• Be wary of advertisements promising to "fix" bad credit. Credit repair companies may claim to improve consumers? poor credit ratings, but, in reality, no credit repairer has the power to change or erase accurate information in a consumer?s file.
  
  
• Watch out for companies that say they?ll "fix" bad credit for a fee?often substantial, usually payable in advance. So-called credit repair clinics say they will arrange to have negative credit information removed from your record?including information about bankruptcies and default judgments. The Consumer Reporting Act provides rules regarding how long this information may appear in a consumer report. No credit repair clinic has the authority to have negative information removed from a consumer report unless it is inaccurate, or the rule in the act requires that the information be removed.

I love these types of pages, especially from the provincial government. While it's true that "no credit repairer has the power to change or erase accurate information", credit repair companies are important as they are trained to pick out inaccuracies and places where creditors, collection agencies and credit bureaus haven't followed the law exactly. We find this all the time.

The government cautions against credit repair companies, however, they do not promote the fact that people should do credit repair themselves or how to do it themselves. Wonder why?!! Because if everybody started looking at their credit reports in Canada , it would open up a huge can of worms and work for the Consumer Affairs department.

I have seen so many inaccuracies or disputable items on credit reports that it's funny when I see these disclaimers.

Items on a credit report can be disputable for so many reasons. And... the creditor, credit bureaus collection agencies must keep accurate records of how and why they've posted items on your credit report. It is their job to verify the information posted on your credit report, not yours.

I agree that when you consent to a creditor reporting your credit history to a credit bureau, you've given them permission to do so... People need to know that the information reported to the credit bureaus on their behalf is accurate complete and verifiable... if not, it must be deleted by law.

When you look at it from that angle, most of the items on your credit report can be disputed if you don't think they're accurate. As you can imagine, with the hundreds of millions of pieces of credit information out there, this would be a night mare for the provinces Justice Department to cover.

I recommend that ALL Canadians actively order their credit reports from Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada and dispute whatever items they feel are inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable. It's your right to do so.

This is explained more in my Credit repair ebook for Canadians

I just noticed on that same page... the Ontario government does encourage you to do the following: (If they say it, it MUST be important) :)

• Check your credit files at least every one to two years to ensure the information is correct.
  
  
• Send a written request to one or both of the two major credit bureaus in Canada: Equifax Canada Inc or TransUnion Canada Inc.
  
  
• If you question an item on the file, the credit bureau will investigate on your behalf.
  
  
• If an error is found, the credit bureau must correct it. The consumer should present official receipts to the bureau when updating balances.
  
  
• The credit bureau will send copies of the updated file to credit grantors upon request.
  
  
• The credit bureau itself does not refuse loan applications.
• Financial institutions (i.e. banks and other credit grantors) follow their own systems for deciding whether or not to grant credit.
  
  
• If credit is refused, the consumer is directed to a credit bureau to review the information that contributed to the decision.