subscription service they should stop what they are doing and go back to the main reporting bureau’s website. The official government website and the websites of the reporting bureaus will not ask the consumer for payment when getting a free credit report. However, if the consumer has exhausted their three free credit reports then they may be asked to input a payment method.