I work for a small gas company, and we have "local credits". Basically what is is we allow local companies to charge gas and sign receipt slips after every purchase (the drivers sign the slip) we have contracts with all these companies, basically like a CC company. however we don't charge ANY handling fees or bounced check fees, nothing but gas fees. Anyway, we don't do any sort of "credit check" or background check, well we have a total of about 40 local credits, out of those 40 we have 10 that do not pay on time, or at all for a few (who have since been shut off), our total outstanding balance for those 10 accounts is $32K. Well last week I had inquiried with TU (yes the enemy) about skip tracing and collection stuff. Basically we want to put the positive and the negative on business reports. Well a TU rep (who shall remain nameless) calls me at work: "Hi can I speak to Kellie?" Me: This is? "Hi kellie this is xx from Trans Union" (MY HEART SANK, I thought I was getting a fraud call or something) Me: um ok? Him: "You had inquired thru our website about skip tracing and collections and reporting" Me OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Long story short, his office is right down the road from me (never new that) and he will be here at 1pm to discuss things. I will definately keep everyone posted on this. I may become the bad guy, but I will have the inside scoop!!!!
He's gooooooone.... He didn't really dish up a whole lot of info but this is what I got: They only take people with 100+ accounts, however they deal with many collection agencies all over the world and I can go through the CA. The CA will collect on our behalf and also report on our behalf. We have the option to 1. if the full amount is collected to continue to report for the remaining time (until 7 years is up) OR 2. Have it removed/deleted once the item is fully paid (NICE HUH?) In order to pull a TU report as a business you pay: $100 internet set up fee, to access online, $25 monthly basic charge $2.50 per report. He gave me the name and number of a collection agency to contact about reporting and/or collecting. He also gave me a business card, too bad he's the Senior Account Rep and not the Senior CS rep. Side note: He drove an eddie bauer limited edition Explorer and wore a very nice suit.
Did you find out these things: Did that subscriber plan include the Credit Score?? Could you pull hard or soft? (ARM). I'd love to see the user end of the software that lets allows them to make changes. I wonder could you have gotten a demo.
He wouldn't go into much detail after I said we didn't have 100 accounts. I also didn't want to seem as though I knew EXACTLY what I was talking about...lol. I did call the CA guy, and they answer the phone "credit bureau". I left him a voice mail and I'm waiting for the call back, I'll keep you posted!
Ok just got off the phone with the CA: The fees are $90 annually, unlimited access to someones report, reports all negative debt for 7 years. OR $25 per individual one time fee reports to all 3 bureaus for 7 years, plus a last chance letter is mailed out before it gets reported. However neither one will help my company seeing as we deal with businesses and NOT individuals. So we now have to get the owners to guarantee the debt if it is not paid. He spoke by the books, the 7 years being reported etc etc. The one thing I found interesting is when/if we set up an account we can either leave it there for the full 7 years or have it removed once it's paid, smae thing TU said. They would NOT do the collecting, but they would be the one to contact if a consumer had to call with a question. So basically, we tell them what we want, they send the final letter, the consumer calls the CA the CA tells the consumer whatever we have told the CA. I asked what would happen if we didn't have the SSN#, he said it doesn't matter we can do an address/name search and do it that way. Sorry guys, I thought it would be more informative, guess I'll just go work there...lmao.
You guys are WAY off base here. BUSINESS collections have NOTHING to do with consumer collections. NO FDCPA, NO FCRA, they can ( and do) whatever they want to including publishing bad credit risks on the internet.
Why Chat- Can you go into more detail? If we were collecting a debt from a business why aren't we bound by the FDCPA. BTW at the bottom of the Trans Union guys card it says: A member of the Marmon Group of companies..this is what I found on them: http://www.marmon.com/Companies.html
None of the FDIC consumer protection laws apply to credit or debt for business purposes. The ONLY exception is in an ammendment to the Privacy Act (ammendment X) that covers identity fraud on business credit cards.
I had the CA guy fax me some info, out of the 7 pages I got this is the only interesting part: The posted indebtedness will remain on file, under the debtors name, for the maximum limit as prescibed by law, UNLESS WE SPECIFICALLY REQUEST ITS REMOVAL OH OH OH and this: Obligations of furnishers under the FCRA: The FCRA prohibits information furnishers from providing info to a consumer reporting agency (CRA) that they know (or consciously avoid knowing) is inaccurate. However, the furnisher is not subject to this genereal prohibition if it clearly and conspicuously specifies an address to which consumers may write to notify the furnisher that certain info is inaccurate. (sections 623 (a)(1)(A) and (a)(1)(C). BTW, all of those CA's are that use the name "Credit Bureau of...." are subsidiaries of TU, this is what this CA guy told me.
