I then suggest that the person contact Consumer Protection in their province to give them the actual details.
I'm very excited to help answer some of our visitors questions regarding credit issues etc. The problem I run into is that when we're talking about credit reports such as Equifax and TransUnion, the items reported can come from all directions.
WHO REPORTS TO EQUIFAX AND TRANSUNION?
- The ones that come directly to mind are:
- Credit Card Companies
- Mortgage Companies
- Auto Loan Companies
- PayDay Loan companies
- Banks
- Credit Unions
- Collection Agencies
The entities who report to Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada that you wouldn't normally think of are:
- Federal Government
- Provincial Government
- Municipal Government
- Cell Phone companies
- Phone companies
- Landlords
- Gas and electrical companies
- Retail stores
- Car rental companies
- Many many more...
ANY company with whom you do business, where you get credit in any fashion and you give permission in writing to collect or disclose your credit information to Equifax and TransUnion, might report your credit to these Canadian credit bureaus.
SOME OF THE BAD SITUATIONS THAT YOU MAY RUN INTO.
Along with not making your payments, if you're really in a bad situation, the you may decide to do the following to relieve your financial situation:
- Declare Bankruptcy
- Do debt settlement - negotiation of debt
- Consumer Proposal
- Orderly payment of debt
- You decide not to pay which leads to law suits.
Above I've described 21 different entities or reasons that will report to your credit bureaus.
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT REGULATE ALL OF THE ABOVE
The complexity arises when the creditors, collection agencies etc all have different regulators and most have different Acts regulations.
Let me name a few of the acts that regulate your credit in Canada.
- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act - deals with Bankruptcy and consumer proposals.
- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - Bank Act - Regulates the Canadian Banks
- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - Trust and Loan Companies Act
- PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT - Collection Agencies Act (Name differs by province) - Regulates collection agencies - Each province is different
- PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT - (Searching for payday loan act)
- PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT - The Credit Union Act - Regulates Credit Unions which are different than banks.
- PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT - Credit Reporting Act - Regulates credit bureaus such as Equifax and TransUnion
IT'S EXTREMELY HARD TO DIAGNOSE A PROBLEM ON A FORUM LIKE THIS UNLESS YOU'RE VERY DETAILED IN YOUR EXPLANATION.
With all of the players listed above, you can see that it's very difficult for me to explain all of the parties to complain to.
As I've always maintained, when you're paying your bills on time, there is nothing to worry about as far as provincial and federal regulations kicking in. But as soon as you miss a payment the alarm bells go off and different regulations come into affect.
EXAMPLE:
You have a credit card that is issued a bank. For what ever reason you can't make payments on your card and the account goes into collections. The bank decides to sue you in provincial court. You decide that you need some help so you declare bankruptcy. Meanwhile, these items have been reported to your Equifax and TransUnion credit bureaus.
In this highly simplified case there are the following entities that come into play:
- The Bank - Regulated Federally
- The Collection Agency - Regulated Provincially
- Your Bankruptcy - Regulated Federally
- Provincial Court - Regulated Provincially
- Credit Bureaus - Regulated Provincially
It gets even more complex when the collection agencies and credit bureaus are regulated provincially: 10 provinces each have different regulations for credit bureaus and collection agencies.
I hope that this long draw out illustration will help illustrate the complexity of what happens when you get involved in credit contracts in Canada. It's really easy to understand while you're making your payments on time. It's very difficult to understand if you default on a payment with your creditors in Canada.
