Equifax - is it legitimate?!?

[ericschand]

So I go to a bunch of banks and a broker looking for a HELOC.

All come back with the same thing. My credit score is blank.
As in no score. They've only seen this on people who are new
to the country.

Considering I have a 10 year old mortgage, I'm not new I tell them.

But, alas, they won't give me the line of credit.
They all suggest I talk with Equifax.

So, I phone Equifax. They say they won't talk to me until I pay
$24 online and open an account. So, I go and do it. (Although I
don't understand why I should have to pay for them to fix their
mistake)

I try to buy it online, but it rejects my credit card. The same card I
use everyday to pay for parking and other stuff. The same card
I just used today.

I phone their help line.

The guy now says to fax him a copy of my credit card, SIN card, drivers
license, and a cover letter stating my SIN number, birthdate and
that I want a credit report.

Wait a sec...now alarms are going off. Everything they have asked for
suggests identity theft. So, I should just send all this info to this
company called "Equifax" and trust nothing bad will happen?!?
The whole thing just stinks of scam.

Anyone got any other suggestions on how to fix my predicament?

ers

[ricosuave]

they are legit.

you can write them and they will provide you a copy of your credit report for free, its only if you want it today that there is a charge.

there is another outfit who does the same thing, but i cant remember the name.

[ben voyonsdonc]

The other is called Trans Union...

[Willi Plett]

Originally Posted by ricosuave

they are legit.

you can write them and they will provide you a copy of your credit report for free, its only if you want it today that there is a charge.

there is another outfit who does the same thing, but i cant remember the name.

TransUnion is the other.

[Ford Prefect]

As far as I know Equifax is legit, but I've never dealt with them. What they're asking is a bit onerous though. It sounds like some major snafu has happened to your file though. If it were me, I'd be getting my bank to assist me in straightening the problem out as it sounds like it may not be a straight forward affair.

[kootenayguy9]

It took me 10 weeks to get my Free credit report through Equifax. It also does not give you your "number" if you do it for free.

[ricosuave]

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...hlight=equifax

[SeeGeeWhy]

Wow! Equifax and TransUnion are legit.

That is scary, though. Good luck and be very diligent with this. Let us know how it goes!

[Sylvanfan]

^^^
Transunion and Equifax are the two outfits that are most often used for credit scores. So yes they are legitimate.

Also a bit OT, as moderators we urge posters to leave the word scam out of thread titles when asking about a company. You might be surprised how upset some organizations can become when their company and scam show up in the same sentence.

[photon]

We've pulled a lot of credit files from Equifax for people, and get ours from time to time, usually by requesting it for free by mail, though every so often they will have a free weekend where if you register you get it for free instead of the $24.

I'm not entirely suprised they're asking for that much info, afterall they have to protect from someone hijacking your credit record for themselves. If all it took to get changes or corrections made was a call with one piece of ID and a birthdate, identity theft would be even easier than it already is. Mind you I guess you're just asking for a report, but since there already looks like there's something seriously messed up with your record maybe that's why there being more safe?

Either way, hopefully you can get this all worked out and hopefully there's nothing strange going on.

[Engine09]

It took me 10 weeks to get my Free credit report through Equifax. It also does not give you your "number" if you do it for free.

Yeah, I got my free report in the mail, looked it over and it didnt tell me anything. Threw it in the garbage.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Kryzsky

Yeah, I got my free report in the mail, looked it over and it didnt tell me anything. Threw it in the garbage.

Did you shred it first?? If not, you probably own a bunch of crooked real estate in Russia that you're not aware of

[HelloHockeyFans]

You have been erased.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by fotze

Equifax puzzles me, because it is something that is pretty much essential to your life but you really have no recourse to correcting falsities on that record. A company (or disgruntled employee) can intantly put something on your report but it takes you months of work to try and correct it. A little too one-sided. The company pretty much does not have to answer to yourself.

You can challenge anything on there, but like you said, it can be a time-consuming process. A co-worker found mistakes on her credit report, talked to Royal Bank (outstanding debt on the report) and Royal/Equifax cleared up the problem in less than a week.

Also doesn't it seem funny that a company is allowed to collect a huge file of ectremely personal information on you when you never gave them permission to do so. You give banks permission to ACCESS your file but I never gave equifax permission to retain all this information or start a file. Seems funny, but eceryone asks for permission on everything these days, you would think they would at least do that step.

Maybe when you're giving the bank/lending institution approval to access equifax, you're also somehow tacitly/explicitly approving them to report info to Equifax? You're right though, it does seem strange... seems like the govt. should be tracking this sort of thing.

[fwd]

Equifax is legit, is definitely tilted in the creditors' side, and is regulated (Fair Trading Act of Alberta).
Whenever a person does ANY credit transaction, it is reported to either Equifax or TransUnion, and often both.
Transactions remain on your credit file for 6 years.
If a person had a completely "blank" report, it would mean there has been no transactions whatsoever in the last 6 years - also meaning the person has no credit cards, car loans, etc.
Do you have any credit cards?

[Flames09]

I paid money to look into my credit report all it had was my loans listed nothing about it being good bad, no scores nothing, I was disappointed.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Flames09

I paid money to look into my credit report all it had was my loans listed nothing about it being good bad, no scores nothing, I was disappointed.

You pulled your credit report, not your credit score, Equifax sells them separately (I believe). Under your loans there should be details for any missed payments over 30, 60, and 90 days... I missed 2 $25 student loan payments 2 years ago and both missed payments are still on my report (there's a 2 beside 'any overdue balances past 30 days).

[Flames09]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

You pulled your credit report, not your credit score, Equifax sells them separately (I believe). Under your loans there should be details for any missed payments over 30, 60, and 90 days... I missed 2 $25 student loan payments 2 years ago and both missed payments are still on my report (there's a 2 beside 'any overdue balances past 30 days).

Oh that helps, doesn't it take 7 years to clear anything bad off your record??

[Agamemnon]

I'm not sure, but I think thats right... when I pulled my credit report last time I think it said somewhere in the process how long something stays on there for... can't recall now though.

[photon]

Yeah, it's six or seven years.