Canadian Credit Bureaus and Bankruptcy

NEWS FLASH -  Protection for Ontario residents effective January 1, 2008

• Request a FREE copy of your Credit Report.

• The FICO® score

• The Credit Bureau's policy regarding reporting on Bankruptcies, Consumer Proposals and Credit Counselling.

• Credit Reporting Acts Protect Several Rights of Consumers

Credit reporting agencies or credit bureaus, collect information about consumers' financial affairs and sell that information to their business members, such as credit grantors, employers and insurance companies.  The credit bureaus charge annual fees as well as a fee for each credit report requested by members.

In Canada, there are three major credit bureaus: Equifax Canada, NCB Inc. and TransUnion Canada

Most national and international creditors, such as banks and department stores, are registered with all bureaus, so the chances are good that whatever shows up on one credit report will also appear on the others. This  makes it simple for you to check your history. You really need to check only one bureau's records.
 
   

 1. Consumers supply information, primarily from filling out application forms for credit.

 2. Public records provide information on such matters as bankruptcies, Court judgements, foreclosures and agreements registered with Provincial authorities.

 3. The major credit grantors and collection agencies send their credit files electronically to the credit bureau every month, resulting in files that include the account number, outstanding balance, and a nine point scale indicating whether a payment was made on time or late.

  R0    Too new to rate; approved but not used.
  R1     Pays (or paid) within 30 days of billing; pays account as agreed.
  R2     Pays (or paid) in more than 30 days, but not more than 60 days, or one payment past due.
  R3     Pays (or paid) in more than 60 days, but not more than 90 days, or two payments past due.
  R4     Pays (or paid) in more than 90 days, but not more than 120 days, or three or more payments   past due.
  R5     Account is at least 120 days overdue, but is not yet rated 9.
  R6    (Code 6 does not exist.)
  R7     Making regular payments under a consolidation order or similar arrangement.
  R8     Repossession (indicate if it is a voluntary return of merchandise by the consumer).
  R9     Bad debt; placed for collection; skip.

VOLUNTARY DEPOSIT - ORDERLY PAYMENT OF DEBTS, CREDIT COUNSELING: When voluntary deposit OPD credit counseling is paid, it will automatically purge from the system three (3) years from the date paid.

REGISTERED CONSUMER PROPOSAL: When a registered consumer proposal is paid, it will automatically purge three (3) years from the date paid.

BANKRUPTCY: A bankruptcy automatically purges six (6) years from the date of discharge in the case of a single bankruptcy. If the consumer declares several bankruptcies, the system will keep each bankruptcy for fourteen (14) years from the date of each discharge. All accounts included in a bankruptcy remain on file indicating included in bankruptcy and will purge six (6) years from the date of last activity.
 

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A comprehensive explanation from Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Protection for Ontario residents effective January 1, 2008 (See Bill 152).

Effective January 1, 2008 a consumer will be able to require a consumer reporting agency to include an alert in the consumer’s file warning persons to verify the identity of any person purporting to be the consumer.  The consumer reporting agency will be required to give the alert to every person to whom information from the file is disclosed.  If a person receives an alert in connection with certain transactions, the person who received the alert will be required to take reasonable steps to verify that the person involved in the transaction is the consumer.

If a consurmer wants this protection he or she is required to advise the credit bureau.

Equifax has advised that if a consumer requests the alert notification they will post the following in the Consumer Statement segment:

**** WARNING ****ALERT TO VERIFY CONSUMER'S IDENTITY - PLEASE CONTACT CONSUMER AT (000) - 000-0000 BEFORE EXTENDING CREDIT