FILE YOUR BLODDY TAX RETURNS!

A Summary of Your Rights Protected by Provincial Credit Reporting Legislation and Federal Privacy Legislation

In Canada, provincial credit reporting legislation outlines practices that must be adopted by credit reporting agencies (CRA) to protect the rights of consumers. At the federal level, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act outlines the requirements of organizations who maintain personal information during the course of their business activities.

Provincial Legislation

Although credit reporting legislation is regulated at the provincial level, there are core requirements that are consistent with each province. These requirements are outlined below.

Access to your information is limited
Provincial credit reporting legislation outlines purposes for which it is permissible for organizations to request information from a CRA. These purposes must relate to activities such as credit decisions, employment decisions, tenancy decisions, insurance decisions, or any decision where the information serves a direct business need. CRA information can also be requested in connection with collecting a debt.

You must be told if information in your file has been used against you
Anyone who uses information from a CRA to take action against you -- such as denying an application for credit, insurance, or employment -- must tell you, and give you the name, address, and phone number of the CRA that provided the consumer report.

You can find out what is in your file
At your request, a CRA must give you the information in your file, and a list of everyone who has requested it recently.

You can dispute inaccurate information on your file
If you tell a CRA that your file contains inaccurate information, the CRA must investigate the item(s), usually within thirty (30) days. To investigate your dispute, they will contact the source of the information to verify the reporting. If the investigation does not resolve the dispute, you may add a brief statement to your file.

Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted
A CRA must remove or correct inaccurate of unverified information from its files, usually within thirty (30) days after you notify them of your dispute.

Previous inquirers must be notified of a change made to your report
If your dispute results in a change to your file, the CRA is required to send notice to anyone who received your credit file within a specified timeframe. This timeframe varies in accordance with provincial legislation, however you can request for a specific inquirer to be notified about the amendment.

Maximum reporting times are outlined for negative information
The CRA is required to remove information related to unpaid debts, judgements, and bankruptcies after a specified time. These timelines are outlined by province below.

• Adverse Information (i.e. late payments, unpaid debts/collections)
  Six Years: British Columbia, Alberta, & Nova Scotia
  Seven Years: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, & Newfoundland
• Judgement Information
  Six Years: British Columbia, Alberta, & Nova Scotia
  Seven Years: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, & Newfoundland
  Ten Years: Prince Edward Island
• Bankruptcy Information for First Time Bankrupts
  Six Years: British Columbia, Alberta, & Nova Scotia
  Seven Years: Ontario, Prince Edward Island & Newfoundland
  Fourteen Years: Saskatchewan & Manitoba
  Note: provincial credit reporting legislation outlines maximums for the reporting of individuals' first bankruptcy. There is no restriction on reporting bankruptcy information for individuals who file more than once.

Note: TransUnion's policy is to apply the maximums outlined in each province in the retention of its credit information.

More information is available
For more details on your province's legislation for credit reporting agencies, you can access the statute through each province's electronic library. The applicable name of the statute is provided below.

• British Columbia: Credit Reporting Act
• Alberta: Fair Trading Act
• Saskatchewan: Credit Reporting Agencies Act
• Manitoba: Personal Investigations Act
• Ontario: Consumer Reporting Act
• Quebec: An Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector
• Nova Scotia: Consumer Reporting Act
• Prince Edward Island: Consumer Reporting Act
• Newfoundland: Consumer Reporting Agencies Act
• Not all provinces and territories have applicable credit reporting legislation. These provinces and territories without legislation include New Brunswick, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

Federal Legislation

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) was implemented on January 1, 2001 to establish requirements for businesses that manage personal information. This statute was established to create a balance between consumers' right to protect their personal information and business' legitimate need for information. The 1996 Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information provides the backbone of the requirements of this act.

TransUnion understands the sensitivity of the information it maintains on Canadian consumers and is highly committed to ensuring that its practices ensure the security of this information.

Who is accountable for ensuring TransUnion's compliance with PIPEDA?
TransUnion has designated individuals who are responsible for maintaining an awareness of TransUnion's practices to ensure ongoing compliance with the requirements of PIPEDA. Each individual within the organization also shares the responsibility of compliance. Regular sessions are held for associates to ensure that they understand the requirements of PIPEDA and how their responsibilities impact compliance.

Should you wish to further inquire about TransUnion's practices, please forward your request to:

TransUnion of Canada
Privacy Officer
709 Main Street, Suite 201
Hamilton, ON
L8L 1A2

Note: specific requests about your credit information should be forwarded to our Consumer Relations Department. Please visit our Contacts Page .

What kind of information does TransUnion maintain?
TransUnion maintains information relevant to organizations to make a decision about your application for credit, employment, tenancy, insurance, and/or other activities where your credit history would be a relevant factor in the decision. This information would include employment history, the history of your credit card and/or loan payments, and if you have ever filed for bankruptcy or had a judgement placed against you.

How does TransUnion receive its information?
TransUnion's core business is to collect and maintain factual information about the credit and financial history of consumers. TransUnion obtains this information from numerous credit grantors, financial institutions, finance companies, federal and provincial government offices, and public registries where permitted to do so by law. Such information is assembled into credit files and provided to customers of TransUnion upon a specific request being made, typically by a credit grantor.

How long will my information be maintained by TransUnion?
For as long as your information is relevant to an organization making a decision about an application you have supplied, TransUnion will maintain it. However, provincial credit reporting legislation outlines maximum reporting lengths for information that is negative. Therefore, TransUnion will not maintain negative information on your credit file longer than what is permitted by provincial credit reporting legislation. For these maximums please refer to Provincial Legislation.

If I have never dealt with TransUnion, how do you obtain consent to report my information?
TransUnion is committed to working closely with its customers to ensure that they are obtaining the appropriate consent from Canadian consumers. As TransUnion does not often have a direct relationship with consumers in the reporting of their information, TransUnion depends on its customers to ensure that you are providing "knowledgeable" consent. For example, if you are applying for a loan at a bank part of the application will include a request to verify your credit history and report your information to a credit reporting agency (i.e. TransUnion). Once you agree to this condition, the bank with then establish a relationship with TransUnion to report your information.

How does TransUnion ensure the information it maintains is accurate?
TransUnion works closely with its customers to ensure that the information provided is accurate, complete, and up-to-date. If you question the accuracy of your information maintained by TransUnion, we will verify the information at your request.

How does TransUnion protect the personal information it maintains?
Security is an integral part of our business. We employ various levels of security checks to prevent unlawful intrusions to our databases. Some examples of the most basic protection methods we use are: multi-level password systems; private, dedicated phone lines for communications; robust firewalls and encryption protocols.

How can I contact TransUnion?

What do I do if I have a concern about the practices of TransUnion?
Our Consumer Relations Department is able to answer many of your questions. You can contact this office from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. at (800) 663-9980. If you have a specific concern that you wish to forward to the Privacy Officer, please supply it to the following address:

TransUnion of Canada
Privacy Officer
Box 338, LCD1
Hamilton, ON L8L 7W2

If you would like to learn more about the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, The Privacy Commissioner of Canada's website (www.privcom.gc.ca) provides a great deal of valuable information.