Canadian business credit reports
Know who you're dealing with in Canada.
Analyst-verified credit reports on Canadian companies, for businesses in Europe and Asia that sell to them, buy from them, or extend them credit. Built in Toronto by people who have spent their careers in Canadian commercial credit.
Credit people since 2001. Every report reviewed and signed by a Credlab credit analyst, written in plain English, back in about 48 hours, priced in USD.
A Canadian counterparty is hard to read from the other side of an ocean.
We're on the same side of it as the company you're checking. We pull the records, chase the references and write it up, so you don't have to work out how Canada works.
Fragmented records
Canada has a federal registry and one for each of its ten provinces and three territories. A company can be registered in one and operate from another, and none of them tell you how it pays its suppliers.
Thin international coverage
Global databases can be sparse on private Canadian companies: a registration line, a rough revenue band, nobody who has looked at the file.
Distance, time zones and language
Quebec filings are in French. Trade references keep Toronto hours. Following up from Frankfurt or Singapore is nobody's idea of a good afternoon.
What's in a Credlab Report
Plain English. Three numbers up top. The record behind them.
Every Credlab Report is built on a fresh investigation of the company, not a cached database record, written so anyone on your team can read it, and reviewed and signed by a Credlab credit analyst before delivery.
01
A suggested credit limit
A figure to work from, with the reasoning behind it, not just a score. Written in plain English.
02
When to expect payment
The range of days the company actually pays in, from the trade references we already hold on file, the ones our analysts called and chased, and reported payment behaviour.
03
The legal record on file
Suits, judgments, liens and secured filings, collections, returned cheques and bankruptcies: how many, how much, how recent, and the details of each one.
04
A full legal-name search
Registered name, status and who is behind the company, so you know who you're dealing with and have the correct name for your invoices.
05
Stability
Years in business, ownership and the company's history.
06
An analyst's risk assessment
Written up and signed off by a Credlab credit analyst who read the whole file, not generated from a template.
Read a complete sample report →
The legal section
Bankruptcies, judgments, liens. Listed, not summarized.
Every Credlab Report on a Canadian company lists the public record on file: for each category, how many items are on file, the total amount and the date of the most recent one, and then the items themselves. A company with one old small-claims judgment doesn't read like one with six liens filed last quarter.
And the trade data we already hold.
References on file for the company go into the report before anyone has to ask, alongside the ones on the application that our analysts call and chase, and the bank verification through Plaid where the applicant consents.
- Legal suits
- Who is suing the company and for how much: filed and reported dates, plaintiff and defendant, the court and where it sits, the claim number, the reason, the case details and the current status.
- Judgments
- Civil, small claims and default judgments, plus releases and dismissals: the amount and currency, who obtained it against whom, the court and its contact details, the filing number, the reason and the status.
- Liens and secured filings
- Every filing registered against the company's assets: registration and maturity dates, principal amount, collateral, debtor and secured party, and any caution filing.
- Bankruptcies
- Petitions, proposals and discharges. Filed and discharge dates, the court and estate numbers, the trustee or receiver and their contact details, the law firm, hearing and creditor-meeting dates, and the asset value, liability value and dividends.
- Collections
- Every account placed for collection: debtor, creditor and the agency, claim date and amount, balance and amount paid, and the status, from placed for collection through partial payment, settlement, paid in full or closed uncollected.
- Returned cheques (NSF)
- How many, for how much and how recently. NSF activity appears in the overview lines of every report, alongside suits, judgments, collections and security filings.
A Credlab Report includes the records available to us from public registries and our data sources when the report is prepared. Coverage varies by jurisdiction and record type, and filings can be late, incomplete or not reported at all, so a category with nothing on file does not mean no such record exists.
Order in your afternoon. It's worked during ours.
Toronto is five to six hours behind Europe and half a day behind East Asia. A request sent at the end of your day is being worked while you sleep. Turnaround averages 48 hours.
01
Tell us who
Send the company's name and where it's based. A registration number or an address helps; it isn't required.
02
We build the file
A Credlab analyst pulls the registry records and legal filings, calls the company's trade references and chases the ones that don't answer. AI helps them assemble the file and draft the write-up.
03
An analyst reviews it
A Credlab credit analyst reads the whole file, adds their own findings, sets the recommended limit and signs the report.
04
You decide
The report lands in your inbox and in your Credlab account, where every report on that company stays on one record.
Who it's for
Anyone whose money is riding on a Canadian company.
You don't need a credit department to need this. If you have to say yes or no to a Canadian counterparty, you want someone who knows the country to have looked first.
Exporters selling to Canadian buyers
You're being asked for open-account terms by a distributor in Ontario or a retailer in British Columbia. Before you ship, know how they pay everyone else.
Importers and procurement teams
Vetting a Canadian supplier before a deposit or a long-term contract: are they who they say they are, and are they stable enough to deliver?
Credit insurers, factors and trade finance
Underwriting Canadian buyers for a policyholder or a client, with an analyst's read on the file rather than a database lookup.
Legal, advisory and due diligence
A counterparty check on a Canadian company for a transaction, a dispute or a client who's asked you to look before they leap.
Analysts + AI
A credit expert leads every file. AI is one of their tools.
A Credlab credit analyst, a professional who has spent their career in commercial credit, runs every file: pulling the records, calling and chasing the references, reading the public record and the bank verification, and writing the report. Along the way they use a set of tools, AI among them, to assemble the file, draft the write-up and score the risk. What they sign is their own work.
Think of them as the credit expert on your team, without adding headcount.
Our analyst leads. AI assists. Your credit manager decides.
- Analyst leads
- AI assists
- You decide
Everything the tools produce goes through the analyst first, except the bank analysis, which is generated with AI from the Plaid data and labelled as such. The software never presses "approve."
The Credlab workspace
Dealing with Canadian companies regularly? Keep them all in one place.
A report is usually where it starts. If Canada is a market for you rather than a one-off, the full Credlab platform runs the whole credit file, from intake and verification through reports, approval and sign-off, with a Credlab analyst working alongside your team.
- One file per company
- Every report you've ordered, every note and every decision on a Canadian customer, on one record your whole team can see.
- Online credit application
- If you extend terms to Canadian customers, send them a Credlab application. Business-name search and e-signature are built in.
- References chased by our analysts
- Their Canadian suppliers get a self-service link; the ones who don't reply get a call from a Credlab analyst in Toronto, not from you.
- Bank verification through Plaid
- With the customer's consent: account holder, balance, up to 24 months of deposits and withdrawals, NSFs. Read-only, and no statements to request.
Ready for your IT review.
Request the security white paper →Hosted in Canada
Your Credlab database lives in a Toronto datacenter.
Audit logging built in
Who changed what, when and why, on staff records and credit applications.
Role-based permissions
Order reports, view reports, private notes and outcome sending, each a separate role.
Bank verification via Plaid
Read-only, consent-based connections. The applicant's bank credentials never touch Credlab.
Credit people since 2001
We didn't come from software. We came from credit.
B2B Credit Chex started out training credit managers, then built its own investigated business credit reports as an alternative to database lookups, then the online application and portal that thousands of decisions have run through since. Credlab is that twenty-plus years of practice, rebuilt from the ground up.
We don't just provide software. We partner with your team.
- 2001
- Credit-management training for credit managers, owners and executives across Canada.
- 2004
- B2B Credit Chex Inc. and the freshly investigated business credit report.
- 2005
- The online credit application tool and 24/7 credit management portal.
- 2024
- Credlab launches: the portal rebuilt for how credit teams work now, with new features every month.
- Today
- Electrical supply, HVAC supply, Packaging manufacturers, Industrial powder coating, Medical supply, Waste management, Heavy trucking, Property management and more.
Questions we get from abroad
Which companies can you report on?
Businesses registered anywhere in Canada, in every province and territory, including private companies that rarely show up in international databases. How much is on file varies from company to company. We also produce reports on US and international companies if a file needs one.
How long does a report take?
Turnaround averages 48 hours. Toronto is five to six hours behind Central Europe and twelve to thirteen ahead of East Asia, so a request sent at the end of your day is already being worked while you sleep.
Is the report generated by AI?
A Credlab credit analyst leads every report: they pull the records, chase the references, read the public record and write it up. AI is one of the tools they use to assemble the file, draft the write-up and score the risk, and everything it produces goes through the analyst, except the bank analysis, which is generated with AI from the Plaid data and labelled as such. The analyst signs the report.
What about companies in Quebec?
Quebec filings and records are often in French; reading them is part of the job for our analysts. The report you receive is in English.
Do we need a Credlab subscription to order reports?
No. You can order reports on their own and pay per report. If you deal with Canadian companies regularly, the Credlab workspace keeps every report, application and decision on a company in one file. Ask us about it.
How do we pay, and in which currency?
Per report, priced in US dollars for customers outside Canada. Volume pricing is available for regular buyers.
Where is our information kept?
On servers in Canada, encrypted in transit and at rest. Your requests and reports are visible to your team and to Credlab's own staff.
Your first Canadian credit report, reviewed by an analyst.
Send us the company's name and where it is. We'll build the file, have a Credlab analyst review it, and get the report back to you.