Big Changes Coming

👩🏻 Top insight to share from me, Co-Founder Weiting

Over the last 2 years, I learned about a type of company relevant in the rental industry.

Consumer Reporting Agencies

Back in March, there was a newsletter about surprising elements I learned about credit bureaus in Canada.

I asked you if you learned something new from it, and many of you told me “YES!!!”

I looked at the polling results (below) and thought: “Alright - It’s time for part 2!”

✌️ Top 2 facts about Consumer Reporting Agencies

Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) are organizations that collect, store, and share information about individuals’ credit and financial behaviour.

→ Learning #1: each province has their own consumer protection legislation that looks after credit reporting. There are strict legislation that CRAs must follow.

→ Learning #2: there’s no particular Act governing how a Credit Bureau needs to function. But, all Credit Bureaus must comply with Consumer Reporting Agency regulations.

Canada’s two most known Credit Bureaus are Equifax and TransUnion. When it comes to the rental side, you might have heard about Rentcheck Credit Bureau or Landlord Credit Bureau.

The most important thing to know is that each Credit Bureau has their own set of partners who may be “Consumer Reporting Agencies” that give them data, and that is partly why each of our credit scores may differ between these companies.

For example, Openroom is partnered with Equifax but not yet TransUnion. TransUnion is still working on how they treat rental data.

With that, a score and records within your Equifax consumer credit report vs. a TransUnion consumer credit report may differ.

Other major differences were highlighted in Volume 5 of this newsletter.

🤷🏻‍♀️ OK, what’s the big deal?

The Ministry of Public and Business Services Delivery and Procurement (MPBSDP) in Ontario has been assessing both of our Credit Reporting (Rental Debt and Rent Rewards) and Court Order Search Engine over the last year to ensure we are in compliance with the Consumer Reporting Act.

In the next couple of weeks, you’ll see some changes within the system. These changes ensure we better protect and serve you - our valued community members!

You might be impacted by the experience of our upcoming changes.

Overall, being able to work with the Ministry is extremely exciting to us.

🔮 What’s Changing Inside Openroom this upcoming July 2025?

As a reader, we promised you that you would get first access news to behind-the-scenes.

1. Precision: You will see more search parameters to verify the identity you’re searching. Over time, you’ll gain even greater control on the accuracy of your searches.
   

2. Intent: Every search tells a story, we’re helping ensure it’s purposeful. You’ll see changes that support legitimate, meaningful use.
   

3. Memory: You’ll be able to revisit and track past searches easily. This helps you stay organized and follow up when needed.

We know that some readers have been following our journey since Day 1. You’ve brought on concerns, gave us feedback, and shared ideas with us. Your voice is crucial to the work we do so keep it coming!

💜 Thank you for continuing to be part of this journey with us!

We are on a journey of transparency in the rental ecosystem. We know that you hear this mission loud and clear because you’re on it with us.

With 20K+ of you reading our newsletters every month, 13K+ watching (or laughing at) our Instagram clips, and millions of searches inside Openroom to date; we hear you loud and clear.

You’re counting on us to hold bad players in the rental ecosystem accountable - whether it irresponsible landlords or irresponsible tenants. The bad players hurt the responsible folks in the rental ecosystem and that’s not okay.

Got questions or concerns? Reply back.

I read every email and try to respond to as many as I can.

Weiting Bollu
Mom, Rental Housing Provider, Rental Housing Advocate, Educator, and Openroom Co-Founder & CEO

What does my team at Openroom do?

At Openroom, we aggregate tenancy court orders across Canada, extract information from them, and put it to public use (e.g. search registry, report rental debt, impact credit history).

We also educate about rental housing, and we advocate for a more transparent and connected rental ecosystem - working with government and industry groups to support both responsible housing providers and residents.