Hi all,

Well, where do I start! I am currently making a complaint against CIBC to the Ombudsamn for Banking and Investment Services after going through "a process" with CIBC's own customer care centre and CIBC's Ombudsman. First I will start with what CIBC did to me.

I was on, and had been on, Interest Relief since December 1998 and in late January/early February of 2001 CIBC posted false information, (an I5; which stands for 120 or more days behind in payments), to my Credit Bureau Report, (hence-forth CBR).

I was starting a business at this time and had purchased the computer hardware and other supplies to start my operation, but had to get a lease to purchase the software I needed to operate my business. When I applied for several leases I was declined and, subsequently, I found out that CIBC had posted the I5 to my CBR, blocking me from getting any lease for the equipment I needed to run my business. This shut my business down for 3 months while I tried to get CIBC to fix their mistake, which, they didn't do until August of 2001. And all CIBC did was send a letter stating that they had indeed found an error and fixed the problem. The agent of CIBC that sent the letter to me knew all the details of what CIBC had done to me and the great problems CIBC had caused me. No appology or anything, yet it cost me a large sum of money and subsequently other damages!

I then went to customer care to get some resolution to this fiasco and the agent there ended up stating that,

"When a client is on Interest Relief, in effect, they are not paying the loan as agreed and the government is making the interest payments on their behalf. Although this does not deem your loan as delinquent, it will be noted on your Credit Bureau that your Student Loan is being kept current by the government."

Gee, wish they had put that in the loan agreement so I realised that CIBC had the right to screw me over because I went on Interest Relief!?   I looked at my loan agreement and nowhere is this stated! 

In addition to the above statement, the same agent of CIBC said to me in a phone conversation that, "When you are on Interest Relief you don't have the resources to pay back the loan so you shouldn't be looking for other loans and starting a business." I replied that I am to be crippled because I have a student loan and that I can't be an entrepeneur and make a living to support myself and my family because of my student loan? Hummm, I guess capitalism is excluded to all except the banks. Mom never told me that! In all seriousness though, how offensive are these remarks! The thing is that it gets better.

This same agent of CIBC also stated, in her letter, that another agent had fixed my CBR and that that time period was for March to August of 2001, not the time period of Jan/early Feb 2001 I was reffering to.

Obviously unsatisfied with the remarks of the CIBC customer Care centre, I escalated the investigation to the Ombudsman of CIBC.

The CIBC Ombudsman's office reviewed the situation and they admit that, yes, indeed, CIBC had posted the I5 in error  in Jan/early Feb 2001 and didn't make the change until August 2001. This is more than 6 months after I notified CIBC about false info on my CBR. I was approved for IR in December 2000. In addition, how can I be 120 or more days behind in payments when I have been on IR since December 1998? You are allowed a maximum of 90 days to apply for IR. I was within the 90 days everytime I applied for IR making it impossible, except by CIBC's error, to be 120 or more days behind in payments! This makes CIBC's posting of an I5 to my CBR wrong. 

What is most important, is, what the CIBC Ombudsman's office's agent wrote and what the CIBC customer care centre agent wrote are contradictions, in that the CIBC customer care centre's agent states that the I5 rating was refferring to March-August 2001 and the CIBC Ombudsman's office's agent states it was for Jan\early Feb 2001. So this means CIBC admit to posting false information to my CBR; there by admitting they blocked my ability to get a lease; thereby blocking my ability to run my business! Outrageous!

Additionally, I called CIBC's National Student Loan Centre(Hitherto: CIBC's NSLC) and the agent for CIBC's NSLC informed me that,"When a client is on IR no negative comments are posted to that client's CBR." However, the CIBC customer care centre agent stated that, "When a client is on IR, in effect, they are not paying the loan as agreed and the government is making the interest payments on their behalf. Although this does not deem your loan as delinquent, it will be noted on your CBR that your loan is being kept current by the government." So, I have caught CIBC.  Which is it? Can't be both. Either you do or you don't report information to a person's CBR.

This means that this agent confirmed what I have found throughout this process, that one CIBC agent will contradict the other CIBC agent and thereby make CIBC liable for the damages they have caused me.

So what happened with the CIBC Ombudsman. Well they sent a letter with all the above statements in it and said I lacked enough evidence to prove my case. So off to the Ombudsman for Banking and Investment Services I go. I will keep you all updated as I WILL NOT LET THIS DROP! I think this is a total disregard for someone's credit and financial life. So a message to everyone; watch out because you never know if CIBC is posting garbage to your CBR, thereby screwing you.

Any thoughts or replies would be much appreciated. Letters of support I could send off to the Ombudsman for Banking and Invesment Services would be great!

Looks like court is the way to go, provided the benefits outweight the cost.  I would expect this case would be open and shut, since you have all this documentation and it would be hard for CIBC to suggest they are not liable for damages.  I guess the big question is how much do they owe you.  I'm sure Marketplace would love to hear from you - your case fits their story on credit repair.

Hi. As well as you I am thankful there are finally websites to help support the thousands of people who are getting screwed by student loans. If I would have know back in 97/98 when I started college how my financial life would turn out, I would have never attended college. I would have just got a job at a local grocery store. By now I would probably making more than I do even with a college education. I would not have 25,000 in debt that I can't pay. I have also been on interest relief since I finsihed school in 2001 and have encountered the same run around when I ask about debt reduction. The bank(CIBC) says I have to contact financial aid at my school than I call the school I attended and they say the opposite..Who do I contact then? Besides the usual run around I have recently come to learn the CIBC has yet again screwed me with my interest relief. I received a letter back in Dec stating it was due, called was refused the forms to update it because the CSR told me no those forms are computer generated your interest relief is good to April 2005. Okay fine I said, knowing how this bank operates I called 3 different times all getting the same answer, thus I believed this must be true. So over the past few months I was under the impression that I was covered as I have always been under interest relief. No letters no phone calls no nothing! Until the last week of Feb. I get a call stating my loan is deliquent and I have to pay before March 1 or it will be reported to my credit. Of course I flipped out and asked for the bank manager to call me as the CSR told me he doesn't have a #...Well I waited a few days and he never called. I call back CIBC and speak with someone different and it is logged that I didn't want to talk to a manager. So obviously they lied in their notes. So yet again I flip out and request every piece of recorded info on me from 1998 and onwards. Now I have to fill out forms for Privacy Act Etc.....Funny thing is it was about a week after I got the collection call that I requested these forms. So guess which ones showed up first...no not the interest relief application but the privacy act release of info! How convinient. Remember if I didn't pay or have those forms in by March it was to be reported. As if that isn't a set up! It will be interesting when I check my credit report.....I will hit the roof and SH** will hit the fan so to speak. I always thought it was just me with all of these problems but I see it is not!!!!

I haven't talked to you all in a while though I keep track of the news.

Let's take a look at the idiotic logic applied by CIBC in particular and student loans in general.

Now, if you have a job and I am your employer and I want to terminate you, I must have performance reviews that say I did my very best to assist you with your position before I gave up. That is employment law, pretty much everywhere. If I really hate you and don't have a case--then I must pay honking severence pay to remove you from my employ. I must DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT because if I do not--I do not have the right to put your future financial situation at risk. It is not up to YOU to document your errors as an employee!

If I go for any kind of loan THEY MUST PUT IN WRITING WHAT I OWE AND SEND ME A MONTHLY STATEMENT.

Yet...

The student loans people screw up your future financial situation, have no paperwork to back up their claim, refuse to send monthly statements and destroy your economic and employment future without risk of lawsuit.

What am I NOT getting here?

All over this site I am reading EXCUSES by different agencies that are supposed to ASSIST YOU TO IMPROVE YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION who are doing all they can to make our financial situation impossible.

I spent FIVE hours on the phone one morning being bounced from piller to post just to get someone to tell me WHO AND WHAT I OWED. I am not chasing these idiots. I am willing to pay but they have to provide documentation WHICH THEY HAVE REFUSED TO DO.

Now if I owe you $5--don't you WANT to show my the IOU I signed to prove it?

Man, I am SO baffled!

Hi Mark,

I find that absolutely incredible that the president at CIBC didn't take a serious look at the problem. I'm beginning to see that it may require some real media might to make this more meaningful. When you say the media ignored the stories have you got any examples that you could provide me with??

Another thought ...Maybe I can help.. I do have creditor contacts and know a number of people in the credit granting community in Toronto. Any suggestions? I'll email my information to you. Let me know the email address to use in contacting you.