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"A question: I went into big debt (credit cards) when I was unemployed in
1991. In 1992, I stopped making any more payments on my various cards (I
could not keep up). Eventually, of course, collectors got a hold of all
those accounts. Right now, my credit reports show "9"s (in collection) next to each item.
Will those accounts disappear at some point?: From VCR: "On the positive
side most bureaus just use 7 years from the date of first delinquency."
Does that mean that this year (1992 + 7 = 1999) my credit reports will
become clean again? Please let me know your best advice - I am thinking of
filing Ch 7 Bankruptcy to "clean things up" a bit. But maybe I should wait
for that 7 year rule to kick in??
In your case bankruptcy would be an unnecessary disaster in our opinion. Under the FCRA your credit report must be cleared just as you mentioned. Do be aware of illegal "insideous inquiries" (see our credit scoring page.)
"I found your website to be very
informative and helpful.
I have had an uphill battle with the credit reporting agencies for the last
five years. So far I have only been able to correct one credit report.
After a long battle with Equifax, they finally removed derogatory credit
that had been on my report for 4 years making it impossible to acquire a
simple Sears credit card. I'm still fighting TransUnion who has been twice
as difficult as Equifax. Even though I have direct evidence to prove what
is otherwise reported on my credit report, credit unions want nothing to do
with me or my evidence.
Throughout my adventure in attempting to fix my credit, I have found that
the Fair Credit Reporting Act is written more for businesses rather than for
the consumer. The FCRA protects companies like Equifax and TransUnion and
ensures their existence.
I hope that what I have learned may help some other people out there
trying to fight the corrupt system."
"I was recently denied credit by my Credit Union (can you feel the irony?!). They listed two credit reporting agencies as sources of information on which they based their decision, and stated that I could get a free copy of my credit report from them. So I bit - I sent a letter to each of the two companies with my full name, SSN and current mailing address requesting the free copy of my credit report. "CSC" promptly sent a copy of my report with a plethora of helpful information on how to read the report and who to contact if I have a dispute or a problem that needs to be escalated. (I know, the FCRA requires the latter, but I was still impressed.)
Experian, on the other hand, dealt me this BS:
You recently requested a copy of your credit report; however, we are unable to access your report using the identification information you supplied.
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act states "a consumer reporting agency shall require as a condition of disclosure that the consumer furnish proper identification;" therefore, we must require all of the following information in order to process your request: [hold on to your seat] Full name, including middle name and generation (such as I, II, III, JR, SR); current delivery address and two proofs of the address (such as copies of your telephone bill, utility bill, driver's license); Social Security number (required to obtain your report); date of birth; and complete addresses for the past five years (including apartment number and ZIP code).
Please send this letter allong with all of the requested identification information listed above to:
[...]
I was absolutely *furious* when I read this, catching on really quickly that they easily could have sent my report with the information I sent. This is evidenced by the fact that CSC was able to supply my credit report with the *exact same information*. (I sent them the exact same letter with the exception of the address block). I suspected that they were "fishing" for any additional personal information they could dig up, and were holding my credit report hostage. I came to your site looking for a copy of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and saw in your "Changes We Propose" section a reference to this very practice.
I can't believe the nerve of these people.
Rock on, guys. Experian and everyone like 'em needs their ass kicked up between their ears.
"I was wondering if U could possibly send me a copy of at least 2 different
examples of letters people write to explain derogatory credit in their
files. Just so there is no confusion, I mean when the derogatory item is
not being disputed and fault is admitted but there should be some sort
of letter explaining the circumstances. Thanks Again. You don't know how
long I've been looking for the info."
Sorry, but any such letter would not make it into your credit report.
In order to put a "consumer comment" in, it must challenge the accuracy
of the report. Credit bureaus routinely return letters that "admit and
explain" by saying the law does not require them to include explanations,
only challenges. (Our translation of this practice: Honesty is fatal when
dealing with credit bureaus.) But cheer up! Consumer statements never help
anyway, honest or otherwise.
"I would like to know how to obtain a merchants copy of my credit report.
The problem is the copy TRW gave me was different from what the merchants
have been getting. I tried talking to some merchants directly but they
do not want to let me have a copy. Anyone with suggestions?"
Merchants may not have anything to show you. In most cases all the clerk
sees from the computer is a score or a yes/no answer based on crtieria
"suggested" by the credit bureau. If you challenge the rejection a human
may get to see a "top 10 list" of reasons why the computer rejected
you. If you saw this list, you would see things like "age group wrong"
or "fraud warning--used Post Office Box in 1980" and would make a terrible
scene right there in the furniture department, so they don't show it to
you.
Credit bureaus also like to scare merchants (and school children
- see below) by saying it is a crime to let a victim see their own report.
This makes you give them even more information about yourself in order
to get your own copy and gives the bureau a chance to clean up any obviously
wrong data. Suggestion: Ask the merchant for the exact information
they gave to the bureau. Request another report (probably at a cost) giving
only the data the merchant passed on. Anyone have further suggestions?
"I was glad to see your website! There are a lot of people out there who
feel they are serving a prison sentence for their credit report. I am especially
upset at the two year rule for credit inquiries. It is so unfair! Many
people shop around for a low credit card rate, not knowing they are being
labeled "irresponsible" for doing so. Finally there is a group who understand
the frustrations of the credit card consumer. I anxiously await your growth
and expansion. Keep up the good work!"
"Thank you for the opportunity to add my voice to those who are trying
to do something about this type of victimizing. I had elective surgery
and told all involved persons that I opted for this surgery because I was
going to be laid off (permanently) and would have time to recover. The
hospital, doctor's office and med lab all assured me that my insurance
would cover the procedure at 100%. I told them that it was imperative that
this be so since I would not have the funds once I was out of work. The
final outcome is that I am being sued for this money and have had threats
to garnish my wages. I have hired an attorney and offered to pay in order
to satisfy this "bad debt". My attorney informed me that they had no legal
right to submit this as a "bad debt" when I was disputing the charges and
threatened them with a slander lawsuit. I agreed to pay $300 if they would
accept it as full payment and report it as a "disputed debt paid in full".
They agreed but have done nothing since cashing my check and I am still
paying an attorney to straighten this out. Thank you again for what you
are hoping to accomplish with this information. The name of victims of
this crime is "Legion".
"How can the American people change how the credit reports are done now?
My husband and I had to file for bankruptcy because he had cancer one year
and off work and then the next year had a heart attack that happened while
at work for the city of xxxxxxxx. He was a police officer for the city,
when it came time for his protection the city denied that his heart attack
was work related. Of course that is another problem with the so called
system. We had A-1 credit before this happened and now we can't even get
a celluar phone because of bad luck. We are not people that would default
on a loan on purpose, but the system is not fair if you don't have a huge
bank account. While all this was going on, I talked to a lawyer about my
husbands pension plan (and) charged me seventy dollars to read this information.
Well I received the bill about a month later, I called the firm and told
them I wasn't quoted a price for him to read the information, but all they
said was send the money. I didn't based on the fact that I wouldn't have
ask him to read the information for seventy dollars. I found out that they
put a judgement against me along with court costs on my credit report,
and I can't do anything about it unless I pay them. I can probably hire
a lawyer to work on it, but that probably wouldn't help either. What is
this so called free america coming to? If the Americans can change things,
we need to know how to do it. Please send me any information that my little
vote could help change. Thank you for listening."
"FTC keeps on insisting that true and accurate information CANNOT be removed
from a Credit Report. If I understand the FCRA correctly, ANY information
MAY be reported and it will be reported if you let them report it and do
nothing in order to remove it. Since the Credit Bureaus ARE NOT the government,
but private corporations, they do not have to have this information about
us and it is perfectly LEGAL to remove it. I think they forgot that IT
IS NOT THE DEBT that is being removed, but simply information about the
debt, late payment, judgment, etc... If not verifiable or the creditor
agrees to remove it, than it can be removed, even if it is accurate. Any
comments?"
Don't take this (or anything else here) as legal advice, but based on
personal experience your observations are completely true. The BS put out
as "law" by the bureaus is incredible. I have sat in training seminars
where Credit Bureau representatives instruct high school teachers to tell
their students that it is illegal for a businessman to give a victim copies
of his/her credit report. Just the opposite is true - good public policy
and common sense require that people should have immediate access to the
real credit report, not some watered down version cooked up weeks later.
Ditto on the often used practice of agreeing to settle a disputed claim
on the condition that it will not be reported to any bureau, or past reports
will not be verified if challenged. (Credit Bureaus themselves use the
same legal verbiage in an attempt to keep the numerous lawsuits against
them from the public eye.) As far as the FTC buying into the industries
wish list that "true and accurate"?? gossip cannot be removed, Congress
has repeatedly said otherwise. One example is student
loans where the law specifically allows removal of all indicators of
past debt. The FTC should lock Credit Bureau lobbyists out of their offices
while they review what the law really says." David Vest VCR
"I am delighted to find your organization after three frustrating years
fighting a creditor and the big bureaus. After paying off my ex's bad account,
I got a promise in writing from the creditor signed by one of their managers
promising to remove ALL derogatory information. Of course, they did not
and continue to list the account as a paid/formerly charged off account.
What should I do? I have written state and federal reps already, receiving
only the typical "we're looking into that already" response. Any help would
be sincerely appreciated. Thank you"..
"I enjoyed reading your web pages. I have been a victim of the credit reporting
agencies. Denied credit on the basis of inaccurate data, I have been running
in a circle between the previous lenders and reporting agencies to correct
the problem. Each refuses to to cooperate and this has been going on 3
months now. It's time to stand up and fight these people."
"Just a short note to let you know that we, the consumers of the world,
do read the material that you've put on your web site and we appreciate
your work. Please keep up the good work."
"It's nice to know someone is out there to help solve this problem. I have
yet to read all the documents I printed, but I have credit to repair. I
now have a black mark on my credit. Wells Fargo sold to Capital West Financial
and they marked my credit as bad. My previous resolution of the problem
with Wells Fargo was never recorded, or ignored by the new collection #$%&.
Keep up your work, and as I study this problem further, I will do what
I can to help. There is a bill in the Colorado legislature at this time
regardinf this problem. I will contact the sponsors of the bill with my
support."
"I'm very glad to see an organized inititive aimed at striking back and
fighting the current methods used by creditors and their agencies against
the consumer.
I would like to propose the starting of a company reporting agency where
the creditors would be scored and branded according to the way they treat
and humiliate consumers. A consumers TRW if you will."
What a wonderful suggestion! We will include the consumer reporting
idea in our next pitch to Congress. ---VCR
"I was glad to find that there is someone out there that have the same
views I do. I to have been victimized by the credit reporting agencies.
All of the big three have reported erroneous information in my report.
I am now in the process or writing them to try to repair the report. There
should be some kind of legislature that protects the consumer against these
practices. If I could help please let me know what I can do. I'm just sick
and tired of the whole situation. I feel that reporting agencies should
be unbiased. But it seems that they are for protecting businesses and not
consumers."
"I enjoy coming to this VCR site to get updates on laws regarding Fair
Credit Reporting. My husband and I have been victims of medical providers
reporting negative information on our credit reports. I have been fighting
the credit reporting agencies and creditors for approximately 4 years and
I am glad to report that I have good credit but my husband still suffers
from one negative item from a Doctor. In his case, he didn't even know
he had an outstanding Doctor bill until we applied for a mortgage and it
showed up. The problem, though, was that it was listed under a collection
agency name and it did not list what it was. We had to contact the collection
agency and ask what it was. It turned out that the insurance company didn't
pay the last $100.00 on a Doctor bill, but he never received anything from
the insurance company or the Doctor! The Doctor just turned it over to
a collection agency without even contacting him that he owed money. My
husband payed the bill as soon as we found out, but the collection agency,
of course, would not and will not remove it. It has been paid since 1993
and they won't budge. Fortunately, in 3 more months it must be removed.
This is just one example of the many, many problems we have had with creditors
and credit reporting agencies. I enjoy your site and I hope something can
be done in the future about creditors and credit reporting agencies destroying
people's lives."
"I'm sure you hear this often.....I have truly been victimized by credit
reporting agenices, particularly Equifax. Medical bills which went to collection
because my insurance drug their feet, were finally paid by them; then reported
paid on my daughter's report and not on mine. Six + months of writing and
calling has not effected a change. Please include me as an advocate for
your organization and I'm anxious to support your activity."
Would it surprise you to learn that Equifax may have caused the problem
in the first place? Chances are very good that one of their companies processed
the claim for your insurance company at the same time another division
pursued collection against you, and then reported you were a credit risk
to yet another division, all within the Equifax corporate halo. See our
Players page for more info. VCR
"I agree with you 100% One of the most important items you mention is that
a consumer should not be victomized more than one time (on the report)for
each credit issue. And as for these gangsters at the collection agencies..
It should be against the law for collection agencies to report ANY derogatory
information to the bureaus. They are not the credit grantors. Yet correct
or incorrect, they report information at will.
And the bureaus are whores for the information.. the more the better
and we take the hit while they say, "it's nothing personal, it's just business..
it's our job to ruin you" It is sad that it is so difficult to see change
happen. All of the red tape seems endless. I hope for change.. soon."
"Can you give me any advice with respect to firms pulling your credit report
without your permission? Specifically, I had a utility company pull my
credit report, with no authorization from me, at random. I had never been
past due on a payment. I was contacted and told I would have to place a
deposit because my credit report showed 2 paid medical collections, both
over 5 years old. This is ridiculous."
"Thank you for the excellent information provided on the Web. Currently
I am fighting a battle with a reporting agency that I didn't even know
existed. It truly is scarey the way our lives are so scrutinized by unseen
forces. I have become to think of the reporting agencies of little more
than a legalized KGB. Please send any infomation regarding VCR, and how
I might contribute. THANK YOU AGAIN."
"I too have been a victim on several occasions and was pleased to find
out about your group. I have now an excellent credit rating and have no
difficulties obtaining credit and credit cards. However, this was not always
the case. My Equifax, TRW, and Transunion reports showed many errors and
even listings belonging to other individuals. I was made aware of this
about six years ago and it has taken me four of those years to have this
problem remedied. What can I do to participate and to further your efforts?"
"How can I get legal help? The FTC and Attorney General have done nothing
and TRW/EXPERIAN are ignoring me. I live in the Los Angeles area and need
to find a legal specialist that will get results."
California has no "Attorney General" in our opinion. Corporations who
wish to abuse citizens, on the other hand, have a full time lobbyist who
holds the AG title. When we approached the California AGs office to press
for credit bureau reform we found armed guards keeping citizens out, while
lobbyists pranced right through. The AG refused to even defend existing
laws which kept victims who WON in court from being blacklisted for their
trouble (see Worst
Court Case Of The Decade-UD Registry. We can find no better example
of why the middle class is fleeing the Golden State. ---VCR (formerly of
Long Beach,CA)
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"Your credit reporting info site is excellent!!! It helps so much to know
that there are other decent, law-abiding, educated professionals out there
who are forced to live like second-class citizens because of credit reports.
Here's my story.... I am a graduate from an Ivy-League college and I used
credit cards to pay my over-the-top tuition (I'm not from a rich family).
OK -- that was a bad idea. But I was told over and over again how I would
get this great job when I graduated and have no problem paying off my debts.
Yeah, right! Even though I graduated with a 3.7 GPA, a highly-marketable
degree in non-profit management, and an impressive resume, I still could
not find a position that paid more than six dollars an hour (I am not alone
in that; most of my peers ended up in the same sick situation). So, of
course, I got way behind in my credit payments. The end result is that,
despite being employed now at a "decent"-enough wage to afford rent and
utilities (eight dollars and hour -- wow), I have been close to homelessness
because of my credit report. I have almost been made a street person because
of this blacklist that has been attached to my name. This makes no sense
to me. I have spoken to legal experts in landlord-tenant rights and I have
been told that, while landlords are NOT allowed to hold ARREST RECORDS
against prospective tenants, they ARE allowed to hold negative CREDIT reports
against people who wish to rent! Does this make sense? No. But then again,
credit reports themselves don't make sense. I hate the whole credit reporting
system. Thank goodness my Mom allowed me to move in with her." Keep up
the good work. Maybe some day, the swine who are ruining people's lives
through credit reports will be stopped. We can always hope, right?"
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