by DanielBl » Fri Aug 27, 2010 07:36:18 PM
You should be able to take care of this without a lawyer. After all, it's not a service a lawyer can perform any better than you since Equifax hasn't committed an actionable offense - though it sure is annoying. Both bureaus send out millions of "cut and paste" templated response letters to consumer complaints like the one you received.
If you genuinely don't owe the debt, get the PIPEDA file from the company they claim you owe. You'll should get back a letter stating "No record found"' or some such thing. Send that and a complaint to Consumer Protection. If they're as toothless as the Ministry as we have in Ontario, then they'll probably send you back (you guessed it) another form letter after Equifax sends them another form letter in response to the Ministry letter they've received about your grievance.
When all the pencil pushers have "form lettered" themselves out, Consumer Protection (or even yourself) can escalate it to the Provincial Registrar who licences Equifax who will, in turn, look into the documentation and make the appropriate phone call.
Conversely, if you really do owe the debt, and I suspect you do, then all of this will be a waste of time.
Credit repair guys get a lot of mileage out of parroting that everything on a credit report "must be accurate, complete and verifiable or else it must be removed within 30 days." Good Luck! The credit bureaus love that song so much they've incorporated the phrase into many of their boilerplate letters. They do so because they get deluged with 80,000,000 people thinking they can get out of a bad credit report by throwing the onus on the bureaus to prove their guilt and figuring they won't have the time or resources to back up the negative item.
But that's not the way it works. In reality, in the world of credit, you are guilty unless you can prove you're innocent. The bureaus obstinately avow the laws of credit reporting are not reverse onus, but they are.
But BEFORE taking any of the above steps, if you really don't owe the money, get in touch with the designated "PIPEDA compliance" officer of the collection agency, and keep phoning them until he/she sends you written confirmation of the debt OR calls the bureau to delete it. Collection agencies are BIG Equifax customers, while consumers are nuisances to them. Obviously, it's a lot, lot easier to proceed in this direction first IF you are telling the truth.