Accessing your credit report is the foundation to financial literacy - TransUnion

Toronto – Nov. 17, 2014 – In recognition of Financial Literacy Month, TransUnion encourages all Canadians to take an active role in managing their credit and finances by obtaining a free copy of their personal credit report. Canadian credit users can request a credit report (called a Consumer Disclosure) free of charge in the following ways:

• mail (with a completed request form;
• in person at one of TransUnion’s provincial consumer offices; or
• phone, using TransUnion’s Interactive Voice Response system: 1(800) 663-9980 (Prompt 1).

The Consumer Disclosure is a complete account of all the information on a person’s credit report, and lists all inquiries made to the credit information, including account management inquiries, non-credit-related inquiries and self-inquiries.

“While it is beneficial for all Canadians to regularly review their credit report, seniors should take advantage of the opportunity this month while the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) and Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) sponsor the educational initiative Your Money Seniors that focus on financial literacy, in which personal credit plays a major role,” said Todd Skinner, president, TransUnion Canada. “Programs like these that empower seniors to address and manage challenging issues relevant to them provide long-term benefits to all consumers, businesses and the economy as a whole.”

Your Money Seniors is a modeled on the successful Your Money Students program, previously developed by the CBA and FCAC. Your Money Seniors aligns with the FCAC’s recently published National Strategy for Financial Literacy, Phase 1: Strengthening Seniors’ Financial Literacy. The detailed strategy includes an initiative to encourage seniors to request an annual credit report (from a provider such as TransUnion), as part of broader goal to increase the tools to combat financial abuse of seniors.

For a monthly fee, seniors and consumers can also request unlimited access to their TransUnion credit report and score online at http://www.transunion.ca/.

By monitoring credit with TransUnion through the unlimited account, seniors and other consumers can:

• Stay on top of their credit score and see what lenders see about them
• Track their credit health progress
• Receive email alerts that can help warn you of possible identity theft
• Watch progress over time with trending reports