Borrowell review
A genuinely free weekly Equifax score and report wrapped in friendly monitoring and credit-building tools — strong on the free core, just be clear-eyed that it shows one bureau only and nudges you toward paid add-ons.
Best for: Anyone who wants a genuinely free weekly Equifax score, plus optional credit-building tools.
Pros
- Genuinely free weekly Equifax credit score and report — no trial, no card required
- Pulling your score is a soft inquiry, so checking it never affects your score
- Useful free credit monitoring with change alerts and an AI "credit coach" (Molly)
- Rent Advantage can report rent to Equifax to help build a thin credit file
- Broad free product marketplace for loans, cards, mortgages and bank accounts
Cons
- Shows Equifax data only — no TransUnion, so it misses half the bureau picture
- The educational Equifax score can differ from the FICO score a lender actually pulls
- Paid upsells (Rent Advantage ~$10/mo, Boost) feel prominent in the experience
- The marketplace is a referral broker, not a lender — Borrowell does not fund loans
What Borrowell actually is
The first thing to get straight is that Borrowell is not a lender. It is a Toronto-based fintech, founded in 2014 by Andrew Graham and Eva Wong, that launched free credit scores in Canada in 2016. At its heart it is a free credit-score service: you create an account and get ongoing access to your Equifax score and report. Bolted onto that is a product marketplace that matches you to partner loans, credit cards, mortgages and bank accounts.
Because the headline product is information rather than a loan, this is a service review, not a loan review. Borrowell says it has over 4 million members (as of June 2026), which makes it one of the more established names in the Canadian credit-monitoring space. Think of it as a free dashboard for your credit, with a built-in shopping aisle for financial products — not a place that actually hands you money.
The free credit score and report
This is Borrowell's strongest feature, and it is genuinely free. You get a free Equifax credit score and report, updated weekly, at no cost. Pulling your score this way is a soft inquiry, which does not affect your score — so you can check it as often as you like without any downside. To verify your identity and match you to the right Equifax file, Borrowell asks for your SIN; that is a standard part of identity verification for a credit-score service, not unique to Borrowell.
On top of the raw number, Borrowell layers free credit monitoring with change alerts, plus an AI "credit coach" named Molly that offers personalized tips and flags issues such as a missed payment or high credit utilization. A small paid add-on ("Boost", around $4.99/month — confirm current pricing) adds bill-payment reminders on top. The paid pieces are à la carte rather than one bundled "premium" tier, so you only pay for what you choose. For the bigger picture on where to check your numbers, see our guides on the free credit score and the free credit report.
Rent Advantage: building credit with rent
Rent Advantage is Borrowell's optional paid rent-reporting feature. It reports your monthly rent payments to Equifax to help you build credit — and notably, it does this without needing your landlord's approval, which is the usual sticking point with rent reporting. Pricing is around $10/month, with a one-time option (around $99) to report up to 24 months of past rent so you can establish history faster. Prices change, so treat those as ballpark figures and confirm the current cost at borrowell.com.
Who is it for? Rent reporting is most valuable if you have a thin or short credit file — newcomers to Canada, younger renters, or anyone rebuilding — where a record of on-time rent can add positive history. Just keep the limits in mind: it reports to Equifax only (not TransUnion), and scoring models and lenders do not all weigh rent data the same way. It is a credit-building tool, not a guaranteed score jump.
The loan & product marketplace (how Borrowell makes money)
The free score has to be paid for somehow, and the marketplace is the main answer. Borrowell matches you to partner products — personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, bank accounts and insurance — based on your profile. When you are approved for one of those products, the partner pays Borrowell a referral fee. Crucially, it is free to you: you do not pay extra for being matched through Borrowell, and the fee comes from the partner's side.
The important framing here is that Borrowell is a broker, not the lender. It surfaces offers and routes you to the institution that actually issues the loan or card; it does not underwrite or fund anything itself. That is a perfectly normal model — but it means the offers you see are partners who pay to be there, so it pays to compare them against the wider field. For personal loans specifically, cross-check what you are shown against our independent best personal loans ranking before you apply.
Where it falls short
Being fair to a free product still means being honest about its limits, and Borrowell has a few worth knowing before you lean on it:
- Equifax only — no TransUnion. Borrowell shows one of Canada's two bureaus. Since a lender might pull either, pair it with a free TransUnion source so you can watch both bureaus rather than half the picture.
- The educational score can differ from a lender's FICO. The Equifax score Borrowell shows is an educational score; the FICO score a lender actually pulls when you apply can differ, so treat the number as a directional guide, not the exact figure underwriters see.
- It is a referral broker, not a direct lender. The marketplace shows paying partners and routes you to them — it does not fund loans itself, so it is one input into shopping around, not the whole market.
- The paid upsells can feel prominent. Some users find the prompts for Rent Advantage (~$10/mo) and Boost fairly front-and-centre. The free core stays free, but it is easy to feel nudged toward the paid add-ons.
Check your free score at Borrowell
Free weekly Equifax score and report — a soft inquiry, so checking never affects your credit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Borrowell really free?
The core product is genuinely free: a free Equifax credit score and report, updated weekly, with free credit monitoring and alerts, at no cost and with no credit card required. Borrowell makes its money two other ways — referral fees from partner products in its marketplace (paid by the partner when you are approved, not by you) and optional paid add-ons such as Rent Advantage rent reporting (around $10/month) and the Boost reminders add-on (around $4.99/month — confirm current pricing). So the credit-score core is free; only the extra credit-building tools cost money.
Which credit bureau does Borrowell use?
Borrowell uses Equifax. Your free weekly score and report both come from Equifax, and its Rent Advantage feature reports your rent payments to Equifax as well. Canada has two main credit bureaus — Equifax and TransUnion — and Borrowell does not show your TransUnion data. Because a lender might pull either bureau, it is worth pairing Borrowell with a free TransUnion source so you can watch both. See our guides on the free credit score and the free credit report for where to check each bureau.
Is Borrowell safe, and is it safe to give my SIN?
Borrowell is an established Toronto fintech founded in 2014, and Borrowell says it has over 4 million members as of June 2026. Like other credit-score services in Canada, it asks for your Social Insurance Number to verify your identity and match you to the right Equifax file — that is a standard part of the identity-verification process, not a red flag on its own. As always with any financial service, use a strong unique password and review what you are agreeing to. Checking your score through Borrowell is a soft inquiry, so it does not affect your credit.
Does checking my score on Borrowell hurt it?
No. Checking your own score through Borrowell is a soft inquiry (sometimes called a soft pull), which does not affect your credit score and is not visible to lenders as a hard application. That is true no matter how often you check — and because Borrowell updates the score weekly, you can monitor it regularly without any impact. Hard inquiries, which can ding your score slightly, only happen when you actually apply for credit and a lender pulls your file.
Does Borrowell’s rent reporting actually build credit?
Borrowell’s Rent Advantage is an optional paid feature (around $10/month, plus a one-time option around $99 to report up to 24 months of past rent) that reports your rent payments to Equifax — without needing your landlord’s approval. Reporting on-time rent can help build an Equifax credit history, which is most useful if you have a thin or short credit file. Two caveats: it reports to Equifax only (not TransUnion), and not every lender or scoring model weighs rent data the same way, so treat it as one credit-building tool rather than a guaranteed score boost. Confirm current pricing at borrowell.com.
Is Borrowell a lender?
No. Borrowell is not a lender. It is primarily a free credit-score service that also runs a product marketplace, where it acts as a broker matching you to partner products such as personal loans, credit cards, mortgages and bank accounts. Partners pay Borrowell a referral fee when you are approved, which is how the marketplace stays free to you. The actual loan or card is issued by the partner lender or institution, not by Borrowell. If you are shopping for a personal loan, compare options on our best personal loans guide.
General information, not financial advice. Borrowell's features and pricing change without notice — confirm the current details at borrowell.com before acting. Borrowell is a marketing partner to lenders and other institutions, earning referral fees when you are approved for a product in its marketplace; that does not change what we say here, and our editorial view is never paid for. The Equifax score Borrowell shows is educational and may differ from a lender's FICO score.