How to freeze your credit file in Canada

A fraud alert and a freeze are not the same thing

A fraud alert adds a note to your credit file asking a lender to verify your identity before extending credit. It blocks nothing by itself, and outside Ontario and Manitoba lenders are only encouraged to honour it, not legally required to.

A credit freeze is different in kind. The law bars the credit bureau from releasing your file to anyone asking for it in order to extend you new credit. Without the file, most applications simply cannot proceed - so it is the action that actually stops someone from taking out a loan, opening a credit card or signing a phone contract in your name.

Equifax calls its version a credit lock. In Canada, unlike the United States, the lock is the statutory mechanism, so do not go hunting for a difference between the two words here.

Where you can get one right now

In two provinces only - and this is where most articles get it wrong.

• Quebec - since February 2023. Ask for a gel de sécurité; on Equifax's French site the option is labelled verrouillage du dossier de crédit. You may need both terms to find it.
• Ontario - since July 1, 2026, and Ontario law makes it free.
• British Columbia - a law has passed, but the credit-freeze provisions do not take effect until August 2027. You cannot freeze your credit in BC today, whatever a list elsewhere may tell you.
• Everywhere else - no freeze yet. Ask both bureaus for a fraud alert instead, and know its limits: in Manitoba and Ontario an alert legally obliges lenders to verify your identity before extending credit; in the rest of the country they are only encouraged to.

How to ask for one

You must contact both bureaus separately. Freezing your file at one has no effect on the other, and a fraudster only needs one unfrozen file.

• Equifax - sign in to myEquifax, or phone 1-866-828-5961. Online or by phone it takes effect immediately; by mail it can take up to five business days. Placing it and removing it are both free.
• TransUnion - through ocs.transunion.ca, or phone 1-800-663-9980. Mail can take up to 30 days. Its help pages have at times said the freeze is for Quebec residents only, so if you are in Ontario and it is not offered to you, ask TransUnion directly - and freeze your Equifax file regardless.

Before you do it

• A freeze blocks you too. You will need to suspend or remove it before applying for credit, a mortgage or a long-term vehicle lease yourself.
• In Ontario, the right to temporarily suspend a freeze does not apply until July 1, 2027. Until then you may have to remove it and ask again afterwards. If you expect to apply for credit in the next few months, factor that in before freezing.
• You do not need to pay for this. Equifax also sells monitoring subscriptions, from roughly $10 to $45 a month, that include locking as one feature among many. The freeze itself is free through the help page or by phone.
• A freeze does not hide your file from everyone. Employers, landlords, insurers and lenders who have already extended you credit can still see it.
• It will not affect your credit score.
• One caveat specific to Quebec: neither Equifax nor TransUnion charges a fee today, and the freeze is free in practice. But unlike Ontario, Quebec law does not require that - it permits a reasonable fee. One more reason to go through the help page or by phone rather than a paid subscription.

If your SIN was exposed

A Social Insurance Number cannot be cancelled, and a new one is issued only in narrow circumstances, so the protection has to come from the credit file rather than from a new number. Freeze your file where you can; elsewhere, ask both bureaus for an alert, then tell Service Canada. After that, watch your own statements, because the first sign is usually an account or a credit inquiry you do not recognize.

If you are outside Quebec and Ontario, or unsure what applies where you live, phone both bureaus and ask what they offer in your province. The rules are evolving province by province: they have changed twice in the last two years.