And... the letter sent to Equifax (also CC'd to alberta government services)

Re:

Attached is an email sent to Contact Resource Servies. It was also CC'd to you. It addresses the fraud that I have been attempting, for the past year, to have you investigate and clear up. Any information reported to you is required, by the Fair Trading Act, to be held in a repository in Canada. This, clearly, is not or the collection agency would have provided it by now and Citifinancial would not have removed their listing. As a credit reporting agency, the Fair Trading Act requires that you take reasonable care in ensuring that the information provided to you is accurate. Considering the level of trust you have with credit granters and considering how necessary ones credit rating is to functioning in this world, simply calling the collection agency and saying "is this correct", as one of your agents reported to have done, could never be considered "reasonable care". I need you to request verification.

I am afraid that I really must insist that this be done as this fraudulently reported information is preventing me from obtaining a mortgage. With the rapidly rising real estate values, this is causing financial damage to myself that is recoverable in a court of law. Every day that you delay, the cost of a home increases.

Please understand that, if it becomes necessary for me to go to the expense of filing for damages, I will not be willing to settle for merely having this entry removed.

Sincerely,

I should have proofed it before I sent it... but here's my final demand email (cc'd to the credit bureau and to Alberta Government Services).

Dear Sir:

This email is to inform you that, as I have had no success to date dealing with you amicably, I am now forced to seek resolution through legal means.

I have asked you, repeatedly, to provide me with statements and documentation of this debt that you allege that I owe. You have not only refused to either provide me with these in a timely manner or , even after I informed you that the Fair Trading Act of Alberta requires that you provide me with either the documentation I have requested or a letter stating that you cannot get it to me and why. I even told you where to go to find this information yourself. You cannot claim you didn't know. Consequently, without being able to back up your claims, you are damaging my credit rating by reporting this unverifiable information to the credit bureau.

I am also prepared to prove that the information you reported to the credit bureau was fraudulent (and different from) the alleged original debt by Citifinancial. It was for more than the outstanding balance, and, until my original complaint, you claimed my payment was made 7 months after they did.

I am also prepared to prove that the date currently reported cannot possibly be accurate. I got in the habit of keeping all of that information for 5 years when I was running my own business. That still has not changed. In fact, my recent troubles with your fraudulent assault on my credit rating have induced me to now retain records for a period of 6 years.

I am also prepared to prove further serious violations of the Fair Trading Act.

- Your office fraudulently left messages on my voice mail (that I took care to record) speaking of being from the legal department and having performed assets evaluations on me with the clear intent to intimidate me with court proceedings that, when I moved 6 months later, had still not manifested.

- Your office harassed me at work, as the receptionist can attest to, calling me repeatedly after being hung up on, also in violation of the Fair Trading Act.

- Your office also left a message with my boss after I hung up on you, stating that I needed to call you or you would be garnisheeing my wages. This is a gross violation of both the Fair Trading Act and privacy legislation... and you did so with an impartial witness that has no reason to lie.

What you fail to comprehend is that, far from being in a position of power, your office has placed itself in a position very vulnerable to being sued. You are unable to prove the information reported to the credit bureau. In fact, Citifinancial has now removed their listing from the credit bureau for the same reason... they cannot provide the requested documentation.

You are willfully and negligently misreporting information to the credit bureau while refusing to provide me with any documentation regarding this, damaging me by preventing me from obtaining a mortgage. Real estate values in Alberta are rising, rapidly, causing financial damage to myself that will be recoverable in a court of law.

Please understand that if I am forced to take the extreme measure of incurring fees filing this motion, I will not be willing the settle out of court for the simple provision of the requested "unable to obtain information" letter... or even the removal of the information from the credit bureau.

Sincerely,

Well... partial success. Citifinancial kept their word... the account is cleared out of my credit bureau. I made a point of calling the lady responsible and thanking her.

I don't imagine she gets many pleasant calls in her position.

Hey Angella,
The credit bureau must ensure that everything on your credit report is "accurate, complete, and verifiable".

Asking for the proof from the collection agency, makes them have to complete the verification part of the process.

In my humble opinion, this is what everybody should be doing with collection agencies.

This is kind of what my press release was about.

Sounds like you're into an interesting process!!

I spoke to the credit bureau and they refuse to perform any "investigation" which requires anything more than asking the collection agency "is this information correct" and hearing the word "yes" from the collection agency.

Alberta laws required they take "reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the information in their files".

They have not.

The collection agency is still "waiting for the statement from the original creditor". The original creditor will not provide it... they have informed me that it is no longer available to anyone and they are removing their listing. The collection agency is required, by law, to provide me with said information within 30 days or to inform me, in writing, that this information cannot be provided... and why. They have refused to provide this. I have given them till close of business today.

If I can get a lawyer on this, I can prove damages (ie the real estate BOOM means I cannot afford a house now whereas with less fraud on the collection agency and more care on the credit bureau I still could have) and I will go for the difference between real estate values then... as opposed to now - also higher interest on my car loan etc.

If not, it's small claims and 25k

If anyone has any precedents that they've heard of where somebody has successfully sued credit reporting agencies and/or collection agencies, it would be appreciated.