Credit Karma Canada: Get Your Free Credit Score

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Financial health is top of mind and very important to us at Frugal Flyer. While we often talk about signing up for credit cards and using their rewards to fund our travels, we do this in a financially responsible manner. 

Good financial habits and understanding your credit report and score can set you up for success, even outside travel hacking. While this information may have been harder to acquire in the past, there are now services available in Canada that provide free credit scores using information from Canadian credit bureaus. One of these services is Credit Karma Canada.

Let’s dive into our Credit Karma Canada review and how utilizing this service can benefit your financial health.

What is Credit Karma Canada?

Credit Karma Canada is a free service for Canadians that they can use to check their credit scores and credit reports. It was initially a service based only in the United States, however, it was launched for Canadians in 2016.

Credit Karma will push free credit score checks and credit reports once a week so you can keep an eye on your financial progress, credit report, and credit score. That being said, all financial institutions push monthly credit reports (at the statement date) so don’t expect much movement in your credit report from week to week.

credit karma canada very good credit score

You can sign up for Credit Karma Canada here.

Services Offered by Credit Karma

While obtaining a free credit score and credit monitoring is the driving factor in signing up for a Credit Karma Canada account, they do offer other services as well.

These services consist of acting as an intermediary for signing up for credit cards, personal loans, and mortgages. Based on your credit file, they will recommend certain cards that meet your financial profile, in addition to options for personal loans, and can connect you to a mortgage broker using your credit information.

They also provide articles to further educate you about credit and share financial help tips.

Is Credit Karma Free?

One of the best aspects of a useful service like Credit Karma is that it is a completely free service to sign-up for and to use. This makes it a no-brainer to keep an eye on your credit history and check every so often to ensure that all of your information is current and correct.

credit karma canada free credit score

Credit Karma is able to stay free through promoting and earning commissions on financial products that are featured on its site. That being said, if you are interested in signing up for a new credit card or bank account you might as well earn additional cash back by signing up via our own FlyerFunds Rebates.

I am a big believer in financial awareness and would recommend that all Canadians sign up for Credit Karma Canada to better understand their financial credit situation.

Alternatives to Credit Karma

As mentioned above, Credit Karma Canada pulls from the TransUnion credit bureau and as such, will only capture a portion of your full credit picture. While it will report accurately on all of your credit products, it will only show hard hits, or credit applications, for financial institutions that pull your Transunion report. This is similar to ClearScore, another free credit reporting service that pulls from Transunion.

On the other hand, Borrowell Canada is the other free credit reporting service available to Canadians. Borrowell has many of the same services and is also another free option, however, it pulls from the Equifax credit bureau. This means that if a financial institution pulls your credit report from Equifax, you will only be able to see that hard hit on your free Borrowell credit report.

Related: Credit Karma vs Borrowell

Ultimately, they are the same but slightly different as a result of the fact each service only pulls from one of two major credit bureaus. With that in mind, it is absolutely worth signing up for both Credit Karma Canada and Borrowell Canada to ensure you can access the full picture of your credit score and credit report from both major credit bureaus.

You can sign up for Borrowell here.

What Credit Cards Can I Be Approved for With My Credit Score?

The only answer to this question is: it depends.

Some issuers are much pickier when it comes to credit scores and reports (e.g. MBNA may not approve you for a card if you have reached their threshold of credit inquiries in the past few months).

Additionally, you need to understand that your credit score is an easy-to-understand number that sums up your credit report, but it is not the only thing that issuers look at. Issuers may look at debt to income ratio, total lines of credit, total available credit, and more. This depends on the financial institution and how stringent they are with approving a new revolving credit line.

Learn More: Credit Scores: Everything You Need to Know

Typically, a credit score over 700 is a good baseline to be approved for many financial products in Canada. A credit rating of this level showcases that you have good financial habits, including consistent payment history and managing your existing lines of credit responsibly.

Consider using our credit card browser tool to view some of the best cards in Canada. Provided your credit report is healthy overall, it is worth applying for whatever card you are interested in and that you meet the requirements for, to see if you can get approved.

Conclusion

Credit Karma Canada is an excellent tool to take advantage of not only for your personal financial health but also to keep track of your likelihood of being approved for your next credit card.

If your credit score is in good shape and you are ready to earn your next welcome bonus, check out the FlyerFunds Rebates program to earn extra cash back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, Credit Karma is accurate based on information that is communicated from financial institutions pertaining to your existing credit accounts. If there is any incorrect information, it is recommended that you speak to your financial institution to have it corrected or file a dispute with TransUnion.

Credit Karma works by pulling your TransUnion credit report and credit score in an easy-to-access and understandable fashion. This is the easiest way to view a snapshot of your credit history.

No, checking your score with Credit Karma does not positively or negatively impact your credit score. When Credit Karma pulls your credit report they are doing so by utilizing a “soft check”, which pulls the data but only for informational purposes whereas a credit application pulls your information using a “hard check” which can impact your credit score.

Yes, Credit Karma is completely secure and safe. While you do need to provide your SIN when registering in addition to answering some identifying questions, this is so the service can pull the correct credit report.

Credit Karma Canada only pulls your report from the TransUnion credit bureau; they are unable to make any changes on your behalf. If you need to dispute any items on your credit report, you will need to contact TransUnion directly here.

Credit Karma pulls your credit report and credit score from the TransUnion credit bureau. This is one of only two credit bureaus in Canada.

Josh Bandura

Josh Bandura

Co-Founder at Frugal Flyer
Josh has been involved in the miles and points game since 2015 but has scaled up his knowledge and points earning potential in recent years. With a consistent attitude of "min-maxing" in many aspects of his life, Josh has transferred this mindset over to the miles and points game. Always looking for the next big opportunity, he aims to share content on a variety of topics including his travels, miles and points, and most importantly, how to get the most out of your credit cards

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