Equifax
Tuesday, May 13 2014

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM EQUIFAX CANADA

Customer Notice - Collection Inquiry Handling

Dear Valued Equifax Member,

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of an inquiry handling protocol change at Equifax Canada Co. Based on a recent court decision in British Columbia, inquiries (Equifax members requesting a credit report) that are posted by collection agencies and buyers of distressed debt and the related collection lines must be purged from a consumer credit file within a six (6) year time period from the date that the debt goes into arrears.

Equifax is in compliance with the inquiry purge requirement as we currently follow a three (3) year inquiry purge rule. However, in the event that the debt has been purged from the file based on the existing purge rule, but the statute of limitations of collecting on the debt has not yet expired, there may be occasion where a credit file is accessed by a member as a collection tool.

In this regard, Equifax will be amending all collection type inquiries to "soft" inquiries effective Monday May 5th 2014. Soft inquiries are displayed only to consumers and have no impact to any scoring products available through Equifax. The collection lines will continue to display to all members and consumers, as per existing protocol.

This change will be implemented in both our on-line and off-line environments, across all access methods. As we utilize a "national best practise" protocol to ensure fair reporting for all consumers, this change will be deployed across all provinces and territories.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Equifax Business Services Team via email at ncc@Equifax.com or by telephone at 1-877-227-8800.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Paul Le Fevre

 

 

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