Do you do a credit check?

We may check your credit as part of assessing an application, and we always look at your income and your recent banking history. You will be asked to consent to whatever checks we run — that consent is part of the application, in plain language, and you can read it before you agree to it.

What we do not do is decide on a score alone.

Why we ask for banking rather than a score

For a two-week advance repaid out of a paycheque, the useful question is narrow: is money arriving on a schedule, how much of it survives your fixed costs, and does the repayment fit in the pay period it lands in? A credit file answers that indirectly and slowly. Your account answers it directly.

So the assessment looks at income regularity, the pattern of deposits, whether payments have been bouncing, and what you are already committed to. All credit welcome — approval is based on your income and banking history. A low score does not rule you out on its own; a discharged bankruptcy or a completed consumer proposal does not either.

The claim to be wary of

Some payday advertising promises a decision before anyone has looked at anything, or tells you approval is certain. Treat that as a warning sign rather than a feature.

A licensed Ontario lender is required to assess applications. It is also prohibited, under the Payday Loans Act, 2008 and the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, from making false or misleading representations about credit. A lender that promises you a specific outcome before it has seen a single deposit is telling you something about how it operates, and it is not something good.

We will not make that promise. What we will do is tell you quickly, and tell you why if the answer is no.

Does applying hurt my credit?

The answer depends on the type of inquiry, and the application tells you which one is being made before you consent to it. Two general points are worth knowing:

• Applying to several lenders in a short window is the thing that leaves a mark. One application does not have the effect that six do.
• A payday loan is not a credit-building product. Do not take one expecting your score to rise. If that is the goal, a secured credit card or a small credit union loan will do it for a fraction of the cost.

What we never do

We do not sell your credit data. We do not run checks you have not consented to. And we do not ask for your online banking password by phone, email or text — see Is my bank information safe? for how the bank connection actually works.