In order for a consumer to achieve any success in the pursuit of a lawsuit, the collection agency or the credit bureau must have committed a "tort". The mere reporting of wrong, incorrect or misleading information does NOT constitute a "tort".

So what is a "tort"?

The word "tort" simply means a "wrong". A "tort" occurs when someone deliberately or through carelessness causes harm or loss to another person or their property. A "tort" is a civil law matter, that is, only the interests of the particular parties are involved. The main purpose of tort law is for the wrongdoer to compensate ( pay back ) the party who suffered a loss or injury, not to punish the party who is responsible. Much of the process of tort law involves determining who is at fault and the extent of the damage. The wrongdoer must repay the injured party. This usually means paying a sum of money.

A recent case occurred in Alberta when a Mr. Mirza Nammo, acting without legal counsel, sued TransUnion of Canada Inc. in the Federal Court in Calgary for issuing a Credit Report that contained incorrect and damaging information in response to a request by the Royal Bank. Mr. Nammo had applied for a business loan to be used in the commencement of a new trucking business only to be rejected by the bank for the unfavourable information that was reported in the Credit Report.

The complete details of this case can be found at:

http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2010/2010fc1284/2010fc1284.pdf

After reading and digesting the details of this case, you will note that the total damages awarded was $5,000 plus $1,000 for Mr. Nammo's out of pocket expenses. A paltry sum when one considers the time and effort spent by Mr. Nammo in the preparation of his case for trial.

I have reviewed similiar cases held in other jurisdictions where the case was heard in a Trial Court ( as opposed to an Appellate Court ) and without exception, if an award was made by the Trial judge, it never exceeded $5,000. This seems to be the "yardstick" by which Trial judges award damages for faulty and incorrect reporting of information by collection agencies and credit bureaus.

I trust my comments and posts will provide some reflection for your thoughts regarding the consideration of a legal challenge for inaccurate and misleading reporting of information by collection agencies and credit bureaus.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

Hey D.P.,

Re:
Am I threatening them with an empty gun, or this really has some substance?

Too bad in a situation like that, one couldn't twist it up and go have a word with the collection agencies while carrying a not-so empty gun. ;-)

O.C.

Thanks footloose,

I realize Consumer Affairs Ministries are ineffective, but what I was actually referring to by " ... seek any and all legal remedies available to me by law." is to actually file a lawsuit against collection agencies, and/or reporting agencies for violating the Fair Trading Act, Section 49. In other words, I want to punish them.To be more specific, ... would a false information placed on my credit report be a sufficient cause to make a claim, or I have to have suffered material damage to make such claim? Such as rejected credit card, loan or something?

This is really frustrating. The very moment I fix one bad entry in my reports, a new one pops up. And then, again, and again, and again. It's like a whack-a-mole game. I would spare no money and efforts to make this stop.

The short answer to your question is YES.............You are threatening any collection agency with an empty gun.

HERE LIES THE PROBLEM

It matters not what the legislation says, or how many times you quote it, or how many times you threaten collection agencies with legal action, there is no government Ministry in any jurisdiction who is prepared to step forward and ENFORCE the existing legislation.

WHY? Because the reporting of false and misleading information by either a creditor or a collection agency is NOT a priority issue for any provincial or territorial Ministry. Hence the lack of enforcement of the legislation and all creditors and collection agencies know this all too well.

A very sad situation? You bet it is. But until a consumer is prepared to spend the necessary time and effort to complain and lobby to their provincial/territorial Consumer Affairs/Protection Ministry, no action will be taken to resolve this problem.

I only personally know of one situation where the provincial Ministry got involved regarding the reporting of information by a credit bureau. That occurred in B.C. when a consumer continually and habitually complained to ConsumerProtection BC about collection agencies making inquiries on debts that were "statute-barred". After a 2 year investigation, ConsumerProtection BC ordered both Equifax and TransUnion to change their reporting practices for inquiries. Equifax complied but TransUnion did not. ConsumerProtection BC then filed a Compliance Order with the Supreme Court of BC against TransUnion which has the same effect as an Order issued by a judge of the Supreme Court. TransUnion then responded by filing a "Judicial Review" with the Court. No date has been set to hear the application for a "Judicial Review".

And so you see, the wheels of justice turn ever so slowly. In Ontario, the CBC aired a program last year in response to the thousands of complaints made against Brian Pitkin, who at that time was responsible for the licencing and legislative compliance of collection agencies. The response to the program was so overwhelming that Brian Pitman immediately took early retirement. A very clear indication of his inability to deal with the reporting practices of collection agencies.

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Educating one Consumer at a time

Hello all,

In the last few years I've been plagued by collection agencies going after a person with the same first and last name as me. They also somehow found my home address and my phone number. Completely mistaken identity. So far I've been successful in shaking them off, but what really bothers me is that every year I check my credit reports, I find erroneous entries placed on my file by these collection agencies, and then I have to go through the hassle of disputing it with Credit Reporting agencies (i.e. Equifax, Trans Union). And over and over again ... I'm pretty fed up with this.

Now, every time I send a Cease and Desist to collection agencies, I include a line :

"Hereby, you are also being notified that should any false or unsubstantiated adverse information is placed on my credit bureau reports by your agency, your agency will be in violation of the Fair Trading Act, and I will not hesitate to seek any and all legal remedies available to me by law."

This is in reference to Section 49 of the above Title, stating :

"No person may give false or misleading information to a
reporting agency. 1998 cF-1.05 s49".

Am I threatening them with an empty gun, or this really has some substance?

Any help is appreciated.