If you find an error on your credit report -- how do you get it corrected? What's more, what if you don't get any satisfaction when you do attempt to fix what ails you? SmartMoney investigated the world of credit bureaus and detailed its findings in a story published today.
From SmartMoney:Credit-report accuracy is profoundly important now, because an error can wreak more havoc than ever on your financial life. Before the nation heard the words credit crisis, just about anyone with a pulse could get a loan. Now many banks are refusing credit to anyone who looks remotely risky. And as legions of anxious job hunters know, a growing number of employers routinely check credit reports before they make a hire. It’s no wonder, then, that the National Foundation for Credit Counseling says call volume is up 31 percent in the past 12 months. “Credit is on consumers’ minds more than ever before,” says Curtis Arnold, CEO of CardRatings.com.
But according to a 2007 survey by pollster Zogby, 37 percent of consumers who obtain their credit reports find errors, and half of those said they could not easily correct the mistakes. An earlier study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, found that one in four reports contained “serious errors.” For its part, the Consumer Data Industry Association, the industry’s trade group, says only 11 percent of consumers who get their credit report file a dispute and just 5 percent of those challenge the results. “That’s an excellent satisfaction rate,” says the group’s president, Stuart Pratt. Still, even some industry insiders say there’s a problem. Testifying before Congress, one CEO of an independent Arizona credit bureau likened the dispute process to “having an IRS audit, brain surgery, getting a tooth pulled or going to your own funeral.”
Read the rest of the story here (link).
Monday, February 2, 2009
Why the Credit Bureaus Can't Get It Right
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28 comments:
It's because there's no real punishment for being wrong. It should be a felony level crime to disseminate false credit information enforced with 6 digit fines. Then maybe the credit bureaus and reporting companies would consider getting it right.
And never was having correct information on the credit report more important. A single error -- if substantial enough -- could result in creditors taking adverse action against a consumer.
At least there's a better chance of your report being correct if you are a celebrity. What a relief!
I spent over an hour yesterday calling several Equifax numbers and dealing with frustrating phone trees and clueless CSRs simply because I tried to order my FACTA report online. I got a screen saying they couldn't give it to me.
Rep 1 tells me there's a fraud alert on my file. Me: There WAS. It should have been taken off Dec. 1st. Rep says I have to write a letter, and include 500 pieces of ID, to take it off. Um, NO. It was supposed to happen automatically.
After 5 minutes on hold, she comes back and tells me another fraud alert was placed yesterday. Me: HUH?! I'd applied for PenFed that day, they pulled EQ and found a mismatch. It was taken care of with a phone call (Lexis questions) and approved. According to the rep, PenFed must have placed the fraud alert.
By this time I'm hyperventilating. Just TAKE IT OFF. NOW. I WANT MY REPORT. Nope, letter with 500 pieces of ID, the only way. Me: So a fraud alert can be placed on my report without my knowledge or permission, but I have to jump through hoops to take it off? I've proven to you who I am, told you I never placed a fraud alert, and that I don't want one on my report... did you get that, MY report. I get nowhere with this script-quoting imbecile.
More numbers, more phone trees, and I'm literally GIBBERING with rage. There are actual tears. I finally get a human, who gives me the same spiel. I give it right back. I didn't put a fraud alert on, I didn't authorize a fraud alert, IT'S A MISTAKE. And I don't want three months of this nonsense. TAKE IT OFF. NOW. NO LETTERS, NO ID. JUST DO IT.
This time, after putting me on hold a couple of times, he finally agrees to take off the phantom fraud alert AND activate a free report online (I really wanted a hard copy by mail, but at this point I wasn't arguing).
Someone tell me why I should have to go through this kind of aggravation to correct my own information, and why what's on my reports are is considered "none of my business," i.e. I'm the last one whose word is accepted. I've been told by CRAs that creditors know where I live better than I do... if a creditor reports an incorrect address, then that's where I live. End of story. I can't change it. Only they can, because the creditor is always right... even if it's a creditor I no longer do business with. It's ridiculous. Plus, they make it close to impossible to speak to a human being.
Sorry for the rant, CM. But this post opened the floodgates.
I imagine that one of the biggest problems is that the customer-service reps don't have much power. Also, they are reading from a script. They're likely under orders to stay within the script.
I've been lucky. Can't recall many errors on my reports over the years. I'd have to think that supervisors are the way to go. Of course, that assumes that you successfully through the phone tree.
Seems as though credit bureaus make you work as hard as possible to get through to them. Part one is just getting through the phone system.
Ulysses, funny that you mention the incorrect address issue, as I'm dealing with the same thing right now. I have an address in Las Vegas showing up on two of my credit reports, even though I've only ever had residences in California and Georgia.
No idea where the L.V. address came from or who put it on my report, but both Equifax and Experian refuse to remove it or even explain it. I've never even had a creditor in Nevada, so it can't even be explained by a simple mistake of recording a creditor's address as my own. Bizarre, to say the least.
My reports have several errors, but none are negative so I figure I should leave well enough alone. I might be able to eek out a few extra points on EQ if I got an account duplicate removed (it's younger than avg. age) but if I disputed it, something would probably break.
Anon, then you lived in Las Vegas. Deal with it.
Anon, I have noticed that the online version of Experian will let you delete incorrect addresses. Have you tried that? Or have you only been dealing with humans?
And here's an unfortunate aspect of the address thing... whoever reports last is listed as your current address. So if some ancient creditor suddenly decides to report an old address, then that's now your current address. My current and former addresses have often battled for the top spot on my reports, and as a result, two years ago my requested credit report was sent to an old address, 6 months after I'd moved. Thank heavens I knew the new tenants.
That happened to me about two years ago. An older creditor updated a record. They had my old address in their record.
CM, with EX (online or not), you can dispute old addresses, but they won't delete anything that's tied to a TL. I had an experience a few years ago with them, where they wouldn't delete an address that was totally wrong, because a creditor had reported it that way... therefore it was correct (how stupid). The apartment number was wrong, but Ex said it was "close enough." Um, I don't particularly WANT my credit report potentially going to someone else in my building because YOU think the address is "close enough."
The REALLY stupid part was that the TL it was tied to wasn't even on my report anymore, and I no longer did business with that creditor. Yet if their mistake was reported at all, it became gospel.
Crazy stuff, Ulysses. Sounds as though I have been lucky to have limited interaction with these folks.
I can beat all of you on credit report addresses. Equifax lists Mrs. FLT's address as the house where her ex-husband currently lives. They refuse to change it.
There should be a simple (i.e. don't need a lawyer) way where if the consumer proves there is incorrect data on a credit report, and the CRA will not change it, then the CRA has to pay a healthy ($100? $200?) fine.
CM, it's a veritable festival of incompetence and insolence. Consumers are treated like criminals... everything we say is a lie, and no amount of paperwork we send as proof is good enough. Yet everything the creditors report is automatically accepted as gospel. They can put whatever they want on your reports, and good luck correcting it. They don't have to prove it's correct, but you have to jump through hoops to prove it's not.
You'd think the burden of proof would be on the parties *adding* the information to our reports, wouldn't you? The whole system is a backwards, confused, antiquated mess. And the CRAs have cultivated a bitter, adversarial relationship with consumers.
Oh, and when you dispute something, the way the CRAs "verify" it is by asking the creditor to repeat themselves. Seriously. They (electronically) go back to the creditor and say "what did you report again?" to which the creditor's computer replies with the same thing they originally reported. VERIFIED. They simply ask the creditor to regurgitate the same information they reported to begin with. That qualifies as an "investigation."
Then when you say "but it's still wrong..." the CRA responds by admonishing you that they've already investigated this item and they won't do it again. Meanwhile, their "investigation" consisted of saying the creditor, "come again?"
Sounds like the CRAs use "frivolous" a lot.
Consumer complains about legitimate error. CRA goes to creditor. Creditor says information is correct. CRA tells you that information is accurate. You complain again. CRA goes back to creditor. Creditor verifies previous information. CRA comes back and says creditor verifies. Consumer complains again. CRA says that your complaint is frivolous, since you are still complaining about the same thing -- and the creditor says the information is correct.
Is that about how it works?
CM, yup. Exactly. The "verification" consists of nothing but the creditor verifying that they said what they said the first time. Nice, huh? Too bad the rest of life can't be that way. Imagine if you could "prove" your innocence of a crime simply by repeating "I didn't do it!"? Whoo-hoo, let me at that bank vault!
Some people have to think twice before blaming the mailman for "old" mail.
;-)
“””For its part, the Consumer Data Industry Association, the industry’s trade group, says only 11 percent of consumers who get their credit report file a dispute and just 5 percent of those challenge the results. “That’s an excellent satisfaction rate,” says the group’s president, Stuart Pratt.”””
In a perfect world a comment like that should get you hung. People aren't filing disputes and or challenging the results because they are disheartened by the process not satisfied and Stuart Pratt knows that. This is the type of new age corporate lying, fraud, ect. that CM pointed out in an article about a month ago. In his heart he knows the truth but chooses to use an erroneous statistic to justify something that is false.
This is sort of like crowing that unemployment claims have gone down--yay for lower unemployment!!--while neglecting to mention that many of those people are still unemployed, but their benefits just ran out, so they're no longer claiming unemployment.
Only 5 percent of the 11 percent of people disputing "challenge the results" of the dispute? So what? Most people when told that the item has been "verified" will give up the fight. And only 11 percent file disputes not because their reports are correct, but because they are not educated enough about this stuff to know what's wrong, and what they can dispute.
I hate dealing with errors on credit reports. It's one thing I cannot tolerate and hope I don't find too much wrong when I pull.
Addresses I've mostly given up on because you can have 5 variations on one address.
But, trying to get something fixed is almost impossible and I'm currently dealing with a last name issue that I've had 3 calls about and am on my second written letter. I actually had to call every.creditor.on.my.report to see if any were reporting my name wrong (because that is what the rep said was happening). Funny thing is, none were! And I called.them.all!
This reminded me of an error my husband had to have corrected on his credit report a few years back. It had another social security number listed, in addition to his. That was the only discrepancy. He wrote and had the extra social security number removed (which they did promptly).
I have gotten my reports nearly accurate-
only took 3 years-
Only three years, Tim? Ha!
FLT, I used to joke about Experian insisting I lived at the power company. That's what they had for my address for quite a while, and wouldn't change it.
They sent mail to my correct address, but wouldn't update my report to that same address.
I have been trying to get errors fixed for 2 years. If they do anything it usually makes it worse.
I have had my address changed on EQ in the middle of a dispute. I didn't get my results. Called them up and they decided I didn't live where the copy of my DL's said. Some CA did a different variation. I told them I put a copy of my FL on the same sheet of paper as the dispute. I know where I live. Had to send it again. Unreal.
Having old addresses on the report doesnt usually matter, the only issue is what your CURRENT address is. Best way to deal with that is to fax/send them in copies of your utility bills proving your CURRENT address. That does the job. The only problem with prior addresses is when you're dealing with collection scumbags, they'll send to ALL addresses on file and call ALL numbers. (If you're dead, they'll probably send the bill up by satellite..)That also shouldn't bother you, heck, the other guy might even pay the bill....
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