Law / Canada / Saskatchewan
Credit Reporting Act, credit reporting agencies and users of credit reports
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding private bodies.
- Enforcement body
- Registrar of credit reporting
- Obligation class
- Consent, Data subject rights, Disclosure
- Audit expectation
- on_request
- Who audits it
- Regulator
As of .
What it requires
- If you operate as a credit reporting agency, hold a licence issued or renewed under the Act (s. 5).
- Adopt all reasonable procedures to ensure credit reports are accurate and fair, and keep out of a credit report the information the Act bars, including information about a debt six years after the last payment (ss. 16, 18).
- Provide information from your files only in a credit report to a person you have reason to believe intends to use it for a purpose the Act lists, such as credit, the purchase or collection of a debt, a tenancy, employment or the underwriting of insurance (s. 17(1)).
- If you obtain information from a credit reporting agency’s files, obtain it only for those purposes, and before requesting a credit report for a listed purpose get the consumer’s consent or give written notice that a report will be obtained with the name and address of the agency (ss. 17(2), 19).
- If you deny a benefit, or increase its cost, because of a credit report, give the consumer written notice within 30 days, in person or by mail, and give the agency’s name and address on a written request within 60 days (s. 20).
- On a consumer’s request disclose the information in the file without charge, and investigate a written dispute within a reasonable time, correcting information found incomplete, inaccurate or unverifiable and notifying the consumer and recent recipients (ss. 21, 23-24).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 47 bars contravening any provision of the Act or the regulations, failing to comply with an order or direction, and making a false or misleading statement in an application or investigation, and section 47(4) sets the penalty on summary conviction.
Penalty structure
Section 47(4) caps a first offence at $10,000 for an individual, who may also be imprisoned for up to one year, and $25,000 for a corporation, and a second or subsequent offence at $25,000 for an individual and $100,000 for a corporation.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- CAD
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
What this law does
No person may operate or act as a credit reporting agency without holding a licence. A credit reporting agency is a person who provides credit reports for gain or profit, or on a regular, co-operative and non-profit basis. A credit report is any written, oral or other communication by a credit reporting agency of credit information, personal information, or both, pertaining to a consumer.
Every credit reporting agency must adopt all reasonable procedures to ensure credit reports are accurate and fair. A credit report may be provided to a person who intends to use the information in connection with a tenancy agreement, for employment purposes or in connection with the underwriting of insurance, among other listed purposes. No person may knowingly obtain any information from the files of a credit reporting agency respecting a consumer except for the purposes the Act lists.
No person may request or obtain a credit report for a purpose listed in clause 17(1)(a) unless the consumer has provided consent or the person provides written notice that a credit report will be obtained and the name and address of the credit reporting agency. A credit report may not include information regarding any debt six years after the last payment was made or, if no payment was made, six years after the debt was incurred.
A user that denies a benefit in whole or in part to a consumer, or increases its cost, as a result of information in a credit report must give the consumer written notice within 30 days after making the decision.
On a consumer’s request a credit reporting agency must disclose without charge the nature and substance of all information in its files respecting the consumer, its sources, the names of persons to whom a credit report was provided in the preceding six months and the contents of any credit report made to another person.
A credit reporting agency that receives written notice of a dispute must investigate within a reasonable time and, if information is incomplete, inaccurate or can no longer be verified, update it and notify the consumer and each person who received a credit report in the preceding six months.
An individual who commits a first offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $10,000, imprisonment for not more than one year or both, and a corporation to a fine of not more than $25,000, and a second or subsequent offence carries a fine of not more than $25,000 for an individual and $100,000 for a corporation. The Act came into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app makes high-risk automated decisions.