RBC Credit Score | Access Your Credit Score For Free Online

Your credit scores are a measurement of the likelihood that you’ll make your payments on time. Thus, creditors and borrowers often use your credit scores, in conjunction with a variety of other factors, during the approval process.

Checking and monitoring your own credit scores is a good financial habit to develop. Canadian consumers can do this via the two credit bureaus, through third-party providers, or even through their bank, like RBC. 

Does RBC Offer Free Credit Scores? 

The Royal Bank of Canada has partnered with TransUnion to offer the CreditView Dashboard to all online banking clients. The ease of access allows customers to quickly and regularly see their TransUnion credit score. The dashboard functions as a digital credit simulator and can help consumers become more familiar with checking their credit. 

Since the CreditView dashboard updates regularly, you can get a good idea of your credit score around the clock. It’s worth a note that TransUnion is only one of two credit agencies in Canada. Equifax is the second Canadian credit bureau, and your Equifax credit score will likely be different than the one you see on the TransUnion CreditView dashboard. 

How Does CreditView Work? 

The CreditView Dashboard, a product specific to TransUnion, is an educational dashboard that helps to empower consumers with information pertaining to their credit scores. Coordinating with businesses, such as RBC, this service actively engages you with your credit score. Treating it as a metric that is perpetually in flux, the simulation feature allows you to make informed credit decisions. This simulation feature is one of the biggest benefits of the service.

RBC Score Simulator 

The RBC Score Simulator is the key to unlocking the CreditView benefits. Instead of taking action first and dealing with the fallout after, the RBC simulator tool lets you play out various situations to see how they will impact your credit. You can use it an infinite number of times, and it will have no impact on your real credit scores whatsoever. Whether you use it to assess risk or plan how to improve your score, there are plenty of advantages to the service.

Benefits Of RBC’s Credit Score Option

Especially if you are an existing RBC customer, there are many benefits to taking advantage of the TransUnion CreditView Dashboard.

Free Service

Accessing your credit score via the TransUnion CreditView Dashboard is free of charge for any customer of RBC bank with access to online banking. This also includes access to the Credit Score Simulator Tool which allows you to run endless credit scenarios.

No Impact On Credit Score

Want to research potential loans without impacting your credit in the process? A simulation can be a great option. The Credit Score Simulator Tool enables you to run the scenario as hypotheticals, keeping your score optimal without sacrificing the chance to explore your options. 

Easy To Use

Relying on an intuitive interface, this program is fairly simple to use even if you aren’t particularly tech-savvy. All you have to do is log on to your online banking and navigate to that section of your Account Summary page. Once you agree to the terms, you can see the dashboard and navigate through it based on your goals.

Compare How You Stand To Other Canadians

When you look at your credit score and it says ‘good’, it can be hard to see how that applies to the big picture. Through the national score comparison tool, you can observe your credit score relative to the rest of the population. It lets you know how competitive you are as a borrower, just keep in mind that this is a broad-spectrum analysis. It’s meant to just you a general idea of how your credit compares to other Canadians.

My Score History

Tracking change over time, this information is displayed as an infographic. It uses your previous scores as points on a cartesian plane and maps its trajectory over time. You can use this to visualize success or to identify points in time where it increased or decreased. Comparing those times with your life experiences can highlight habits you may not realize are present. 

Score Simulator

This is one of the major benefits of the CreditView service. It lets you see how activities could potentially impact your credit score. Want to take out a loan? Pay down your credit card or line of credit? Planning to get ahead on bills for a few months? All these actions may impact your credit score, and it helps to know by how much beforehand. With this tool, you can make informed decisions instead of guessing potential risks. 

Additional Reading

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How To Get Your Credit Score For Free In Canada

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How To Check Your RBC Credit Score

It’s fairly simple to check your credit score on the RBC platform. If you are not an existing RBC client, then the first step is to set up an account. Those who are clients but have not yet used online banking should first establish their digital accounts. From there, it takes only five quick steps:

1. Log in to your RBC Online Banking
2. Navigate to the ‘My Services’ box located on the right side of the screen
3. Within the ‘My Services’ box, click ‘View Your Credit Score’
4. This will bring you to a legal disclaimer which you read and click ‘Continue’
5. Read through the CreditView Dashboard agreement. If you are ready to go, click ‘I Accept & Continue’

This takes you straight to the dashboard where you can delve into the world of educational articles, credit calculating tools, and information about all sorts of financial matters. 

What Is FirstReport From RBC? 

In an increasingly digital era, it becomes ever more important to monitor your credit and take measures to prevent identity fraud. RBC has partnered with a company called FirstReport that tracks your online identifiers and flags any potential issues. The system calls attention to these issues so that you can address any problems right away. It keeps you in control, acting instead as an overseer of the account that tracks any issues you may miss. Among its features are:

Online Monitoring

The first and foremost offering of this algorithm is the monitoring of your debit and credit card numbers. If you live in Canada and your card gets used overseas, it flags that concern. The same applies to the account numbers on file (both savings and chequing). Also monitoring your Social Insurance Number and driver’s license number, FirstReport aims to prevent any identity fraud through personally identifiable information. In keeping with this philosophy, it also monitors your passport number, email address, phone number, and both TransUnion and Equifax files. 

If anything unusual arises, you are promptly alerted. It could be a non-issue, for instance, you triple-payed and were later reimbursed. It could also be the efforts of online hackers, who steal an estimated $277,397 from Canadians every day. The best way to deal with these issues is prompt action, and the online monitoring feature gives you this option.  

ID restoration

If you are subject to identity fraud, there is recourse. Especially when participating in a program like RBC FirstReport, you have a trackable history. It allows the investigators to look into the matter and restore your identity to its rightful place. By keeping track of your finances, you can catch the issue earlier, making it simpler to restore your ID. 

Immediate Alerts

When an emergency strikes, you don’t want to wait until morning to tackle it. The RBC FirstReport sends you a notification immediately when it flags unusual activity. Knowing within mere moments of the issue’s presence lets you take swift action and mitigate loss. RBC, via FirstReport, offers guidance and support throughout the process to make it as straightforward as possible.

Historical Alert Scan

This is designed to offer a long-term history of your credit activity, this measurement dives into the history of your financial information. Provided the information is registered, the digital system scans for suspicious activity on the account, even if it was months or years in the past. It lets you know if there was an issue, what it was, and when it occurred. From there, you can take appropriate action.  

Final Notes 

Whether you are an RBC customer or bank elsewhere, tracking your credit score is an essential part of your credit life. The RBC partnered with trusted businesses to give you reliable, actionable credit score information. It helps consumers avoid risk to their credit while still exploring credit options.