Understanding Your Credit Rights

It’s in your best interest to know and understand your credit rights.  Various provincial and federal acts — such as consumer protection acts, cost of credit disclosure, and human rights legislation — forbid creditors from discriminating against any applicant on various grounds including race, creed, ethnic origin, gender or marital status.

When applying for credit, be aware of discriminatory practices such as:

• Denying credit due to change in marital status
• Refusing a person credit because of the credit rating of the spouse (unless it’s a joint account)
• Not considering child and spousal support as income
• Refusing to consider a spouse’s income when a couple applies for joint credit
• Demanding financial information about a spouse when the applicant is individually creditworthy
• Terminating or revising terms for a credit transaction because of a change in the applicant’s name/marital status (as long as no change has occurred in the borrower’s willingness or ability to pay).