Question about settled loans

Hi,

I have a couple of questions regarding old student loans. I'm hoping to gain a better understanding of where I stand and if there's anything more I can do as I go forward.

I filed for bankruptcy in 2005. I had two student loans that were split up as a result. I paid off the federal and provincial loans during my bankruptcy, while RBC held on to another portion of the loan (still don't understand why).

To make a long story short, I worked with them from 2005-2009 to try and get my loans addressed and there were always bizarre issues on their end. The last time we spoke they informed me they would get back to me. I never heard from them again - end of story. Right or wrong, I tried for 4 years and gave up.

Anyhow, I picked up my credit report about a month ago and noticed there are 3 entries for RBC loans on there.

One of the entries shows as settled with a zero balance and an R9 rating.
Another shows a 0 balance with a bad debt, written off status, R9 rating. "included in bankruptcy"
And yet another shows 7540 owing, bad debt, written off, R9 rating.

I probably did a horrible thing - I called RBC to inquire.

I should note that we never even touched on the first item above.

We talked about the second. We determined it was settled in 2007 (per my understanding) and she said she would adjust the item if I sent a copy of my report. She sent me a letter stating it would be updated to say it was settled with a 0 balance, but would remain with an R9 rating.

Shortly thereafter, I got to looking again and realized that the entry we corrected was actually a direct duplicate of the first entry, with an incorrect status, etc.

I inquired about this. They claimed my bureau would be updated, but would still reflect the R9 rating.

Further, I also settled on the 7540 loan. Actually, I paid it out in full. They claimed they would update my bureau and leave me with an R9 rating.

So, my question is pretty simple. Does all this sound right? Since I've applied and received high interest credit, including an auto loan with this false info on my bureau report, do I have any room to ask them to help me out any further?

Should I be stuck with these R9 ratings? Is there any recourse at all for carrying this incorrect and very damaging flag on my report for 7 years or would it have made little difference?

Should I just ensure my report has been fixed, count my losses, and just start over? My credit is now otherwise good aside from these loans items.

When a credit grantor reviews a Credit Report, there are only certain items they are looking for. First and foremost, is the applicant's Credit Score. Some Credit Reports do not report a Credit Score but do report a "rating" of the Credit File ranging from "Excellent", "Good", "Adequate", "Fair" and "Poor".

The next step is to review the "Ratings" of each account with R1 or I1 being the best to R9 or I9 being the worst.

From there, the credit grantor will review the number of inquiries made to the Credit File within the last 12 months with 3 or less inquiries considered normal. An excess number of inquiries or inquiries received from collection agencies or debt buyers will certainly get the attention of a credit grantor.

And finally, a credit grantor will look for public information reporting such as bankruptcies, consumer proposals, judgments, liens, repossessions, credit counselling and orderly payment of debts.

Occasionally, a credit grantor may review the commentary associated with an account, but usually, this does not factor in to the decision as to whether to grant or deny credit and definitely has no effect on a Credit Score.

Once a credit grantor is satisfied at this point, the last step is to review the applicant's income and current debt load which they can obtain from the Credit Report.

While it is important to have accurate and correct information shown on a Credit Report, it really has little or no bearing as to whether a credit applicant is granted or denied credit.

The fact that you have 3 R9 ratings is the main reason why you are "tagged" with high interest credit including an auto loan. You may wish to pursue RBC to change the commentary regarding your student loans but this will have no effect on your Credit Score. The R9 ratings will continue to be reported on your Credit Report until those accounts are purged.