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Why Can’t I Get My Credit Score?

Rachel Surman

Oct 02, 2019 5 min read

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Image of computer and finger print, symbolizing a user being unable get their free credit score from Equifax.

So you heard that Borrowell can provide you with weekly credit score and credit report updates. You decide to sign up for Borrowell and get your free credit score – great job! But something went wrong and, unfortunately, the process couldn’t be completed. 

You’re probably feeling a little frustrated. First things first – don’t panic. It’s not your fault. We’ll work together and do our best to help you access your Equifax Risk Score (ERS) 2.0. But first, here’s a bit of background on how Borrowell’s partnership with Equifax works. 

How does Borrowell work with Equifax to provide customers with their free credit score? 

Equifax is one of the two credit bureaus in Canada. Borrowell partnered with Equifax in 2016 and became the first company in Canada to provide free credit scores to our members. Now have more than one million Canadian members! That’s a lot of free credit scores. 

Borrowell buys credit scores and reports from Equifax, which we then provide to you for free. We make money by making financial product recommendations that you have a high likelihood of being approved for (and we only recommend products we think will either improve your credit score or financial well-being in general). 

The information you see on your credit dashboard comes directly from Equifax. At Borrowell, we can’t change or modify any of the information you see on your credit report.

Now that you know how Borrowell works, let’s look into some of the reasons why you might have not been able to access your credit score and what to do next.

Credit history

Reason #1: Unable to locate credit file

In some cases, Equifax will be unable to locate a credit file for you. When this happens, you won’t be able to access your credit score and credit report.

Why can’t Equifax locate my credit file? 

There are a couple of reasons why Equifax would be unable to locate your credit file, but it’s typically due to a mismatch between the information you’ve provided and the information Equifax has on file about you. Often, there’s a mismatch in the name, address, or birth date provided. 

What are my next steps? 

There are a few things you can do if your file can’t be located.

1. Check your Borrowell user profile 

First, check your Borrowell user profile to make sure everything looks correct and that you’ve input your information correctly.

If you realize you’ve made a mistake, be sure to get in touch with us. We can help you update your information and get you back on track! 

2. Contact  Equifax

If everything on your Borrowell profile looks correct, it may be that Equifax has incorrect or out-of-date information on your credit file.  

In this case, the best thing to do is to contact Equifax directly and confirm that the information on your file is correct. You can reach them at 1-866-828-5961 (press 7 to talk to a representative). If you do update your credit file with Equifax, we ask that you keep in touch with us and let us know once this update has been made. Then, we can reset your account so that you can verify your identity and access your credit score.

3. Contact Borrowell 

If you’re still stuck after checking your Borrowell user profile and contacting Equifax to confirm your information on file, please reach out to us here.With the information you’ve gathered in steps 1 and 2, we’ll be able to help you troubleshoot further. 

Equifax credit score

Reason #2: Unable to verify identity 

In other cases, Equifax can locate a credit file for you but hasn’t been able to verify your identity – meaning that they aren’t sure that you are really you.

When this happens, we can’t show you your credit score and credit report. Protecting your personal information is very important to us, which is why we have these strict rules in place. 

Why couldn’t my identity be verified? 

There are two reasons why Equifax would be unable to verify your identity:

1. The answers you provided for the identity verification questions didn’t match what Equifax has on record. 

2. You have placed an alert on your Equifax account, which prevents identity verification. 

What are my next steps? 

If you realize that you made a mistake when answering your identity verification questions, please contact us, and we can help you through this process.

If you believe you answered the questions correctly but still weren’t able to verify your identity, there are two things you can do next:

1. Contact Equifax

We recommend contacting Equifax directly to ensure that they are verifying your identity using correct and up-to-date information. It’s possible that if the information they have on file about you is incorrect that you would fail verification as a result.

You can reach Equifax by calling 1-866-828-5961 (press 7 to talk to a representative).

2. Check to make sure you don’t have an alert on your file 

Ensure that you don’t have an alert on your credit file with Equifax. If there’s an alert on your file, Equifax won’t give us identity verification questions to present to you. To find out if there’s an alert on your file, you can contact Equifax Canada here: 1-866-828-5961. 

Once the issue is resolved, Borrowell can reset your account and allow you to try again. 

The Bottom Line

We understand this process may be frustrating. Hopefully from reading this blog, you’re clear on the next steps to take to get that credit score. 

If you feel confident that you provided the right information but weren’t successful, you should absolutely contact Equifax. However, if you think you made a mistake and need to fix it, please reach out to us here. Thank you for using our service and we hope you can access your credit score soon! 

Rachel Surman
Rachel Surman
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Rachel Surman is a digital writer at Questrade and a former content marketing specialist at Borrowell. Rachel is passionate about helping educate others about credit. She's also a big fan of budgeting and saving - mainly so she can visit all the places on her bucket list.