Borrowell Review 2020: How To Get Your Free Credit Score And Credit Report In Canada (Safe And Legit)

Borrowell is a financial services company that provides Canadians access to a free credit score and credit report. This Borrowell review will help you understand what your credit score is, how it impacts your finances, if Borrowell is legit and the benefits of the free credit score and report service available from Borrorwell in Canada.

The growth in FinTech has made budgeting, saving money, making money and investing more accessible for the average person. This increased access has also stretched to credit scores thanks to companies like Borrowell.

Borrowell is a financial services provider that delivers Canadians access to their credit scores and reports for free. Long gone are the days of paying $15 – $40 to get your credit score.

Understanding and having insights into your credit score and report is another money management tactic you can easily add to your financial tool belt.

Signing up for Borrowell is secure, free, quick and provides a variety of benefits as this review will showcase.

WHO IS BORROWELL?

Borrowell is a 100% Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and become one of Canada’s largest online FinTech companies. In addition to their free credit score and reporting service, they offer personal loans at low interest rates to Canadians and provide financial product recommendations.

As stated on their website, their goal is: to help Canadians make great decisions about credit. 

Borrowell has served over 500,000 Canadians with their free credit score and report service.

IS BORROWELL SAFE AND LEGIT?

Yes, Borrowell is a 100% legit Canadians financial services company. They’ve been featured or appeared on almost every major Canadian publication and have helped hundreds of thousands of customers in Canada.

They have partnerships with some of the biggest banks (CIBC), credit card providers (AMEX) and insurance companies (Sonnet) as well. If security and data sensitivity is a concern, they use bank level encryption to keep user’s information safe and secure.

Whether you want to check your credit score and report or potentially use Borrowell for a personal loan, you can trust that they are 100% legit and a reputable company.

BORROWELL SERVICES: FREE CREDIT SCORES, FREE CREDIT REPORTS AND PERSONAL LOANS

Borrowell is an entirely digital FinTech company with all their business taking place online. However, they have relationships with some of Canada’s biggest banks and financial institutions.

This review will focus on the free credit score and report service that Borrowell offers plus dive deeper into the ins and outs of credit scores.

WHAT IS A CREDIT SCORE AND CREDIT REPORT?

At the core level, you could describe your credit score as an indicator of your overall financial health (or creditworthiness). It gives an indication to the risk you might present should a potential lender (or source of credit) want to borrow you money.

Your specific credit score is based on the information found in your credit report.

What is a credit report? Your credit report is a summary of your financial history that includes how you pay your financial obligations and your borrowing activity.

Credit bureaus, like TransUnion and Equifax, receive information on individuals from financial institutions, credit card companies, mortgage brokers and any other sources of credit. This would often include loans, lines of credit, credit cards, mortgages and other financial obligations owed.

All of these details are stored in your credit report. It’s essentially a binder with all your credit history and figures.

A calculation based on all that information is then made to determine your credit score for prospective lenders when reviewing your applications for credit.

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE YOUR CREDIT SCORE

So what actually makes up your credit score? There are five categories that factor into the data that makes up your credit score. This doesn’t include your age, where you live, personal income, bank account balances, employment status etc.

Below is a quick breakdown of each and how they impact your credit score.

Payment History (35%)

The largest determinant of your credit score is your payment history to lenders and creditors. Ultimately this showcases whether you are paying your bills, loans and money owed on time.

To improve or maintain a high credit score always pay the full installment (or amount owing) on time.

Amount Owing & Credit Utilization (30%)

The second factor of your credit score comes from the total debt owing and your credit utilization. If you have $25,000 in total available credit and your amount owing always falls in the $20,000 range, you have a high credit utilization at 80%. A high utilization will negatively impact your credit score.

A rough guideline is to try and maintain lower than a 30% utilization. To improve or maintain a high credit score, try to manage that utilization rate and pay down your balances.

Credit History Age (15%)

The third factor determining your credit score is related to the age of your credit accounts. This includes both the oldest credit account you have and the age of all your credit accounts. In the eyes of the bureaus and lenders, having “older” credit is better as it showcases a longstanding ability and experience of managing credit.

To improve or maintain a high credit score, it’s typically not a good idea to open several new accounts in a short time frame.

Recent Credit Applications (10%)

When lenders (like banks and credit card companies) submit an application you’ve submitted for some form of credit, generally that requires a “hard pull” on your credit report. They’re sourcing your credit report to determine whether they want to lend you credit. Several inquiries in a short time frame can hurt your credit score.

Good news is when you check your own credit report through Borrowell, it’s technically a “soft pull” and won’t affect your credit score.

Credit Types Used (10%)

The final factor determining your credit score is the type of credit accounts you have. There are two basic types of accounts: revolving accounts and installment loans. Within those accounts there are different assets, like cars, homes, credit cards, student loans, personal loans, etc.

The more diverse your credit accounts are, the better it can be for your credit score. It shows an ability to manage a wide-range of credit types. However, this only represents 10% of your credit score so don’t stress about not having different assets represented.

BENEFITS OF MONITORING YOUR CREDIT SCORE

The ability to access credit and receive optimal credit rates are the net positives of having a high credit score. There are also benefits of monitoring your credit score and report as part of your general financial upkeep system.

Thanks to Borrowell it’s never been easier and more cost-effective to take advantage of these benefits.

HOW TO GET YOUR CREDIT SCORE AND CREDIT REPORT FOR FREE IN CANADA WITH BORROWELL

Borrowell makes accessing your credit score and credit report free, easy and quick for the average Canadian. It takes less than 2 minutes, doesn’t require a credit card and is entirely free.

They started offering this digital service in 2016 and have now helped over 500,000 Canadians better manage their finances.

The registration process only requires the traditional personal information you’d provide for most financial services. This includes your name, contact information, address, date of birth and relevant details. Borrowell will not ask for your SIN, tax documents or credit card.

Borrowell made signing up as user-friendly as possible. Try it yourself to see!

BORROWELL FREE CREDIT SCORE REVIEW – PROS & CONS

If you’re a fellow Canadian that wants to stay on top of your credit score and monitor your credit activity, Borrowell is a great service.

There are similar services on the market but after reading other Borrowell reviews I made the switch over 6 months ago. I’ve had zero issues with their platform and free credit score service.

CREDIT KARMA VS BORROWELL IN CANADA

Another popular provider of free credit scores and reports in Canada is Credit Karma. Credit Karma is a financial services company operating in the United States and Canada. Their website states that “our job is to give you the tools, the education and the opportunities you need to make real, meaningful progress.”

The company is American based and was founded in 2006 with their headquarters in San Francisco, CA. Credit Karma brought their services to Canada in late-2016 and their total global user base is over 75 million sign ups.

So how does Borrowell differ from Credit Karma? As mentioned above, Credit Karma calculates your credit score via TransUnion using the CreditVision® model. In comparison, Borrowell provides your free credit score based on the Equifax proprietary model.

The credit scores from these two providers might differ slightly. If you want to get a holistic view of your credit score and report, you could sign up for both. Both Credit Karma and Borrowell are free so there is no harm in having access to both.

CONCLUSION: BORROWELL REVIEW (GET YOUR FREE CREDIT SCORE IN CANADA)

Personally, I’m a Borrowell user and their credit score and report service is part of my monthly financial status check.

In this digital age of fraud and identity theft I want to ensure all my credit activity is accurate and safe. Borrowell helps me accomplish that at $0 cost.

These services from Borrowell are simple, secure and free. It takes 2 minutes to register your account and from there, you’ll be able to monitor and track any monthly changes in your credit score and report.

Do you monitor your credit score and report? Are you a Borrowell Canada user?

Let me know in the comments below.

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