Even if you pay your bills in full each month, failing to keep tabs on your credit could cause you to be saddled with a sub-par score — or no score at all.
That’s what happened to Patricia, a retired Ontario woman who was planning to buy a new house with her husband.
'Unscoreable'
When they applied for a mortgage the bank turned them down flat, claiming that Patricia either had a zero credit score or that her score was not available.
What Patricia didn’t realize was that it isn’t just your payment history and debt levels that affect your score, it’s also your credit activity.
No matter how reliable a borrower you are, if there’s no activity reported on your credit accounts for an extended period of time, you may wind up being classified as “unscoreable.”
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to avoid this problem, and it won’t cost you a dime.
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Sign upFree credit monitoring for every Canadian
Staying on top of your score used to require contacting one of the major credit bureaus and requesting a physical copy of your credit report.
But thanks to free credit monitoring services like Borrowell, Canadians can now check their credit score anytime, anywhere, using their computer or mobile device.
It only takes three minutes to sign up, and once you create an account you can start monitoring your credit right away.
Borrowell will send you an email whenever there’s a change to your score — good or bad — and contact you immediately if they notice any errors or unusual activity on your account.
You can also use Borrowell to keep track of your monthly bill payments so that you never miss a due date.
Paying your bills on time and in full each month won’t just ensure that your credit accounts remain active, it will also help to increase your score and make you look like a better candidate in the eyes of banks and lenders.
A stress-free way to protect your credit
Patricia was eventually able to work with a credit bureau and get her problem straightened out, but the situation could have easily been avoided if she’d been keeping an eye on her credit.
Even if you’re just curious, monitoring your score with Borrowell is totally free and it won’t affect your credit rating.
So take three minutes to sign up and start protecting your credit today.
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