"You don't want the thing ending up on the desk of Natale Law Offices or Global Credit in Markaham, Ontario before next November."

Why?

I ask because it appears that Natalie Law Office is submitting items to the credit bureaus with incorrect information (knowingly).

How to fix them is another matter.

Great timing for this discussion, as I just received a copy of my Equifax credit report last week and am seeing a conflicting entry.

Entry is with respect to an old Credit Card account. The bank lists the last transaction on the account as 03/07, however, AKTIV Capital have listed the last payment as 10/07. Interesting? Guess I’ll be digging out statements if I would like this validated.

This info is being shared so that others can see how and where discrepancies can occur. It was also interesting to take note of how many hard enquiries are listed on my file, as well as, how long those inquiries date back to – 1998 for 3 of them, and the collection agencies are typically checking my file every 6 months or so.

Also, there's only 1 collection entry in the Public Records (Active Cap), most of the other accounts are simply listed as R9 and closed by the Credit Grantor.

O.C.

This issue needs to be straightened out.

I spoke with the legal depts of both credit bureaus because many definitions of the terms they use are ambiguous to say the least. Anyone else (and that's just about everyone) who's confused about their policies should do the same.

The information drunkbeerguy gives is incorrect. It doesn't make any sense that paying off a debt will harm your credit. Conversely, it may not help it much if it's already R9, but it's not going to hurt it either. Obviously, some stuff was misreported on his credit files due to incompetent or lazy collectors and was not later corrected.

On both the TransUnion and Equifax reports, the "date of last activity" on an account doesn't change once it goes into default with original creditor as I mentioned yesterday.

However, the term may be used by Equifax somewhat ambiguously. Sometimes it refers to the date of last payment with the original creditor; other times it refers to the date of write off. The variation exists because, as long as the account remains with the original creditor, it gets included under the "trade" line section and a creditor might classify any of these actions as a "last activity." Only when the account gets sold off and goes to external collection is there a dual entry under the "collections" section of the report

But the key thing is the "date of last activity" is always supposed to refer to the date of default with the original creditor and thus remain invariant. Regretfully, this doesn't always happen because of collection agency abuses and ignorance etc. - but that's the way it's supposed to be.

For example: Suppose I have a line of credit that goes into default with BMO in 2003.

If I make a payment on it today, whether in whole or in part, that DOES NOT change the "date of last activity." And so, irregardless of whether I pay it off or not, it's going to come off the "trade" section of both of my credit reports in 2009, not 2014!

Now suppose the same BMO delinquent line of credit is later purchased by a debt buyer. In this case, the account will be also listed in the "collections" or "public records" sections of the TransUnion and Equifax reports respectively. There, the debt will have attached to it a debt buyer's reference number (usually 6 or 7 digits) which identifies the details of the debt when it was with the original creditor. It will also include the "date of last activity" on the account which doesn't change irrespective of any subsequent payments made on it.

In this case, if the same BMO line of credit which originally went into default during 2003, is bought up by a debt buyer in 2007 and I pay it off in 2008, the account is still supposed to go off my credit reports in 2009, not 2014!.

Please note: I made a small error yesterday with regard to something I told blogger "digimoose." It unfortunately occurred because Equifax has misleading info on their website policy page concerning the orderly payment of debts.(OPD). As well, information given to me in previous conversations with staff was partially incorrect. Their 3 year OPD reporting rule only applies if the original debt was less than 3 years old. If it's more than that, the 6 year limit prevails. Digimoose had a defaulted debt whose date of last activity was in 2004. I told him that if he paid it off tomorrow, the debt would come off his TransUnion Report in 2010 and his Equifax report in 2011. Thus it should also come off his Equifax report also by 2010, not 2011.

Again, it's entirely possible that once a debt is paid to a debt buyer or collection agency, they may erroneously shunt the "date of last activity" on the account forward. When that happens, you have to contact the credit bureau with the account's reference number which will yield the true "date of last activity" and thus force the bureau to make the necessary correction.

Those wishing confirmation or further details should contact

TransUnion Legal at

privacy@transunion.ca

OR

Equifax @ 1-877 323-2598

Ray

So technically, I would be hurting my credit more by paying it?

Gasket, you only have a year left before the item falls off. I would forget about it.....if you pay it, it will reset the 6 year period that it stays on your report. If you REALLY feel the need to settle this debt, go to the Credit Counselling Service of Alberta and enroll in the ODP program. Pay the item through them and it will fall off in 3 years.

http://www.creditcounselling.com/

How do I know this??? It happened to me. I went and paid all my debts thinking that they would all fall off in 3 years......since I didn't make the payments through an acredited program, I reset the 6 year period by making the last payment.

Experts? Good heavens, you gotta be kidding!!!

Even though, you now live in Alberta (where the limitation period for this kind of debt is 2 years as of March 1, 1999), since the debt occurred in Nova Scotia, the Limitations Act of Nova Scotia, Section 2(e) prevails. It has a limitation period of 6 years. As you last made a payment on the account in November, 2003, it won't be stats barred until November of 2009 in Nova Scotia. The collection agency, who now owns the debt and not Aliant, hasn't bothered to threaten you, thus far at least, since they likely regard it impractical to sue someone in another province for $1400.

The debt will be on your 2 credit reports until Nov./09, at least in principle. Note that you will probably have dual entries on the 2 bureau files; one with respect to the period of time Aliant owned it as the original creditor under the "trade" section of the reports, and another under the "collections" section, referring to the period after which Revovery bought it.

Watch out that you do nothing to renew the limitation period between now and next year in the way of providing signed or written acknowledgment of the debt. Collection agencies are always trying to trick people into providing it as debts near the end of their limitation period. Save any old invoices if you have them. You don't want the thing ending up on the desk of Natale Law Offices or Global Credit in Markaham, Ontario before next November.

Settle the debt if you wish to for moral reasons. Offer 5% to 10% for a debt that old. For credit reporting ramifications, see my last 2 posts to "digimoose." (Where do people get these names?)

Ray

Hello all,

I have been searching for advice on google and found this website, after reading a few threads it seems like there are quite a few experts, so I will see if any of you guys can help me out.

I had a residential phone hooked up through Aliant in Halifax. I moved out of the house, to another part of the country, so i let Aliant know that I wanted to close the account, but my roomates at the time would be staying and wanted to maintain the same phone number and same services. This was november 2003(date of last payment).

I recieved a letter from recoverycorp yesterday saying i now owe them 1460 dollars due to an old account with Aliantbell.

My personal cell phone has been with bell for the past 3 years so i was a little shocked that if i had a debt with bell that i never recieved a phone call. So i called Aliant, and they said they sold this debt in janurary of 2007 to a collections agency. When i called the collections agency they told me the debt was sold in april of 2004 and they just had not acted on it since then. If i do not pay this debt, when would it be wiped off my credit report? The account has been closed 4.5 years so it seems a little wrong that they would being collections now.

i have come to the conclusion that this money is probably owed to Aliant, however, being that the debt is so old and I have never seen it on either credit report, can i use the statute as a defence?

As mentioned before the debt happened in Nova scotia, and I am a resident of alberta.

Any help would be great appriciated.