Nevertheless, our Office was concerned that individuals were not adequately informed that their personal information was being shared with Equifax. We found the complaint was not well founded. Consequently, there has been no violation of the Privacy Act in that regard. Further, we were satisfied that Canada Post does not conduct a credit verification of individuals wishing to change their address online. Canada Post then processes the payment for the change-of-address transaction and the individual's address change will be activated.Įquifax assured us that any information provided by the individual during this identity verification process will be kept entirely separate from the information it collects and maintains in the individual's credit file for credit reporting purposes.Īs a result of our investigation, we were satisfied that Canada Post has the statutory authority to collect the personal information used in this online process. If the individual correctly answers these "out-of-wallet" questions, Equifax advises Canada Post that their identity has been successfully verified. The online requestor is also transferred seamlessly to Equifax's identity verification website and asked questions about outstanding loans and other financial dealings listed with the credit-rating agency. Personal information provided online to Canada Post by a requestor is sent electronically to Equifax. To verify identity in online requests, Canada Post has contracted with Equifax, best known as a credit-rating agency. Misdirection of personal mail is a common tactic in identity theft. Our investigation established that Canada Post has a legitimate need to confirm the identity of individuals requesting a change of address. The online process takes seven steps, and a man complained that the final stage consisted of Canada Post checking his credit rating, Protecting against identity theft has complicated what was once a relatively simple matter - changing your mailing address with the post office - especially when Canadians want the convenience of doing this online.
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