by DanielBl » Wed Oct 13, 2010 08:14:49 PM
Well, to tell you the truth, formal disputes with credit bureaus are a bit of a challenge. I've seen people visit them in person and show the staff SIGNED by the creditor manager, original copies of account statements, only to have them ignored.
The only thing the bureaus seem to recognize is when the reporting institution or or its collection agency calls them to make a change. Consumer Protection in Ontario under Brian Pitkin (the Registrar) likely isn't any better in Alberta. Because CRS is in Ontario, it's their compliance officer and ombudsman you need to bug for a copy of their file on you.
But first, you should try to get their ombudsman to phone the credit bureaus and correct the reporting error. Same thing with CitiBank. If they are willing to do that then you need to go no further. If they won't or say they can't, you need to demand their file on you from their compliance officer which they are required to have.
Under PIPEDA they both have 30 days to reply. Unfortunately, as you've seen, a lot of these compliance officers are jokes. The ones at Total Credit Recovery, Global, and Pomer & Boccia etc will stonewall you, and so a lot of effort may be required to get retrieve the info. Same with the ombudsman at many banks.
In turn, you might have to complain to PIPEDA in Ottawa. Eventually, you will get it. The bad news it isn't going to be by Friday - or next Friday. That's one of the reasons I'm blogging on here: to get consumers to realize much of this privacy and consumer protection legislation exists only on paper; it's not enforced.
How much better if people, realizing what collection agencies are truly like, save their receipts and other documentation for 7 to10 years.
An ounce of prevention is often worth a ton of cure.