As random as credit scores initially appear, these three-digit numbers are vital in determining your financial options.
Knowing your credit score is essential in improving your financial profile and getting the best credit card or mortgage rates.
With Clearscore Canada, you can check your credit score for free. In this review, we will find out more about its features, the ClearScore app, pros and cons and alternatives.
Key Takeaways
- ClearScore Canada is a credit monitoring service that provides Canadians free access to their credit reports and scores from the credit bureau TransUnion.
- Among the features of ClearScore are the ClearScore Protect, ClearScore Timeline, ClearScore Marketplace and the ClearScore App.
- ClearScore also offers free services, such as recommendations of financial products fit for the customer’s profile.
What is ClearScore?
ClearScore is a British credit monitoring service that expanded to Canada in late 2022 to provide customers with access to their credit reports and credit scores at no cost. The service comes with an innovative app that is also free to use.
The Ontario-registered company provides credit scores and credit reports from credit bureau TransUnion. Founded in 2015, ClearScore operates in the UK, South Africa, Australia and Canada, serving over 20 million users.
How Does ClearScore Work?
To find out how ClearScore works, I signed up for the free service. Here is how the process goes:
- Go to the sign-up page and enter your email address.
- Fill out the form and provide your full name, date of birth and password.
- Provide your home address and click “Next.”
- Answer questions to confirm your identity.
After you complete that very short process, you will get access to your TransUnion score, as I did mine. All in all, it was a quick procedure, just as the website said -– in just 3 minutes.
After you have created an account at ClearScore, you can view your credit report showing the following:
- Hard credit inquiries that impacted your credit score
- Payment history
- Open credit accounts
- Credit utilization, etc.
ClearScore Canada Features
ClearScore Canada has a range of features that include the following:
ClearScore Protect
ClearScore has a feature that provides registered users with protection from cyber breach. Called ClearScore Protect, the cyberbreach monitoring service helps users identify whether their personal details were compromised.
The company provides the Protect feature along with its partners that monitor the dark web for information collected concerning data breaches.
ClearScore Timeline
Timeline is a feature that shows the story of your finances. Here, we can access up to six years of financial history, laid out clearly. This feature makes it easy to track how your credit score and debts changed over time.
The information for the Timeline feature is from your credit report. To view this data, go to the “Accounts” section of your credit report and check your open and closed accounts.
ClearScore Marketplace
This feature shows offers that you qualify for based on your credit profile. Here, you will find a list of financial products that ClearScore deems fit for you. These include credit cards, mortgages, and loans from various loan providers.
ClearScore lists the offers according to what it thinks will give the most value for you and the products you are likely to get approved for. If you decide to apply for it, ClearScore will receive a commission from the lender.
ClearScore App
ClearScore comes with an app that Clear Score Technology Ltd. developed for iPhone and Android users.
On Google Play, the app has over 5 million downloads and a rating of 4.4 stars out of 5. At the App Store, ClearScore has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars.
You can download the app here.
Is ClearScore Free?
ClearScore has no fees and requires no trials. Once you have signed up and registered, you can get your credit score and credit report for free anytime.
Does ClearScore Ever Charge You?
ClearScore never charges you for anything. From accessing your credit score and credit report to the recommendations it makes regarding what financial products it thinks are relevant for you based on your profile, ClearScore will provide all the services for free.
The recommendations on the financial products ClearScore makes are based on your credit profile. Whether or not you apply for a recommended product, you can still access your credit score and report at no cost.
Is ClearScore Safe and Legit?
ClearScore is a legit British financial technology firm founded by Justin Basini, Nigel Morris and Dan Cobley, with headquarters in London, UK. In Canada, its registered office is located at:
199 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5L 1A9
The company earns revenue from over 150 financial institutions around the world who pay ClearScore when they acquire new customers through the service.
ClearScore is secure as it uses two-factor authentication (2FA), an additional layer of security on your ClearScore account. With a 2FA, your Clearscore login will require an extra step, particularly a code sent to the user’s mobile number via SMS.
Pros and Cons of ClearScore
ClearScore has a lot of benefits, but no company is without its drawbacks. Below are the pros and cons of ClearScore, which will help determine if the service is the right fit for you.
Pros of ClearScore
- 100% free credit reports and credit score
- Unlimited usage
- All soft inquiries
- No hidden costs
- No ads
- No time-limited trials
- Offers other services like ClearScore Protect and Timeline for free
- Provides recommendations on financial products for free
- Easy-to-use mobile app
- Offers tips on how to improve your credit score
- Access to top credit card deals
- Secure online platform
Cons of ClearScore
- Updating credit score reports may take a while since TransUnion updates every 4-6 weeks only.
- You will hand over your financial data to ClearScore.
- Only your TransUnion score is available.
ClearScore Alternatives
ClearScore is hardly the first in the industry to provide free credit reports and scores to its customers. While I think they offer excellent services, some alternatives are also worth looking at.
Borrowell
Borrowell is a Toronto-based fintech company that gives Canadians free access to credit scores and credit reports through its partnership with Equifax. It is also a platform for online lending and uses its customers’ credit data to provide customized recommendations for financial products.
Get your Equifax credit score.
Loans Canada
Loans Canada is a financial technology company based in Toronto offering free credit scores pulled from Equifax. The website also functions as a platform to compare loan rates from various lenders with no obligation to apply for a loan.
Credit Karma
Credit Karma is a free service for Canadians offering access to credit scores and reports provided by TransUnion. Initially offered in the US, it was launched in Canada in 2016. It offers free weekly credit score checks and credit reports. It also renders free credit monitoring service to help recognize signs of identity theft early.
Is ClearScore Worth It?
There are several reasons why I think the ClearScore service is worth it. It is easy to sign up for the service as its registration process takes only three minutes to complete and you can view your credit score immediately.
The service is free and there are no charges or fees of any kind. You can access it when you need it for an unlimited time. With its two-factor authentication system, you can be confident it is safe, as evidenced by the 20+ million users using ClearScore.
Rated highly at the App Store and Google Play, ClearScore is evidently effective at what it says it does. By making things simple, consumers like you and me can access our credit scores and reports easily while getting resources that help us achieve financial freedom.
FAQs
While they have related services, Experian and ClearScore are different entities. Experian is a Dublin, Ireland-based consumer credit reporting body. ClearScore is a Canadian-based company providing consumers free access to credit reports pulled from Toronto-based credit bureau TransUnion.
ClearScore can be trusted because it is a legitimate company that provides access to credit scores and reports from the credit bureau TransUnion. Its platform has a solid encryption system that uses two-factor authentication (2FA) to provide added security.
A credit score of 750 on ClearScore is a Very Good score, which indicates on-time payments, a long credit history and a reliable repayment history. It also denotes the person with the said credit score is a low risk for lenders and will likely receive the best interest rates.
Yes, it is safe to link ClearScore to your bank account. The company uses bank-level security with 256-bit encryption to keep customer data safe and secure.
