Canadian Credit Bureaus - Phone Call to TransUnion Compliance Department - Canada

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RE: Reply from TransUnion Compliance department

Postby average_joe » Fri Apr 01, 2011 09:39:14 AM

In my opinion Tran’s Union should not be allowed to do business in Canada. I don’t like the fact they are allowed to out source our information outside Canada. It’s a good thing the majority of creditors depend on Equifax.

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Reply from TransUnion Compliance department

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:53:08 AM

I just received this email from TransUnion's compliance department.
It's still a little vague and white washed, however, it's better than nothing.

Dear Mr. Loree,

Thank you for your inquiry. This email is written in response to the email received by Trans Union of Canada, Inc. (“TransUnion”) on March 18, 2010.

We have inserted our responses below in green.

The questions I have are as follows:
Who is the privacy officer for TransUnion Canada?

* All privacy-related inquiries can be addressed in writing to the Privacy Officer at privacy@transunion.ca. The Privacy Fact Notice posted on our website (which can be found by clicking on the link to the Privacy Policy at the bottom of our home page) also provides our mailing addresses.

Does TransUnion have a media/corporate communications department that can communicate with websites such as mine to answer questions for my visitors?

Most general questions about credit reporting can be answered by referring to our website at www.transunion.ca. If a consumer has a specific question about an item on his credit report, he can he can speak with a consumer relations representative or request an investigation in writing. You will find all contact information by clicking on “Contact Us” in the top right hand corner of our home page.

With regards to your credit reports:
With relation to the "Collection Accounts: Delinquent accounts sent for recovery" section of your credit report
Who reports these items to you? Is it the collection agency or the creditor?

Items reporting in the “Collections” segment of the credit report are reported by registered collections agencies. The original creditor is also noted in the segment.

With relation to collection agencies collecting personal information about a debtor:
It is my understanding that unless there are the proper agreements in place between the Debtor --> Creditor --> Collection Agency, a collection agency cannot collect or disclose information to/from a credit bureau.
IE.. if the debtor doesn't give proper permission through agreements to the collection agency, the third party collection agency cannot disclose a collection item to a credit bureau.
Similarly, based on PIPEDA, without proper agreements in place, a collection agency cannot do an inquiry to a individuals credit.

We are not in a position to interpret the law for you. However, we do confirm that our customers are contractually bound to report information about a consumer and/or make inquiries in a manner that complies with applicable law and our agreement with them.

Yours truly,

Compliance Department

Trans Union of Canada, Inc.
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TransUnion... I'm still angry about this phone call

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 07:35:44 AM

This this phone call still makes me angry. If I will post the mp3 file in the next day or so.

I simply had a few questions for TransUnion that they could easily answered in this phone call. We can see the phone call was cut short when Ron as one of the compliance officers decided he wasn't one answer that question. They suggested that I write state privacy officer at TransUnion office, which I did. And I haven't heard back yet. That call was about a week ago.

For all the TransUnion commercials of saying Know Where You Stand, if that's what the terminology is on their commercials this phone call than really indicate a huge amount of transparency.

Maybe it was because I was calling on behalf of my company and not myself as a person, but having said that the question is still the same. So what I'm going to have to be forced to do is call up and ask the same questions as an individual and not a web site.

Having said that, in the past when I've dealt with TransUnion I've gotten much the same reply. It quickly stonewalled me and are not friendly with giving information. So I guess I'm going to have to do this in writing go through the privacy commission go through consumer protection and do the hard way. This ultimately is way more time consuming for me, and it will be very time consuming for TransUnion what I get the regulators involved.

The answer to this question would've been one or two senses and would've taken 30 seconds, but now I've written a blog post about it, I'm angry and I'm telling everybody in the website about this call.

I think it's counterproductive the TransUnion did not answer this question when I made a simple phone call to them. Now they've made a complicated, and that seems to be the way they do it. No wonder I and other people are frustrated with them.

So TransUnion, when you do your commercials, that's a know where you stand, it would be a little easier for a view and the individual if you're more transparent.
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RE: Phone Call to TransUnion Compliance Department

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 07:20:51 AM

Monty: Yes, how are you today?

TransUnion Compliance: Good. How are you?

Monty: Good. Your name is Armand?

TransUnion Compliance: Ron.

Monty: Oh, sorry. Ron. You’re in Trans Union, the compliance department there?

TransUnion Compliance: That’s correct.

Monty: Good. I just have a question for you. My name is Monty Loree. My webiste’s Canadian Money Advisor. And I’m just doing some research today on behalf of the visitors to my website. The question that I’m dealing with today is about collection agencies reporting items to Trans Union and Equifax. I noticed that in your credit reports, you have a section specifically for collection agencies or collections. Who reports that? Does the collection agency report that directly or does the creditor report that?

TransUnion Compliance: So you’re speaking to the actual section of the collections. Sorry, a credit file in regards to the collections section to the consumers?
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RE: Phone Call to TransUnion Compliance Department

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 07:20:30 AM

Monty: Yes. I have my Trans Union here and let me just see what your wording is. I don’t have any collections on here and I don’t have any collections on mine. So I don’t have any specific instance of it. But do you know what I’m talking about? There’s different sections of your credit report and one of the deals was collections. There’s inquiries, credit items, public information and there’s an area for collections. Or is it my mistake? Is it just Equifax?

TransUnion Compliance: Sir, what was that with Equifax?

Monty: I’m just asking you to verify and confirm that there is an area in your credit report that you talk about collection agencies.

TransUnion Compliance: Collection agencies?

Monty: Yes.

TransUnion Compliance: Would you be able to put your questions into writing and send it to us?
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RE: Phone Call to TransUnion Compliance Department

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 07:19:39 AM

Monty: Yes. I have my Trans Union here and let me just see what your wording is. I don’t have any collections on here and I don’t have any collections on mine. So I don’t have any specific instance of it. But do you know what I’m talking about? There’s different sections of your credit report and one of the deals was collections. There’s inquiries, credit items, public information and there’s an area for collections. Or is it my mistake? Is it just Equifax?

TransUnion Compliance: Sir, what was that with Equifax?

Monty: I’m just asking you to verify and confirm that there is an area in your credit report that you talk about collection agencies.

TransUnion Compliance: Collection agencies?

Monty: Yes.

TransUnion Compliance: Would you be able to put your questions into writing and send it to us?
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RE: Phone Call to TransUnion Compliance Department

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 07:20:13 AM

Monty: It’s a pretty easy question here.

TransUnion Compliance: Well I’d prefer to see it in writing. If you could, that would be helpful.

Monty: Okay. So on my credit report from 2005, there’s the Creditor area, Other area and it says accounts in which the exact categories are known. Then there’s the Collections Accounts – delinquent accounts and for recovery. After that there’s Banking, Reporting and Public Information. So can you verify?

TransUnion Compliance: I can’t verify anything over the phone, unfortunately. I’d have to see something in the document or something in writing. Would you be able to put your request or questions in writing?

Monty: I can, yes. Can I call you back?

TransUnion Compliance: Sure.
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Phone Call to TransUnion Compliance Department

Postby montyloree » Wed Mar 24, 2010 07:19:59 AM

Monty: Can I call you directly or do you give me a person that you want me to talk to? Or your legal department or whatever it is?

TransUnion Compliance: If you leave a contact number, I can get someone to give you a call back. Or an email address.

Monty: Sure. Who do I send this to?

TransUnion Compliance: You can send it to privacy@transunion.ca.

Monty: Does that go to you?

TransUnion Compliance: Yes. It goes to – it’s like an email bin that we monitor here.

Monty: Who’s the privacy officer for Trans Union Canada?

TransUnion Compliance: The privacy officer?

Monty: Yes.

TransUnion Compliance: She would have access to that email then. When I get your request, I’ll forward it to her.

Monty: What is her name? That’s public information, isn’t it?

TransUnion Compliance: That’s correct. Can I give you a call right back?

Monty: Sure, yes.
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