There are 2 credit bureaus in Canada: TransUnion and Equifax. They have a scoring method that takes your Credit available to you, Percentage used, and how well you pay your obligations to generate a credit score.
The higher the score, the better a credit risk you are to a lender.
So having a great credit score has the following benefits:
The insurers like CMHC have a minimum credit score they will insure. If you don’t want to have an insured mortgage, you need a much larger down payment on the property you are looking to purchase.
With a higher credit score, you are offered lower interest rates on many loans. As well, the higher the score, the stronger a bargaining position you will be in for negotiating terms of the loan.
If you have a low credit score, there are landlords who won’t rent to you. Whereas if you have a great score, most landlords will then have more confidence in renting to you.
With a higher credit score, the credit card companies may offer you cards that have more incentives and benefits.
You could qualify for better discounts or incentives with a higher credit score.