Has anyone got experiences with dealing with Equifax Canada? (credit report) (1 Viewer)

I was applying for a Bank of Montreal Investor's account to do cash trading of securities, etc, and also have some stock certificates I needed to sell very short term (needed the money).

The account was declined for credit reasons (even though it was only a cash only account, no short selling or margin trading). They did come back with a reson why.

Apparently there is a car loan on my credit file that is outstanding.

Here's why this is wierd:

I'm completely blind in my right eye and have never been able to get a drivers license to DRIVE A CAR. (nor have I cosigned or purchased for anyone).

So I want to get this changed. I called Equifax which is the credit reporting company in canada, telling them I needed to change something on my report. They then told me I needed to obtain a copy of my file before I could do anything, and tried to sell me this online report I could get for $15 I think. There's another option to apply for one by mail for free, which I did, but it's taking a long time to get it. (it was over a month ago).

Is this normal to expect from them? Is there any way I could get this done faster? Will they put up a big fight/delay when it's time for me to appeal my file? I'm curious to find out what other inaccuracies there could be on my file, given this obvious one. Also, is there a FEE that I will have to pay to get them to correct this ERROR that THEY made? And what could have caused this error in the first place?

I also have 2 questions.

1. is there a place in Canada where I can sign up for one of these investment accounts to do stock trading (and one for self directed RRSP's) that doesn't check the credit file? (because obviously I'm not going to pass the credit check even though I was approved for a Gold Visa in January)

2. I still have 150 shares of my company's stock that I needed to sell then to pay for my speaker purchase I made in January (under said gold card which carries a 24% interest rate - I've never carried this kind of a balance before in my life.... Is there somewhere I can go that will just let me sell a bunch of stock here in Calgary?

Thanks.
This is really stressing me out.

Paul,

Did BMO inform you where this car loan was? If you contact the loan holder they should be able to correct the info with Equifax, and provide you with something in writing explaining that you have no debt with them. This should be sufficient for BMO.

There are a couple possibilities here. Equifax probably just posted the information to the wrong persons file. It happens from time to time. It's unlikely to be identity theft, but possible.

The only free report is the one by mail. I believe they will confirm the information with the place that posted the debt before making any changes.

Sorry, can't help you with the investment questions...

Cheers and good luck,
S.

Equifax is notorious for its inaccuracies.

TWICE I was called AT HOME by Equifax asking me for my home number because according to their database, my home number doesn't exist.

The above also happened to seeral friends of mine.

Gee, and I thought it was just me! They won't release anything to me and won't tell me why, so I reported them to the BBB. Next stop is the FTC.

Glenn

Wow, this is great, 2 more people going through the same thing as me. Well, slightly different.

Buzz, how long did it take you to get your credit report sent to you? did you pay for an online copy or order one through the mail for free? I'm still waiting for mine to come to me.

Glenn, that's not such a bad idea, I might have to report them if it comes down to it...