First, addressing the five-day turnaround on a dispute that involved the accuracy of informaton reported to them, it is possible that they did not follow the requirements of the statute, but difficult to say that they didnt. They are requuired to foward a copy of the disptue to the furnisher, who is then required to conduct their investigation, and respons back to the CRA, It is possible that, by forwarding the dispute to the furnishr via their electronice e-Oscar process, and immediate response back via e-Oscar, that they could have completed that process.
If you doubt they followed the required process, you can send them a request for a description of the procedures they used to verify, which must, at a minimum, identity any party they contacted in their reinvestigation. They are required to respond to a request for a description of their method of verification of a dispute. They cannot refuse based n the fact that it was verified. Consumers dont ask for method of verificaton of favorable results, so their response defies logiic.
As for the best way to file a dispute, I rank direct disputes with the furnisher as first on the list, as they ensure that ALL supporting documentation is received by the reporting furnisher. Second on my list would be paper dsputes which, even though the CRA is not going to forward all of your documentation and arguments to the furnisher, at least gets them of record in the file. On-line disputes, in effect, ask you to pre-santize your own dispute. While convenient, the CRA does enough to santitize disputes. Personally, I would not assist them in that process.
