Auto Score

What Equifax Canada says about vehicle scores

“Some lenders may use credit scores that are specific to a certain industry – if you’re buying a vehicle, for instance, the credit scoring model the lender uses may weight your payment history on vehicle loans more heavily. These credit scores will differ based on the industry and are not the same as the credit scores you may receive from the two nationwide credit bureaus.”— Equifax Canada

In plain terms: a lender may use a score tuned to one industry, here car loans. It is a different score from the one a credit bureau shows you.

Why it can differ from the score you see

Equifax Canada says the credit scores available to you are often called “educational scores”, meaning “provided to you for your own education, but isn’t necessarily the same scores being used by lenders.” It also says: “Each credit bureau has multiple scoring algorithms and lenders typically request only one of them when making decisions.”

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) puts it this way: “The credit score you see may be different than the score a lender sees. This is because a lender may give more weight to certain information when they calculate your score.”

What to check before you apply

• Get your report from both bureaus and read the accounts behind the number: how to check your credit score for free.
• See why scores differ from one place to the next: how credit scores work in Canada.
• Remember the number is one input. Equifax Canada says the other factors “may include information such as your income, your down payment, or the amount of the loan.”