From October 2026 it is reported to TransUnion, past payments included. A card that did not count starts counting — and it cuts both ways, which the announcement only half says.
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Wealthsimple wrote to its clients in September 2026: from October 2026, credit card activity will be reported to TransUnion, including payments already made. Three words sum up the reach of it: the card becomes visible.
What makes the news interesting is what it reveals about the situation before. A credit card that reports nothing is, from a lender's point of view, a card that does not exist. You could hold it for two years, pay every balance on time, and still be turned down for a car loan because your file showed the same thin history as before. That work was not lost; it simply was not counted.
The backdating is the concrete part. "Including previous payments" means the existing history arrives all at once rather than starting from zero in October. Someone who has held the card for a year therefore shows up with a year of standing, not a brand-new account — and account age is precisely one of the things a score rewards.
This is not the prepaid card
Wealthsimple also has a prepaid card attached to the chequing account. A prepaid card is not credit: it spends your own money, has no limit and no balance to repay, and will not be reported. The announcement covers the Visa Infinite credit cards only.
The other half
Why it can also lower your score
The email says the score "might change as it adjusts". True, and worth unpacking, because a reported account feeds three pieces of information into the calculation, not one.
Payment history. The heaviest factor. Paying on time helps, and a single thirty-day late payment leaves a mark for years. Past late payments come along with the rest: if your file has any, they become visible in October when they were not in September.
Utilization. The ratio of your balance to your limit. This is the quiet trap: a card paid in full every month can still show a high ratio, because what gets reported is the balance at statement date, not the balance after you pay. A $3,000 limit carrying $2,400 reports 80%, and 80% lowers a score even for someone who has never paid late in their life.
Age and number of accounts. One more account lowers the average age of your file — a light and temporary effect, but a real one in the weeks that follow.
So the movement over the next few weeks is not a verdict on how you manage money: it is the score recalculating with one more input. A thick file will barely move. A thin one will move a lot, in one direction or the other.
The fastest lever is not paying on time
If utilization is your problem, paying before the statement date rather than on the due date changes the number that gets reported. Same money, same punctuality, lower reported balance. It is the only adjustment that works within one cycle instead of one year.
The nuance
TransUnion, not Equifax
Canada has two credit bureaus, and they do not talk to each other. Wealthsimple names TransUnion, only TransUnion. Your card will therefore stay absent from your Equifax file.
That is not unusual: several Canadian issuers report to a single bureau. But the consequence is practical. A lender pulls sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both, and you do not get to choose. If the lender reviewing your application pulls Equifax, the work done with your Wealthsimple card does not show. That does not cancel the value of the change; it makes it partial.
One useful consequence: watching your score at a single bureau will no longer be enough to understand what moved. Both files can be obtained free of charge, directly from TransUnion and Equifax, and now is the moment to look at the TransUnion one — before October, so you have something to compare against.
Access
Who can hold this card
The news only helps those who can get the card, and the thresholds are real. Three cards have coexisted since June 2026.
Card
Cash back
Fee
Income required
Visa Infinite 1%
1%
None
The most accessible of the three
Visa Infinite +
2%
$20/month
$80,000 personal or $150,000 household
Visa Infinite Privilege
2%
$20/month
$150,000 personal, $200,000 household, $400,000 in assets or $50,000 annual spend
Checked September 17, 2026 against several agreeing secondary sources; Wealthsimple's own site is not reachable from the tool used to write these lines. The $20 a month, $240 a year, is waived if you hold $100,000 at Wealthsimple or bring in $4,000 a month by direct deposit; Quebec residents are billed annually. None of these cards charges foreign transaction fees. Confirm in the app before applying.
Look at your TransUnion file now. Before October, so you have the starting point. Without it you will not know whether the coming weeks' movement came from the card or from something else.
Turn on auto-pay. That is Wealthsimple's advice and it is good: payment history outweighs everything else. Paying from your chequing account does not count as a withdrawal under the boosted-rate promotion and its 20% cap, so the two are compatible.
Aim for a reported balance under 30% of your limit. Pay before the statement date if you have to. It is the only lever that works within one cycle.
Do not close your oldest card. Even unused, it carries your history and your total limit. Closing it shortens one and cuts the other, pushing your utilization up. Two cards cost nothing when one of them has no fee.
Do not apply for three cards this month. Every application leaves a hard inquiry on the file. Stacking them while your score is readjusting muddies the reading and weighs it down.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
From October 2026, yes. Wealthsimple told clients it will report credit card activity to TransUnion, including payments already made. Before that date the card existed but did not appear on your file, so it built no history at all, however well you paid it.
Yes, and that is the half the announcement does not spell out. A reported account brings three things into the calculation: payment history, utilization, and account age. A card sitting at 80% of its limit drags a score down even when every payment lands on time, and a past late payment that cost nothing will now cost something. Wealthsimple itself says the score may move either way.
No. Wealthsimple names TransUnion and only TransUnion. The two bureaus keep separate files, and a lender pulls sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both. Your Wealthsimple card will stay invisible on your Equifax file until that changes, which is not unusual: several Canadian issuers report to a single bureau.
You must be a Canadian resident of the age of majority, hold a Wealthsimple account, and meet an income threshold: roughly $80,000 personal or $150,000 household on the Visa Infinite+, more on the Visa Infinite Privilege. A third card, the Visa Infinite 1%, arrived in June 2026 with no annual fee and a lower rate. Those thresholds put it out of reach for most newcomers and students.
That is Wealthsimple's advice and it is sound: payment history carries more weight than anything else in a score, and a single thirty-day late payment leaves a mark for years. Auto-pay from your Wealthsimple chequing account costs nothing and does not count as a withdrawal under the boosted-rate promotion.
About $20 a month, $240 a year, billed annually to Quebec residents. The fee is waived if you hold $100,000 or more at Wealthsimple, or bring in at least $4,000 a month by direct deposit. The Visa Infinite 1% has no annual fee but a lower cash-back rate. Figures checked September 17, 2026; confirm in the app.
No, and above all not the oldest one. The average age of your accounts feeds the score: closing a card held for ten years shortens your history and can lower your score, while also cutting your total limit and so raising your utilization. Keeping both costs nothing when the bank card has no fee.
Sources and verification dates
Reporting to TransUnion from October 2026, past payments included — Wealthsimple email to clients, received September 2026. It is the primary source for this article, and it names a single bureau.
Three cards, cash-back rates and income thresholds — checked September 17, 2026 against several agreeing secondary sources. Wealthsimple's own site is not reachable from the tool used to write these lines: confirm these figures in the app before applying.
$20 a month and how the fee is waived — $100,000 in assets or $4,000 a month by direct deposit. Annual billing in Quebec. Same caveat as above.
What feeds a credit score — payment history, utilization, account age, hard inquiries. General principles of the Canadian calculation, stable and not specific to Wealthsimple.
Balance reported at statement date rather than after payment — standard practice among Canadian issuers. Your statement gives the exact date.
Prepaid card not reported — a prepaid card is not credit and has nothing to report. Separate from this announcement.
$10 by Interac e-Transfer — offered by ws-referral.ca, conditional on the claim form. Independent of Wealthsimple and of its card.
Exclusive offer · $35 total
The card needs a Wealthsimple account first
Code LOIO3A: $25 Wealthsimple bonus + $10 by Interac e-Transfer after the claim form = $35 total. The code goes in when you open the account; the card application comes after.