I stumbled across this website and found it very interesting. I have a story that I would like to share.

I took out on OSAP loan back in 95 or 96.  Unfortunately I was not able to keep up my end of the agreement and pay ontime.  Needless to say this was taken over by a collection agency. They began to call over and over again in 1997 - 1998.  I settled with Great Lakes Colelctions on 12/30/98 in the amount of $3500.  My credit rating was still shot.  I began to get calls from another agency a couple of years later about an outstanding student loan.  I explained that I had settled this with Great Lakes Collection Agency.  I was informed about another portion of the loan that I did not pay.  A little confused (and broke) I stretched this out until around 2003.  I went to get pre approved for a mortgage.  The mortgage broker told me to pay this outstanding debt and the mortgage will be approved.  So in 2003 I paid $1900 toward a second piece of the pie.  In my eyes, I was now clear and debt free. Remember, my credit rating has been shot since 1996 because of this loan and I have never been able to get a credit card or anything. I never understood why but assumed it was because of the length of time it took me to pay these off. Again, I was now clear.

So, yesterday, 9/9/2004 i receive a phone call at my office from a gentleman at Canadian Bonded Credits Limited. He told me he was sending court papers out tomorrow if I did not settle an outstanding CIBC student loan from 1996 in the amount of $1600.  And that the last activity was on 2002 when I paid $100 to shut these people up.  I knew I paid this loan. I was angry and started to raise my voice. The guy on the other end became a prick on the phone.  I told him I will call him back because I wanted to look into this.

To make a longer story short, I returned his call and informed him that I settled this loan in 1998 in the amount of $3500, and he should go and check his records.  He told me he saw that this payment was made, but it was not a settlement.  I told him that if this was not a settlement payment, why the hell would I cut a check for $3500??  I told him to check his notes. So he took his time checking the "notes" on the account (being sarcastic of course). Low and behold, he reads to me

 "hmmm. Settlement request submitted. Settlement request accepted. Settlement paid 12/30/1998..... Uh well they must have made a mistake in 1998 at Great Lakes and not closed this account. I will have to submit this to my manager and have it closed."

I was god damn frustrated and pissed off.  Since 1996 my credit has been shot because of this one blemish that should have been removed back then. And to top it off I sent them $100 2 years ago to shut them up.  I told him to fix this account and have this sh*t removed from my credit rating so I can get on with my life.  You know what he told me?  He can't help me with that. I have to call CIBC and speak with them to have this removed from my credit rating.  Is he freakin joking?  He can call me at work and threaten me for a mistake that they made, but he can't fix this for me?  Come on.  I called CIBC and they told me that they can't help me because the account does not belong to them anymore. 

My descision is that I will be calling him just as much as they have called me over the years until this is fixed.  And I want my damn $100 back from 2002.  I may also consult an attorny. 

Sorry for the long story. But I'd thought I'd share my life long nightmare.

I would like to suggest you do get a lawyer.

That is the thing about the collection and reporting process, the onus is always on the debtor to correct the mistakes on the history report. The creditor just reports whatever they want, and the debtor has to fight tooth and nail to keep them inline and reporting correctly.

The likelyhood of Mr.Canadian Bonded Credits doing anything to correct this problem is slim to none. This is despite the fact that the creditor as well as the reporting agency can be held accountable for reporting incorrect info once they become aware of it.

It is an ongoing battle to get corrections made on your report. Try working with Equifax or Transunion. In any event, you are going to need a letter stating this account has been paid. A lawyer could request the information from C-B-C and let them know at the same time you are very serious about this matter.

I am personally going for round three to correct my report. If I don't see a reasonable attempt to correct the outstanding mistakes on my report, I will be contacting a lawyer also.

There is a posting on this site about a guy who sued after being unable to get his report corrected. He won. So keep your chin up...we'll make them get their act together eventually.

Karla

So, in your opinions. should I continue to hound CBCL or contact Equifax?

Not sure where or how to start.  This just kind of caught me off guard.

Shabadoo,

You could start by doing both, continuing to hound CBCL to send you a letter that the matter is settled and contacting Equifax/Transunion to obtain a current copy of your credit history.

A current copy of your credit history is required to start a dispute process. You can do this online if you have a credit card. 

The letter from CBCL stating that the matter was settled in 1998 will come in handy when applying for credit until your credit report is corrected, as you can provide it as proof of compliance.

I think you are correct about CIBC, whereto. 

This one could be difficult as the original payment was made to another collection agency. However, if Mr. Canadian Bonded Credits can see the information on his screen, that is the information that I would be going after. That is unless Shabadoo, that you have the original receipt, in which case, you would deal directly with CIBC.

One way or another you are going to need proof of payment.

A CBCL Superviso returned my call this morning and is trying to work with me. As the loan was paid to another agency, they are finding it difficult to just close the account. Apparently the need permission from CIBC to do it. 

Thier notes do indicate that my payment was a settlement. Would any of you know a phone number or what happened to Great Lakes collection agency. This is who I paid my money to in 98. Thanks.

Update

I received a phone call on Saturday 09/11/04 from the supervisor at CBCL.  She informed me that my account is now under investigation at CIBC. Again, this account was settled in 1998.  She told me that we should know by Thursday or Friday the outcome of this investigation. I asked her why would they need an investigation when the notes on this account clearly state that I paid and settled in 98.  Well, she said unless I have a copy of the release letter (why the hell would I have kept this) they have to go through this process. And there is also a possibility that I may still have to pay the remainder if CIBC doesn't recognize it as a settled account. CIBC asked this supervisor "why did he pay $100 in 2002 if he settled the account in 1998?". My answer is that I paid this amount because I thought I was paying it to another portion of my student loan.

I am dying here because it is in the damn reports and notes on the account that I settled!!! These are CIBCs records.  I should not even be entertaining this. 

So this is where it stands. I guess I have to wait for them to repair thier screwup.

I am thinking that if this turns around and they try to make me pay it, I will just tell them to take me to court.  Any advise?  I mean it was settled and it is in the records that I settled. How could I lose this??

Here is a link for accessing the privacy and information laws...just pick your province and follow the guidelines.

http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/atip/provte.html - http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/atip/provte.html

You could try sending them a letter that just says that you are confirming that the account was closed as the result of a settlement in full and if that is not the case they should please correct your misunderstanding.

If you get no response, it's at least a negative confirmation. Better than nothing. Plus it will encourage them to get off their asses and do something. The likelihood is that they'll just forget about it if there's no immediate commission to be made, so you have to push them.

FOLLOWUP.

It is now October 13, 2004.  After calling CIBC for weeks with no updates, I received a call this morning.

They appologized to me for the 6 - 7 years of bad credit and all of this hassle.  They will immediately repair my credit bureau situation. They will also be issuing me a cheque for $800 for my troubles. All I really cared about was my credit rating.  I am thankful this was resolved. However, trying to find the correct person to talk to took me about 3 days and a billion phone calls. 

I thought I would post this to give people some hope.  Good luck everyone.

 That is awesome news, Shabba.

 I have 12 or so cases complete that are similar to yours. They all work out in the end.

 I am happy for you. Congratulations.

I don't want to be the one who pees in your champagne, but...

Get it in WRITING!!!!!!!!!!!

Poly