hi countrygirl,

how are you? how is everything going? it been a while that you haven't been with the website. i hope you can get to post again with your concerns especially on your inquiries about collection agencies.

we want to hear from you. please do post your questions or any concerns that you want to be addressed. we have a lot of bloggers in this site that can give you advices or guides you to resolve your problem.

Keeping it on as an inquiry so as to compromise a person receiving other credit is a very unethical tactic! I'm glad you pointed that out as I had no idea why there would be an inquiry on a stats barred debt in my hard inquiry section. This is as low as redating debt :(

I have two seperate CA on mine and decided to write TU seperately on each one and send them two weeks apart. More or less I wrote "I have never applied for credit with company x, nor have I signed anything providing them consent to access my personal information. Listing them under the heading of "authorized user"is an error and is my hope that this can be rectified as soon as possible". Decided to keep mention of the law that states "only authorized companies can receiving personal credit info" for my second letter should TU not remove the inquiry after receiving my first request. I've written our provincal consumer protection office to receive something to that effect in writting so I can refer to it in the event TU does not fix the mistake after my first request.

Like mentioned before though, ive found them reasonable to deal with and they've promptly fixed a few mistakes already without giving me a hard time.

Definately will keep you posted on the results I have, and am very interested in hearing how it goes for you if you care to update once you hear back.

Thanks footloose! I really applaud you for taking this on legally. Canada really needs to govern these agencies and caselaw from lawsuits would lend tremendous precidence for others experiencing unfair practices.

Have a good day!
J

I'll

Hi Countrygirl

I'm glad that you enjoyed reading my post as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you.

In answer to your question: "Did they not remove any of the disputed inquiries?" ---- SHORT ANSWER NO! That is why I'm taking a very aggresive position with Trans-Union and I will pursue this matter vigoursly until I get complete satisfaction -- even if it means getting Trans-Union into Small Claims Court and getting a Court Order.

One thing that I have learned over the years while I had an accounting and tax practice was that businesses and companies don't want to go to court. They would rather settle the dispute out of court. WHY?

By going to court

1. It costs money especially when you get lawyers involved.
2. It costs time especially when you have to prepare for the hearing

by filing court documents, responding to court requests and
filings.
3. Small Claims Court is a public forum. By that I mean anyone can

sit in the courtroom and watch the action and sometimes the

action can be very embarrassing to businesses operating locally
or are well-known.

The reason that I am so concerned about getting collection agencies and debt buyers inquiries removed from Trans-Union's "Credit Related Inquiries" is not only is it incorrect (these are not credit related inquiries i.e. the consumer is not making an application for credit to a collection agency or a debt buyer) but it may also prevent the consumer from obtaining credit (bank loan, line of credit, mortgage, credit card) in the future.

HERES WHY

When a consumer makes an application for credit, the creditor (bank, credit union finance company, mortgage company, credit card company) will pull a credit report on the consumer. The creditor will look at several things before deciding whether to accept the application or reject it.

Here is what the creditor will look at before making a decision to accept or reject.

1. The consumer's credit score.
2. The consumer's payment pattern, That is, does the consumer

always pay on time, rated as R1 ( the best rating you can have) or

does the consumer pay late, rated as R2 to R5 depending on how

late and how often.
3. Has the consumer filed a consumer proposal, rated as R8 or has the

consumer filed for bankruptcy, rated as R9 (the worst rating you can

have).
4. The number of credit related inquiries. A large number of inquiries

over a short period of time may indicate that the consumer is

experiencing some financial problems and this could be a warning

sign to the creditor to avoid this consumer.
5. Are there any inquiries from a collection agency or a debt buyer.

THIS WILL SURELY SEND UP THE RED FLAG. The creditor will
contact the collection agency or debt buyer to determine why the
collection agency or debt buyer made an inquiry. Even if the debt
is statute-barred and does not appear on the credit report it will
probably prevent the consumer (applicant) from obtaining credit.
That is why it is absolutely imperative for all collection agency and
debt buyer inquiries be removed from the "CREDIT RELATED

INQUIRIES" of the credit report.

I hope that this has been helpful to you.

Good Luck and have a GREAT DAY.

Hi footloose

awesome info, thank you for taking the time to reply.

Your situation sounds so frustrating!! Please keep me posted as I'm very interested in how it goes. I've had very good luck over then last couple of months with having tu remove quite a few errors and old data. The inquiry section is a shade of grey, but as it does affect scores it really should be better regulated.

Transunion wrote to you that they ammended your info; did they not remove any of the disputed inquiries?

Cheers,
j

I recently received a credit report from Trans-Union and found under the heading "Credit Related Inquiries" two inquiries from collection agencies who had been assigned statute-barred debts from the original creditor. The first collection agency had been attempting to collect on this debt for over one year with no success. The original creditor then reassigned this statute-barred debt to the second collection agency.

Also on this credit report was an inquiry from a debt buyer who had purchased a statute-barred debt.

Trans-Union clearly states on it's credit report under the heading "Credit Related Inquiries" -- WHEN YOU APPLY FOR CREDIT, COMPANIES MAY REQUEST YOUR CONSENT TO ACCESS YOUR CREDIT REPORT TO ASSIST IN THEIR DECISION. EACH TIME THEY REQUEST YOUR REPORT FOR CREDIT-RELATED PURPOSES, AN INQUIRY IS LISTED ON YOUR FILE. THESE INQUIRIES WILL BE DISCLOSED TO OTHER COMPANIES VIEWING YOUR CREDIT FILE AND MAY IMPACT YOUR CREDIT SCORE.

There are basically two types of credit inquiries both with Trans-Union and Equifax. These inquiries are known as a HARD INQUIRY sometimes referred to as a HARD PULL and a SOFT INQUIRY sometimes referred to as a SOFT PULL.

Each Credit Agency has indicated and determined that a HARD INQUIRY only applies when you, the consumer,have made an application for credit either to a bank, a finance company, a mortgage company, a credit union or a credit card issuing company for the purpose of obtaining a loan, a line of credit, a mortgage or a credit card, OR to seek to increase your existing loan, line of credit, refinance your mortgage or seek to increase your existing credit card limit.

Any other inquiry made by any customer of the credit bureau for any other reason is called a SOFT INQUIRY.

Therefore, when a customer of the credit bureau requests a credit report on you, the consumer, the customer only receives the list of hard inquiries and never receives the list of soft inquiries.

This is the way it is supposed to work but like everything else errors are made either knowingly or unknowingly and that is why you should request your consumer disclosure (which show both hard and soft inquiries) at least one a year and preferrably twice a year to look for these kinds of errors.

It is my contention that collection agency and debt purchasers inquiries do not fall within the definition of a hard inquiry as I have outlined above and therefore must be shown as a soft inquiry

Now, back to my situation. After I received my credit report from Trans-Union, I went through it in great detail and prepared and completed an INVESTIGATION REQUEST FORM supplied by Trans-Union outlining the errors in my report and specifically requesting that the two inquiries from the collection agencies and the one inquiry from the debt buyer did not fit the definition of a hard inquiry and must be reported as a soft inquiry..

Approximately ten days later, I received a reply from Trans-Union in response to my request.

I will quote you the opening paragraphs to their report

Re: File Amendment and Creditor Notification of Changes

This letter is written in response to your recent request regarding the accuracy of certain information in your credit file. We have confirmed your information and based on these findings, have amended your credit file to reflect this information,

Transunion is committed to keeping your personal information accurate and up-to-date. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Enclosed with the report,Trans-Union included a supposedly updated version of my credit report. I compared it line by line with my original report and no changes had been made. The letter concluded with

Sincerely
Investigations Department

This letter was not signed nor was there a name reported. Clearly this was a preprinted form letter that they send to everyone who requests a change to their credit file.

Now here is my next course of action. I am in the process of preparing a second request form but in greater detail with extensive references to my first request and their response.

I am anticipating Trans-Union's second responce to be similar to their first response. Assuming that no changes will be made, here is my next course of action.

Here in Ontario the legislation governing credit reporting agencies is called the Credit Reporting Act R.S.O.(Revised Statutes of Ontario) 1990, CHAPTER C.33. This Act comes under the authority of the Minister of Consumer Services who in turn appoints a Director to administer this Act. The Director appoints a Registrar who is responsibile for registering credit agencies and ensuring that the credit agencies are in compliance with the Credit Reporting Act and assessing penalties to credit agencies for non-compliance.

If necessary, I will file an official complaint with the Registrar detailing my problem with Trans-Union. Under the Act, the Registrar is required to appoint an investigator who will investigate the complaint and file a report with the registrar. The Registrar will then make a decision and if necessary issue an order to Trans-Union to make any changes in my credit file.

If you are interested in pursuing your matter and after all efforts fail with the credit reporting agency file an official complaint in detail to:

The Registrar
Ministry of Consumer Services
Consumer Protection Branch
5775 Yonge Street Suite 1500
Toronto Ontario M7A 2E5
Tel: 416-326-8800 1-877-666-6545
Fax: 416-326-8665
E-mail: consumer@ontario.ca

P.S. If you are not satisfied with the Registrar's decision you can always appeal it to a tribunal. The Registrar can give you complete details if it goes far.

Your absolute last resort is to start an action against the credit reporting agency by filing a statement of claim in the Small Claims Court..

SUE THOSE BASTARDS

Good Luck and Have a Great Day

Anyone have any success having an inquiry made by a collection agency removed when the debt has already since been purged?

My understanding is that you have an agreement with the original creditor who is entitled to pull "hard" inquiries, but is the same true for a third party collection agency on an old debt?

Any tips to having one removed?