How to check up on yourself and your planner

Money Digest, Sept, 2002

Want to know how lenders perceive you when you apply for credit? The service, available from Equifax Canada, is now online for a fee.

Equifax's credit reports are available free by mail. If you are in a hurry you can pay $14.95 to get it from the company's Web site, www.equifax.ca. A more detailed report that assigns you a credit score and interpretation on what it means is also available for $21.95. Each of the purchased online reports may be viewed free for 30 days.

Now, if you want to check up on a financial advisor before hiring them, start with your provincial securities commission. Most have information on their Web sites about whether an individual broker or planner is a member in good standing or if there are outstanding complaints against them or the firm they work for. You may want to review what type of business the firm is licensed to do (i.e. buy and sell only mutual funds, or buy and sell equities) and if any restrictions have been placed on the firm itself.

Another Web site to check out is the Small Investor Protection Association (www.sipa.to), which also has a list of bad brokers, impending hearings, and legal cases.