No, you have to pay to get your credit score. It differs a bit among the CRA's. Click the link below to get the explanation.
The link below is for Canadian scores. Either that, or ask Boz.

http://www.lendingmax.ca/artman/publish/Credit_scores.php

Ray

Raymond & Karen, let's continue this over at the Canadian Bankruptcy area...

Karen,
You can see your credit score by purchasing your credit report from Equifax Canada - http://www.equifax.ca and TransUnion Canada   http://www.tuc.ca

Sorry, Monty but a bankruptcy is not like an statute of limitation. The legal and economic purpose of bankruptcy is to give the person a clean start. So not only are they not liable to be sued for the money, they don't legally owe it either? What the heck is the difference? Well, in effect, not a whole lot, but there is one. If a debt is stats barred, a collection agency can still call you for the next 20 years about the debt even though they have no enforcement remedy. With bankruptcy, if you are discharged, that's it; the collection agencies can't even call you.

In terms of credit reporting, debts barred by limitation periods and (first) bankruptcies get reported for the same 6 year period. So no matter what, you're credit is screwed. In fact, declaring bankruptcy may even put the person ahead if he subsequently acquires some assets. Then, creditors know the fellow's got a clean slate and will be able to make payments more easily and that he won't be able to declare a subsequent bankruptcy so easily to escape. Maybe that's why your friend got his 2 credit cards after his bankruptcy.

As I said, bankruptcies go on your credit file for 6 years. I don't know what you meant by there being no law to that effect.

Ray

No I haven't gotten a divorce as of yet. I have no idea what my credit score score is. it doesn't say on my report or I just can't see it.

All items listed on my credit report say "INCLUDED IN BANKRUPCTY" on them. So I am good that way. I just can't figure out why they are requesting the reports. I will call them to see why. Is there anyway I can get their inquires off my report??

Did you get a divorce? Well, you can stop the hard inquiries if the discharge was absolute but the bankruptcy will be on file until 2008 and so it will take until then, and a while after that, to build up your credit score anyhow. Future creditors looking at your reports will almost certainly assume that it's a secured card.

What kind of a credit score do you have now? It can't be very much. I have a buddy that worked in credit scores at FICO. I will ask him if need be.

By the way, always have your credit reports pulled every 6 months to a year. It's free via written request.

Ray

Hi Karen,
Are there items on your credit report that were included in your bankruptcy but DO NOT have a "included in bankruptcy" notation beside them?

Sadly, I found that bankruptcies are not well taken care of by the credit bureaus.

The legislation with regards to how creditors report to Equifax Canada after a person declares bankruptcy is non-existent.

Example: I had a client who contacted me 4 years after declaring bankruptcy and being discharged. He indicated that his credit score kept decreasing, even though he had two good credit cards, a car loan that he kept in pristine condition after he was discharged.

The problem was this: The creditors kept showing his debts as owing and past due, even though he had declared bankruptcy on them. I fought about this with all different types of levels of governments.

The gist of what I learned was this: Even though a person declares bankruptcy, the debt is still owed. The creditor just can't go after it any longer.

There was absolutely nothing I could do, even though I had Consumer Protection in Saskatchewan heavily involved in this query. At first Consumer Protection didn't really understand what I was talking about. It took the better part of a few months to describe this fellows problem to them.

Anyway Karen,
Despite the fact that you declared bankruptcy, everything on your credit report must be accurate complete and verifiable by law. Sometimes the interpretation of what is accurate, complete and verifiable is left up to the regulators.

I would contact iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency right away and ask them what they're inquiring about. iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency 's inquiries are only hurting your credit score!!

ALSO: Dispute these collection inquiries with Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada. REASON: There is no reason for a collection agent to make an inquiry on your account.

They are hard inquires I am talking about. I had a thought that maybe they were looking for my husband, I have had calls looking for him even though the phone number where I live now isn't even in my name, the last was 2006. He never claimed bankruptcy. I was discharged March of 2002 with a absolute discharge.

I'm very sorry to hear about your husband. Sadly, I've known far too many other women who were of unreproachable character who had something similar happen to them.

With respect to your bankruptcy, I assume it was your first so that It will stay on your credit record for 6 years after the date of discharge, not the date of filing. If the date of filing was in 2001, then you probably have a bit to go. Second bankruptcies stay on for 14 years.

If you've pulled your files from Equifax and TransUnion, then you know they contain different sections. Besides trade activity, are the categories of hard and soft inquiries, public records (that deals with judgements and bankruptcies), and a section on collection activities. Probably, both credit files will have a huge list of serious errors on them which can take a while to correct (if they're anything like mine).

I say this because, even after the 6 years are up, you may well have to address the errors in these other categories too.

But with respect to inquiries, they're only allowed from CRA members for a certain list of permissible purposes, the most obvious being credit granting. The hard inquiries are, of course, what reduce your score and are really the only ones you have to worry about because the soft inquiries will be displayed only to you. Was your discharge absolute or conditional? Once your creditors have been notified of the discharge by your trustee, if it was absolute, then they have no business making any hard inquiries on you from that date on, unless you reapply to them for credit. Contact the credit bureaus and get them to remove them. Do NOT depend on iQor, Inc formerly CBCL - Canadian Bonded Credit Limited - Now Iqor Collection Agency or any other agency to do this for you. Then contact the agency making the inquiries, preferably in writing, and tell them to cease and desist. The latter step may not get you anywhere on the first try (in spite of their usually worthless promises to the contrary) and so you might have to keep at it. Try the ombudsman. Usually, just a recycled bill collector though.

Not much else to do other than to stay on top of it with the bureaus. Let them know about the errors and keep your discharge documentation as proof. Don't assume that the bureaus will take care of anything on their own. I had hard inquiries on my Equifax file going back 14 years, but they were easy enough to have removed right over the phone. In any event, make sure you regularly check all the sections on your file.

Ray

I am not sure they just keep requesting a copy of my credit report. I don't know why.