Why Are My Equifax and TransUnion Scores So Different? (And Why Every App Shows a Different Number)

Short answer: Your credit score is different on each app because each app shows one bureau's number, and Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada hold different data, use different scoring models and update on different dates. A gap of 20 to 50 points between the two bureaus is ordinary. Neither number is wrong: each is accurate to the file it was calculated from.

Why is my credit score different on each app?

Your credit score is different on each app because every app reports one bureau's score, and no two bureaus hold identical files on you. Free score apps, bank apps and the bureaus' own portals each pull from either Equifax Canada or TransUnion Canada, then display whichever scoring model that bureau licensed them. Change the source file or the model and the number changes with it, even though your actual borrowing behaviour has not.

A credit score is a three-digit number, calculated from the contents of one bureau's credit report, that estimates how likely you are to repay as agreed. A credit bureau is a company that collects and stores the account information lenders choose to send it. The report comes first and the score second, so two different reports cannot produce one number.

According to Equifax Canada, there are three reasons a person has more than one score: "not every lender and creditor reports to both credit bureaus – they may report to only one, or none at all", lenders "may report to the credit bureau or bureaus at different times", and "different credit scoring models may assign varying weight to these factors" (Equifax Canada, why you may have different credit scores). Those three causes — different data, different timing, different model — explain almost every gap Canadians see. For the mechanics of the models themselves, the five factors that set a Canadian credit score sets out the weights.

Why do Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada hold different information?

Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada hold different information because reporting to a credit bureau in Canada is voluntary, and each lender decides which bureau or bureaus to send its monthly file to. There is no rule requiring a bank, card issuer, auto lender or credit-building service to report to both. One of your cards may appear on both reports, a second only on Equifax, and a small line of credit on neither.

The practical effect is that two reports can disagree on the number of open accounts, the total limit available to you, and therefore your utilization. Credit utilization is the reported balance on your revolving accounts divided by their reported limits, and it carries about 30% of the score. If a $5,000 limit sits on your Equifax file but not your TransUnion file, the same $1,500 balance reads as 30% utilization on one report and far worse on the other.

Length of credit history, worth about 15%, moves the same way: an account opened in 2019 and reported to only one bureau makes that file five years older than the other, as of 2026. Credit mix, about 10%, can differ too — a file showing a card and an instalment loan looks better diversified than one showing only the card.

This is also why a person can be scoreable at one bureau and unscoreable at the other. A file with no reported account, or with too little history, generates no score at all rather than a low one — which is a different problem from bad credit, and one a thin credit file at one bureau explains in full.

Which is more accurate, TransUnion or Equifax?

Neither TransUnion Canada nor Equifax Canada is more accurate than the other: each score is accurate to the data that bureau holds, and the disagreement is about input, not arithmetic. The question that matters is not which is right, but which one the lender in front of you is going to pull.

TransUnion Canada states plainly that "credit scores may differ between consumer reporting agencies in Canada, such as TransUnion and Equifax", because "each agency may have slightly different information about your credit history, and different scoring models may be used to calculate your score" (TransUnion Canada, credit score). Both bureaus report on the same 300 to 900 range, so the numbers are comparable in form even when they differ in value.

There is a second accuracy question hiding inside the first: the score you see is usually not the score the lender sees. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada puts it directly — "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" (FCAC, credit report and score basics). Mortgage underwriters, card issuers and auto lenders each run their own models on the bureau file, which is why an approval can come in below or above the number in your app. For the bands lenders actually work to, what counts as a good credit score in Canada maps them by goal.

What are the four different numbers you can actually see?

Four distinct numbers circulate for one person: an Equifax Canada score, a TransUnion Canada score, a free app's score, and the score a lender calculates when it pulls your file. The table below shows where each comes from, what it costs as of 2026, and what it is for.

Number	Source file	Cost as of 2026	What it is good for
Equifax Canada score	Your Equifax file only	Free in every province	The bureau most Canadian banks, mortgage lenders and landlords pull
TransUnion Canada score	Your TransUnion file only	Free online in Quebec and Ontario as part of the Consumer Disclosure; otherwise paid	Checking the second file for errors and missing accounts
Free score app	Whichever single bureau the app licenses	Free, usually weekly or monthly refresh	Watching the direction of travel, not the exact value
The lender's score	The bureau file the lender pulls, run through the lender's own model	Not shown to you	The only one that decides an application

According to the FCAC, you can access your credit report online for free from both of Canada's main credit bureaus, Equifax offers free credit scores in all provinces, and TransUnion's free online score is "free if you live in Quebec or Ontario (as part of your Consumer Disclosure)" (FCAC, getting your credit report and credit score). That one asymmetry explains a lot of confusion: outside Quebec and Ontario, many Canadians have never seen their TransUnion number at all, so the first time they do, the gap looks like an error.

Knowing which bureau your file is thin at is the useful part, because it tells you where a new reported account would do the most work. AvenaCredit reports its credit-building tradeline to Equifax Canada only, and members who want a second reported account on that same file add a secured credit card against a refundable deposit alongside it. The section below sets out what that does and does not do.

How big a gap between Equifax and TransUnion is normal?

A gap of roughly 20 to 50 points between your Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada scores is ordinary and needs no explanation beyond different data and different models. Larger gaps are common too and not automatically an error: one account reported to a single bureau can move a thin file by far more than 50 points, because each account weighs more when there are few of them.

The gap is widest on thin files and narrowest on long, dense ones. Nine years of history across five accounts, all reported to both bureaus, usually puts the two scores within a few points of each other; eight months into a first card, they diverge wildly, because one bureau may have the card and the other nothing at all.

Look harder at a gap that appears suddenly on a file that used to agree, or at a gap in the hundreds. Both usually mean one report contains something the other does not: a collection, a late payment, a closed account still showing a balance, or an account that is not yours.

Why does my score change on a different date in each app?

Your score changes on a different date in each app because lenders send their monthly files to each bureau on their own schedule, and each app refreshes on its own cycle after that. A payment you made on the 3rd may be reported to Equifax on the 10th, to TransUnion on the 21st, and surface in your app two days after whichever one it uses.

The FCAC states that credit bureaus update your credit report at least once per month, which sets the floor for how fast anything can show up. Nothing you do today appears in any score the same day; the monthly reporting cycle is the speed limit. That single fact resolves most of the "my score went up in one app and not the other" questions — the second app is simply a few weeks behind on the same event.

Statement timing compounds it. Utilization is measured from the balance reported on the statement date, not from what you owe after you pay, so a card paid down on the 25th after a statement closed on the 20th reports the high balance that month — in both apps, on two different dates.

What should you do when the gap is large?

When the gap is large, pull both full reports and compare them line by line rather than comparing the two scores, because the scores cannot tell you what differs and the reports can. Work through it in this order.

1. Get your Equifax Canada report and your TransUnion Canada report. The FCAC advises getting it from both bureaus so that you may be able to detect problems sooner.
2. List the accounts on each. Note any account, limit or closed-account entry that appears on one report and not the other — that is usually the whole explanation.
3. Check the payment ratings. R1 to R9 codes should match on accounts that appear on both. A late mark on one report and not the other is either a reporting difference or an error.
4. Look for what should not be there: a collection you settled, a balance on a card you closed, an address you have never lived at, or an account you did not open.
5. Dispute in writing with the bureau that holds the wrong item, and with the lender that reported it. Filing with one bureau does not fix the other, because they do not share corrections.
6. Decide which bureau matters for your next application, and aim your effort there. A mortgage broker who pulls Equifax is not helped by a better TransUnion file.

Only one of these steps raises a score, and it is the dispute — removing something inaccurate. Nothing legitimate removes accurate negative information early. For the fuller comparison of what each bureau holds and who pulls which, how Equifax and TransUnion differ in Canada is the guide to read next.

What it means that AvenaCredit reports to Equifax Canada only

AvenaCredit reports its credit-building tradeline to Equifax Canada only, on every plan, which means a membership changes your Equifax file and leaves your TransUnion file as it was. That is exactly the asymmetry this article is about: if your Equifax score rises and your TransUnion score does not, the membership is working as described, not failing.

Equifax is the bureau most Canadian banks, mortgage lenders and landlords pull, which is why it is the one we report to. What we see across members' Equifax reporting is that the first tradeline appears 30 to 45 days after the first payment, and that the accounts people assume are already on file — rent, utilities, a phone plan — are usually absent from both bureaus until a reporting service files them. Members gain an average of 71 points after 12 months. That average is an Equifax average, measured on Equifax files, and it says nothing about what a member's TransUnion score will do.

If the gap you are looking at comes from having almost nothing reported anywhere, the fix is a reported account rather than a better app. Starter, at $24.99 a month, reports a $1,000 tradeline to Equifax Canada, adds balance alerts and a dashboard, and can be cancelled at any time; an optional secured card adds a second Equifax tradeline for $9.99 a month on top, against a refundable deposit of $250 to $5,000. If rent and utility reporting would help your file more, Build at $34.99 adds both, and Boost at $84.99 backdates up to two years of past rent. You can see what each plan reports and what it costs and match one to whichever file is thin.

Who should skip all of this: if both your scores are already above 760 and both reports are clean, a gap between them changes nothing you can act on, and a credit-building membership buys you very little. Check the two reports once a year for errors and leave the rest alone.

Common questions

Which credit score do mortgage lenders in Canada use?

Most Canadian mortgage lenders pull Equifax Canada, though some pull TransUnion Canada and a few pull both. The lender then runs its own model on that file, so the number in their system is rarely the number in your app. Ask the broker which bureau they pull before you spend months improving the other file.

Is a 60-point gap between Equifax and TransUnion normal?

It is common, particularly on files with few accounts. A 60-point gap usually means one bureau is missing an account, a limit or several months of history that the other holds. It is worth pulling both reports to find the difference, but a gap that size is not in itself evidence of an error.

Does checking my score in several apps hurt my credit?

No. Looking at your own score in any number of apps is a soft inquiry, visible only to you and never scored. Only a hard inquiry, created when you apply for credit and a lender pulls your file, affects the score. Checking Equifax and TransUnion on the same day costs you nothing.

Why did my score go up in one app and down in another?

Because the two apps read different bureaus on different dates. A new account can land on one report before the other, and a new account lowers the average age of accounts on the report that has it while leaving the other untouched. Within a month or two the two usually move the same way.

Will AvenaCredit raise my TransUnion score?

No. AvenaCredit reports to Equifax Canada only, so the tradeline appears on your Equifax file and your TransUnion file is unchanged. If a specific lender pulls TransUnion, you would need an account that reports there. The 71-point 12-month average is measured on Equifax reporting.

Two bureaus, two files, two update cycles: the number differs because the input does, and the only way to see why is to read both reports. If you want the scoring logic underneath all of it, how to read your Equifax report line by line shows where each item sits, and the complete guide to building credit in Canada puts the actions in order. When you know which file is thin, compare the three plans and report to the bureau that matters.