Monty, [Shabaaz] are you at it again after parking the bus?

inquiries can affect your credit file for 12 months from the date it was reported.

When you make an application for any form of credit be it a credit card, personal loan, auto loan, line of credit or a mortgage, it will be stated very clearly on the application that you are giving authorization to the credit grantor to access your credit file. This application form must be signed by you before the credit grantor can proceed with the application process.

Assuming that you are successful and have been granted the credit that you have requested, you will be given a contract explaining the terms and conditions under which you accept the granted credit. Most borrowers do not read it before signing it. The contract states very clearly that the credit grantor has the authority to assign or sell this debt to anyone at any time and by signing this contract you agree to this assignment provision. That means that the assignee or a purchaser of the debt obtains the same rights and privileges as the original creditor and can access your credit file without your express authorization.

In the case of a credit card, if you have been approved, you will receive your credit card together with a Cardholder's Agreement. This is your contract with the credit card grantor. Because you do not sign the Cardholder's Agreement, when you "activate" the card by calling a 1-800 number provided on the credit card, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions as stated in the Cardholder's Agreement including the ASSIGNS provision. If you do not agree with the provisions stated in the Cardholder's Agreement, then don't activate the card. It works the same way with a contract. If you don't agree with the provisions of the contract, then don't sign the contract.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

I have his written confirmation that my credit would be pulled by his company only, and once only for the purposes of the application. He also commented that that is one of the biggest benefits to dealing with a broker - they pull your credit and then go shopping for you, their lenders are taking his word on it - as a trained professional.

Thank you for your advice, equifax already explained how enquiries can get on your file, but I know that these are un authorized enquiries, that's not the question I'm asking, here are the questions that I'm asking in my post.

1.Don't the companies that made the enquiries have to show something with my signature??

2.And are collection agencies allowed to make enquiries on my file?

thanks - hope you can help

thanks

I am not privy to nor have i seen your mortgage application to your broker but I believe that if you still have a copy of this application or could obtain an identical copy of it, you will find that within the agreement it will refer to ASSIGNS meaning other lenders. In other words, you are giving authorization to your mortgage broker and any lenders that the broker assigns this application to make an inquiry on your file.

One of the conditions of being a member of a credit bureau is that when a member receives a credit report, they are not permitted to share that information with anyone else. A good example of how this works is the next time that you approach your bank for a loan of any kind, they will pull a credit report. If you ask to see the report, they will refuse. They may tell you that your credit score meets their criteria for a loan or question you on a collection account shown on the report or inquire about an account that shows a rating that is less than R1 or I1, but they will not give you a copy of the credit report. If they violated their agreement with the credit bureau and the credit bureau was able to determine this fact, their membership would be terminated. With no ability to pull a credit report, they, essentially would be out of business.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

I realize how enquiries on my file occur - but there are some that I know for sure that I did not authorize. For example I applied for a mortgage years ago - with a broker - HE was to enquire on my file - instead - he sent my application to about 20 lenders - and they each did an enquiry on my file. The main reason I did not shop around myself is that I didn't want several enquiries on my file, the mortgage broker assured me that he would do the enquiry - and report the information to the lenders, instead - every lender he approached did an enquiry on my file - I did not authorize this.

Whenever you make an application for credit be it a mortgage, a personal loan, an auto loan, line of credit or a credit card, you specifically authorize ( permit ) the credit grantor or their ASSIGNS ( i.e. collection agencies and debt buyers ) to access your credit file at any time for as many times as they wish.

Unfortunately, the majority of consumers ( borrowers ) never take the time to read and understand the agreement or contract that they are signing or seek legal advice. This is where the bulk of all disagreements and misunderstandings occur.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

I've written to equifax indicating that there were some enquiries on my file which I did not approve - and asked them to remove them. This was their answer

"Our members are permitted by your Province's legislation and through their contractual agreement with equifax to access consumer credit files for permissible purposes only."

Don't the companies that made the enquiries have to show something with my signature??

And are collection agencies allowed to make enquiries on my file?

thanks

Freedom