How to Correct Errors on your Credit Report

After you get a copy of your credit report check that all information is correct including:

  • your mailing address,
  • social insurance number,
  • credit and payment history;
    • balances on accounts included in your proposal or bankruptcy should show as zero, and “included in proposal (or bankruptcy)”
  • legal proceedings (if any) and
  • the status of your bankruptcy or proposal

You can dispute any mistakes or omissions you find on your credit report by contacting the appropriate credit bureau.

When you receive your credit report the last page is usually a dispute resolution form that you can fill out and send back to the credit reporting agency.

You complete the dispute resolution form and send it back to the credit reporting agency. Complete the form as accurately as possible, stating the specifics of the error, and then send it in. You will want to wait one to two months to check your credit report again to confirm that the errors have been corrected.

We suggest that you:

  • send all correction requests by mail,
  • attach a note to the dispute resolution form requesting a written reply for your records. (On their website, Equifax says that they will send a confirmation automatically if they correct your report, but we suggest you specifically ask for confirmation); and
  • keep a copy of the updated credit reports with your insolvency documents in a safe place for future reference.

NOTE: We see two very common “errors” on credit reports after a consumer proposal:

  1. A lender sometimes reports a debt to Equifax or Trans Union as being ‘under the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act’. This does not say you have filed bankruptcy. It simply says that the procedure you filed (a consumer proposal) is governed by federal law (which happens to be the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act). It is not an error; it is simply how the debt is reported.
  2. A lender may also report your debt as ‘included in a bankruptcy’ when you have filed a proposal. Again this is an issue with the way lenders report to the credit bureau. The correct information about your procedure will appear in the legal section of your report.

If a lender reads your credit report and tells you that you filed bankruptcy, you should suggest that they read the legal section of your report which correctly shows the type of proceeding as reported by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.