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鈥溾�奣here was this time that I had a debt show up on my credit report that wasn’t mine for a streaming subscription that I didn鈥檛 subscribe to,鈥� says Becky Western-Macfadyen, financial coaching and education manager at Credit Canada, a non-profit credit counselling agency in North York.

It was a case of mistaken identity, but because she hadn鈥檛 paid for the subscription, the unpaid debt was reported to a collection agency.

鈥娾�漈he moment it hit collections, my credit score dropped by 90 points overnight,鈥� says Western-Macfadyen. 鈥淲e’ve heard stories from people where it can be up to 150 points.鈥澛�

In Canada, . A good credit score is generally between 660 and 724, according to Equifax, one of Canada’s major credit bureaus.

Luckily, Western-Macfadyen regularly monitors her聽score and was able to resolve the error with her credit bureau immediately, providing them with documents to prove her identity.听

But it still took nearly four months for the error to be wiped from her credit report.听聽

Other errors that can appear on your credit report are mistakes in your personal information, such as an inaccurate date of birth or a misspelling of your name.

鈥漈hose errors can then lead to multiple files being created for you,”聽says Western-Macfadyen, “which causes a huge headache.鈥澛�

Errors to your credit card and loan accounts, such as payments that credit bureaus have mistakenly reported as late in your report, can have more devastating consequences on your ability to borrow in the future or secure a lower interest rate on a loan.听聽

鈥溾�奍 think where some people discover the errors on their credit report is when they go to get lending,鈥� says Mark Kalinowski, a Calgary-based 鈥奻inancial educator with the Credit Counselling Society. 鈥淪omeone says, 鈥楬ey, what’s this?鈥� And the person was unaware of the error or worse, a debt that’s not theirs.鈥�

While there’s not an exact science to the formula used to calculate your credit score, Kalinowski says any error can have a 鈥渂road impact鈥� on it.

Being proactive can help you stay on top of potential errors.

This would include聽checking your credit score聽monthly,聽says Western-Macfadyen,聽and requesting a full credit report at least once a year.

Major banks, such as TD and RBC, let clients check their scores for free via their apps.

You can also access your score free of charge by signing up online with , and , to name a few.

A sudden change in your credit score can alert you to retrieve your full credit report from Equifax and TransUnion, Canada鈥檚 two major credit bureaus. Canadians can access their聽full credit report online for free with and .听

鈥溾�奍f you see an error that you want to dispute, go back to the website of either Equifax or TransUnion, and you’ll see that they both have a link on their website to file a dispute,鈥� says Western-Macfadyen. 鈥淵ou’ll need to provide details about the error you see on your credit report.鈥�

Disputing an error through one of the major credit bureaus is free, so Western-Macfadyen cautions against paying for services offered by credit repair companies. 鈥娾�漌hat (credit repair companies) can do is no different than what you can do by yourself.鈥澛�

The timeline to resolve an error on your credit report depends on the severity of the case.

Minor聽errors that are “easily recognized by all parties”聽can take between 60 to 90 days to resolve, says聽Kalinowski.听

Correcting more significant errors, such as those involving fraud, can take longer.

鈥淭he minute you see something wrong, or that鈥檚 not right on your report, you have to start letting the interested parties, such as lenders, know,鈥� says Kalinowski. 鈥淭hat could be putting an alert on your credit reports, or if someone has applied for loans with different lenders聽 and didn’t get them, you should still tell those lenders that it wasn鈥檛 you.鈥澛�