Found an Error on Your Credit Report in Ontario? Your Legal Rights

If you've ever spotted something wrong on your credit report — an account that isn't yours, a payment marked late that was actually made on time, a balance that's simply incorrect — there's more available than just asking nicely. Ontario residents have a specific provincial law behind them, with a formal escalation path and real regulatory teeth, separate from anything the federal government offers — and that law changed substantially on July 1, 2026.

Most explanations of credit report errors point only to the two credit bureaus and stop there. Ontario residents have another layer entirely.

Why it matters

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) gives Canadians general guidance on checking their credit reports for errors, but FCAC doesn't regulate the credit bureaus directly — that's a provincial responsibility. In Ontario, that role belongs to the Consumer Reporting Act, enforced by the Registrar of Consumer Reporting Agencies within the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement. If a bureau won't fix a genuine error, Ontario gives residents somewhere real to take it.

What changed on July 1, 2026

This is genuinely current, not background history. Amendments to Ontario's Consumer Reporting Act — passed as part of Bill 142, the Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act, 2023 — came into force on July 1, 2026, and meaningfully expanded what Ontario residents can do:

• A statutory security freeze, free of charge, letting a resident place, and eventually suspend or terminate, a freeze on their consumer file — available even without having experienced fraud, purely as a preventative step. Equifax launched its version, branded "Credit Lock," on July 1, 2026. TransUnion has until July 1, 2027 to fully meet the requirement for temporarily suspending (lifting) an existing freeze, though placing one is expected sooner. Freezing a file at one bureau does not freeze it at the other — each needs to be contacted separately.
• A guaranteed free monthly electronic copy of both the report and the score, from each bureau — a meaningful expansion from the previous rule, which only guaranteed a free report and score together twice a year by phone or mail.
• Stronger enforcement powers for the Registrar of Consumer Reporting Agencies.
• The 200-word explanatory statement right continues, letting a resident add free context to their file — for something like an isolated late payment or a collections item being disputed.

A related but separate piece of Bill 142 — a full replacement of Ontario's general Consumer Protection Act — has not yet come into force as of this writing; only its regulations affecting credit reporting specifically have been proclaimed so far. That broader replacement act would eventually update how credit repair companies are regulated, covered further below.

The rest of the Consumer Reporting Act's rights

Beyond what changed in July 2026, the CRA gives Ontario residents a broader set of standing rights over their file:

• A plain-language copy of the file. When requested, it must be provided in writing, in understandable language, with trained staff available to explain its contents.
• An identity alert, warning anyone accessing the file to verify they're actually dealing with the right person before proceeding with something like extending credit or approving a rental.
• A right to know why credit was denied. If denied credit, or charged more because of something on the report, a resident who asks within 60 days must be told the nature and source of the information used, and which agency supplied it.

How to dispute an error, step by step

1. Contact the agency directly first. Ask them to investigate the specific information believed to be wrong, and provide supporting documents (a payment confirmation, a letter from the creditor, a bank statement).
2. The agency investigates. If the information can't be verified, or turns out to be inaccurate, it must be corrected or deleted — and, on request, the agency must send a notice of the correction to anyone who recently received the report.
3. If that doesn't resolve it, escalate to the Registrar. If the issue can't be resolved with the agency directly — including trouble getting a timely correction or freeze in place — a complaint can be filed with the Registrar of Consumer Reporting Agencies. The Registrar can inspect the agency and issue compliance orders, and there's a statutory right to sue for damages under the Act if it's been violated.

A related warning: credit repair scams

While on the subject of Ontario-specific credit rights, it's worth flagging a related protection. Companies that promise to "fix" credit for a fee are regulated under Ontario's consumer protection framework, which currently prohibits credit repairers from:

• claiming they're approved, licensed, or registered by a government
• charging before their work leads to an actual, verified improvement in the report or score
• promising they can improve credit before they've even looked at the report

There's also a 10-day cooling-off period to cancel a credit repair contract, and the right to cancel within a year if the company never provided a written contract in the first place. Since Ontario's full Consumer Protection Act replacement hasn't come into force yet, these protections continue to operate under the current framework — worth confirming directly if reading this well after publication, since this is an area still subject to change.

There's nothing a credit repair company can legally do to remove accurate negative information from a report. What they can sometimes help with — disputing genuine errors — can be done directly, for free, using the process above.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a credit report error will resolve itself over time. It generally won't. Errors typically stay until someone disputes them.
• Disputing with only one bureau when the error appears on both. Equifax and TransUnion investigate independently. A correction on one doesn't automatically correct the other — it needs to be raised with each agency where the error appears.
• Paying a credit repair company to dispute something that can be disputed directly for free. The dispute process above doesn't require a paid intermediary.
• Not escalating when a bureau doesn't respond. If a bureau isn't fixing a genuine error, Ontario residents have somewhere further to go — the Registrar of Consumer Reporting Agencies — rather than assuming there's nothing more to be done.
• Assuming the July 2026 changes mean a freeze can be lifted instantly at will. Placing and terminating a freeze is available now; the temporary-suspension (lift) feature specifically isn't required until July 1, 2027.

Sources

• Ontario.ca, "Credit reports," Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement
• Equifax Canada, "Equifax Canada introduces Credit Lock to empower Ontarians and help fight identity theft and fraud," June 11, 2026
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Bill 142, Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act, 2023

This article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consumer protection law changes over time, and the status of Ontario's Consumer Protection Act replacement may have changed since publication. For advice about a specific dispute, contact the relevant credit bureau, the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, or a legal professional.

What to do next

Requesting a free electronic copy of both credit reports — Equifax and TransUnion, separately — is the fastest way to check for an error in the first place, now that a copy is guaranteed free every month from each. For how the two bureaus' scores can differ even when both files are accurate, see Why Your Credit Score Differs by App: Equifax vs. TransUnion. For the broader map of who regulates what in Canadian finance, see Who Regulates Financial Institutions in Canada? A Plain-English Guide.