Credit scores, credit cards and the points and cash back worth chasing, and the ones that are not.
9 articles
Canada's open banking law passed in March 2026 and its draft rules closed for comment in August. It could finally let years of on-time rent count toward a renter's credit. Here is what is real, what is still proposed, and what to do now.
A $120 annual fee sounds like a cost. Sometimes it is a bargain and sometimes it is a donation to your bank. The difference is a short calculation most people never do.
A rental application can ask for permission to pull your credit report. Here is what is on it, what is not, what you are entitled to refuse, and how to prepare if your file is thin or bruised.
A secured card asks you to put money down before you can borrow it. That sounds backwards, but for newcomers, students and anyone rebuilding, it is one of the steadiest ways to start a Canadian credit file.
Canadians without a mortgage are missing payments at roughly three times the rate of mortgage holders. Here is what the latest Equifax and Bank of Canada numbers say, and how a renter can stay on the right side of them.
For most Canadian renters, years of on-time rent leave no trace on a credit report, but that is slowly changing, and it helps to know how the reporting actually works.
Renters usually can’t put their biggest bill on a card without paying a fee, which changes the maths on rewards, so here is how cash back, flexible points and airline or hotel cards compare.
Paying rent by credit card sounds like free rewards on your biggest bill, but once you add the fee, the risk and the effort, most renters come out behind.
Two bureaus, a scale from 300 to 900 and a handful of habits that move the number: here is how credit scores actually work in Canada.