5 weeks to resolve? and you're congratulating him?

You have me scared.

An error was found on my Equifax history during a recent

credit check that shows a bill as unpaid that was paid long
ago.

A call to "Mrs. Thibodeau" of Collection Specialists Inc
in Kitchener netted me an admission that the bill had been
PAID IN FULL and that there was in fact an error in my
Equifax file.

When I asked Mrs Thibodeau to have this error corrected
quickly, I was told that it wasn't her problem and that
I had to start an "investigation" through Equifax.

Needless to say, I've been on this machine for hours trying
to get in touch with someone at Equifax. It seems that only
people that have ordered a credit report can have the privilege
of speaking to someone there. The process of obtaining one is
orchestrated to get you to pay money or opt for free snail mail
delivery (odd... since snail mail is more costly and labor intensive
to supply than web access). Anyways, I'm starting to see where
the 5 weeks is going to work into this equation.

Are these type of collection agents at all responsible for the
postings that they place on our reports? Are they totally left
unaccountable for errors that are brought to their attention when
the accounts are their responsibility?

It seems to me that the purpose of an investigation is to resolve
disputes. In the case of a typo, it would only make sense to

have the two parties involved (Equifax and Mrs. Thibodeau) work
together to get it corrected. What do they need me for? How do
I get Mrs.Thibodeau to take responsibility for her account and
stop playing with my credit?

Where's the legislation?

I already have an appointment with my MPP. Should be interesting

Hey Rick,
Congratulations!!

That's exactly the way to do it.

I'm glad you posted that, as the right example for everybody.!!

Good work!

I had my TransUnion and Equifax reports sent by mail. Both showed an account 30 days late that I know I was never late. I completed and mailed the dispute forms to both CRAs. Two weeks later, Equifax replied that they needed more information for my dispute. They seem to enjoy making it impossible for you to dispute anything. TransUnion replied about 5 weeks later apologizing for the innacuracy, saying they could not verify the late payment and removed it from my file. They sent me an updated report with the correction. I sent the letter from TransUnion and my corrected Trans Union credit file to Equifax. I included a letter with my Equifax case number that stated that TransUnion launched an investigation based solely on my dispute form and found the information on my file to be innacurate. I questioned why Equifax refused to investigate and continued to report information that another bureau could not verify. I stated that if they would not investigate that I would be forced to file a complaint with the Province of Ontario as well as seek legal advice regarding their maintaining libelous and false information about me.

Three weeks later, I received a corrected report from Equifax with apologies. Trans Union will investigate a dispute but Equifax needs a kick in the butt to get moving. Be diligent and persistent with Equifax and you will get results when incorrect information is posted on your credit file.