You could have $200,000 sitting in a savings account and a credit score of 580.
That is not a hypothetical. It happens all the time.
Your credit score, the number that Equifax and TransUnion calculate based on your credit report, does not know how much money you have. It does not know your income. It does not know about your TFSA, your RRSP, your chequing account, or the inheritance you received last year.
Your credit score only knows one thing: how you handle borrowed money.
That is it. That is the entire lens.
What your credit score actually tracks
It is built from five weighted factors. Payment history, which counts for roughly 35%. Credit utilization, roughly 30%. Length of credit history, 15%. Credit mix, 10%. And new inquiries, 10%. That is the full list. Your savings, your income, your investments, your net worth, none of it gets in.
But that does not mean lenders ignore your savings
Here is where most people get confused. Your credit score is not the only thing lenders look at. It is one factor in a larger evaluation. In Canada, lenders assess you across what is known as the 5 Cs of Credit: Character, Capacity, Capital, Conditions, and Collateral.
Your credit score lives inside Character. It answers the question: will this person pay it back? But Capital is a separate question entirely. Capital is your savings, your investments, your safety net. It tells the lender that if something goes wrong, a job loss, an emergency, you have resources to fall back on.
Capital does not come from the credit bureaus. It comes from your application. Lenders ask about it directly, especially for large loans like mortgages. Two people with the same credit score can get very different outcomes if one has $40,000 in savings and the other has $2,000.
So why does this matter?
Because most Canadians assume that being "good with money" and having a good credit score are the same thing. They are not. Being good with money means spending less than you earn, saving consistently, and avoiding unnecessary debt. That builds your Capital. Having a good credit score means borrowing strategically and repaying predictably. That builds your Character.
You need both. But they are different skills, measured in different ways, by different parts of the system.
A strong savings account will not help you if your credit score is too low to get through the gate. And a perfect credit score will not protect you if you have no emergency fund. Lenders look at the whole picture. The score opens the door. Capital, Capacity, and the rest determine what happens once you are inside.
The takeaway
If you have been saving diligently but ignoring your credit report, you may be in for a surprise. Check your score for free through Equifax or TransUnion. See what Character looks like on paper. And if you want to understand how all five Cs work together, not just the score, but the full picture lenders are evaluating, that is exactly what Credit Bright was built to teach.