Hey Atla,
What we're trying to do is develop some precendent and boundaries between creditors, collection agencies, credit bureaus and the consumer.
Since the beginning Canadians have just assumed that the big lenders and credit card companies are right. They must be right, after all, they're huge companies and regulated by the government.

We've found this to not be so.. If you have a problem with a bank, it's like pulling teeth to fix it. If somethings not in a contract and you didn't agree to it, you've got very few places to complain to regarding federally registered banks.

As we always say, there is no law that says that people have to deal with collection agencies. This goes against conventional Canadian wisdom. People just assume that they must deal with a collection agency because they've never heard anything else.

So.. if there's no law that says you have to deal with a collection agency, why on earth would you want to, unless you agreed to it by contract. That' s an interesting question!
Well then, how do you PROVE that you have a contract in place with a creditor and/or collection agency?

Canadians who are getting hounded by collection agencies are usually not in a position to pay lawyers $150 - $200 per hour to dispute these items.

The question is then, how can a person figure out what he is required to do contractually or legislatively?

If you ask a collection agency or a credit bureau or a lender, they're not going to do anything that they don't have to do. We've been told repeated times by Equifax and TransUnion that unless something's legislated, they're not going to do it, with regards to fixing people's credit reports. Obviously they have lawyers to figure out what they do and don't have to do regulation wise.

Why shouldn't consumers do the same thing? Consumer's should figure out what they need to contractually and legislatively. That is the fair thing to do.

Atla writes.
Usually both the application, and if approved, the cardholders agreement state that they (the original creditor and/or an agent on their behalf)will communicate with the credit bureau...From my recollection they are not required to keep a copy of the original application after a certain period of time, usually several years. To play the devil's advocate here, I'm wondering if you'd be upset about this credit line being reported if it was a current account in good standing. Just seems like your trying to pretend that a bad debt didn't happen...I'm not saying that people should be penalized for life with these accounts, maybe reporting 7 years on the credit bureau is too long, but, by the same token if you have a bad debt, future creditors(at least potential ones) should have the right to review your actual credit history to determine if you are an acceptable candidate. Just as consumers should protect their rights, I believe creditors should as well, one of the ways to do so is the accurate reporting of credit lines, whether good or bad. From your reply it seems you're not disputing that these collection items were indeed accounts you had and subsequently defaulted on. I think that trying to have this removed because you believe the creditor does not have the original contract is irresponsible, and I don't know why anyone would advocate such an action unless it is indeed a fraudulent account.[/b]