The Main Differences Between Equifax and TransUnion in Canada Explained

By Julien Brault, founder of MooseMoney.

Canada has two credit bureaus, and they do not produce identical results. Equifax and TransUnion both collect financial data on Canadian consumers, but they use different scoring models, pull from partially overlapping databases, and can produce credit scores that differ by as much as 100 points for the same person. 

"Equifax and TransUnion are two different companies and they compete very hard against each other to come up with the most predictive score. So they change the way they calculate it all the time and they use different variables to calculate it," said Richard Goyder, Chief Credit Officer at Neo Financial.

Both bureaus evaluate similar categories of information, including payment history, credit utilization, length of credit history, types of credit, and recent inquiries. However, the weight each bureau assigns to those categories is not public, and each company tweaks its formula on an ongoing basis to stay competitive. Equifax uses a scoring range of 300 to 900, and TransUnion uses the same range, but a given consumer will rarely land on the exact same number with both.

Richard Goyder from Neo Financial explained the typical gap directly: "TransUnion and Equifax scores are actually indicating something slightly different. And as a rule of thumb, a TransUnion score is usually about 50 points higher than an Equifax score."

Why Your Reports Can Contain Different Information

The data feeding each bureau is not a mirror image. Lenders, telecom companies, and other creditors choose which bureau or bureaus they report to, and not all of them report to both.

"Equifax and Transunion have different databases because they have different customers, which is who they get their information from. Not every single loan is reported to both of the bureaus. Most of them are reported to both, but there are some which will only be reported to one and some that won't be reported at all," said Richard Goyder, Chief Credit Officer at Neo Financial.

This means a credit card you hold might appear on your Equifax file but not your TransUnion file, or vice versa. A missed payment on a loan that only reports to one bureau will drag down that score while leaving the other unaffected. Update timing also differs. Equifax typically updates credit files at least once a month, while TransUnion updates monthly or up to every 45 days. If you paid down a large balance last week, one bureau may reflect that change before the other does.

Which Bureau Do Lenders Actually Use

There is no regulatory requirement forcing a Canadian lender to use one bureau over the other. Each financial institution makes its own choice based on cost, data quality, and the predictive value it gets from a given bureau's score. "We only use TransUnion at the moment when it comes to assessing the credit worthiness of a new client and; while we previously looked at whether using both would significantly increase the number of people we were able to give a credit card to, our conclusion was that using both bureaus would not improve approval rate, and would certainly be more expensive," explains Richard Goyder, Chief Credit Officer at Neo Financial, Neo Financial only

Major lenders across Canada vary in their preferences. Some large banks pull TransUnion for credit card applications and Equifax for mortgage assessments. Others do the reverse. Because you cannot control which bureau a lender will check, maintaining accurate information on both files gives you the best chance of a favourable outcome regardless of where the inquiry lands.

How to Monitor Both Reports

Every Canadian can request a free copy of their credit report from each bureau once per year. Equifax offers online access through myEquifax, and TransUnion provides reports online, by mail, by phone, or in person. Checking both annually helps you catch errors, spot unauthorized inquiries, and understand why your two scores may differ.