Telecheck, a subsidiary of First Data, is a Specialty Consumer Reporting Agency who (under the Fair Credit Reporting Act) has an obligation to have reasonable procedures in place to assure maximum possible accuracy. This includes the updating of their data base. In the year 2002 the state of Tennessee updated their driversâ?? license numbering system from 8 digits to 9. For example, if your old driversâ?? license number was 12345678, your new number would be 012345678. Basically, they added a â??0â? to the beginning of every 8 digit number. In my lawsuit against Telecheck, they blamed the merchants for â??incorrectlyâ? adding a â??0â? to the beginning of my driverâ??s license number which resulted in numerous declines and numerous very embarrassing moments at various merchants. We obtained a document from the TN Department of Safety attesting to the fact that the â??0â? was added in the year 2002 by the state, therefore this was not the merchantâ??s mistake, but Telecheck DID NOT UPDATE THEIR DATABASE PROPERLY. The state of Tennessee does not have a state income tax so we rely on sales tax to support our government. Who knows how much money the state has lost as a result of this situation? I say all that to say, if you live in the state of TN and have received a code 3, check your driverâ??s license and see if it begins with a â??0â?. Your only â??crimeâ? may have been that you renewed your driverâ??s license and you looked like a â??brand new check writerâ? rather than someone who has been acting responsibly with their checking account for years. An interesting side note, I have been talking to different sales clerks throughout the Nashville area about this driversâ?? license/code 3 issue and was told about another code 3 crockery. An older gentleman who works at Macyâ??s (they used to be Hechtâ??s who used Telecheck to process checks, Macyâ??s does not use Telecheck) told me not only was it frustrating for him as a cashier at Hechtâ??s (because Telecheck didnâ??t update their database properly) but it was also frustrating for him as a customer. He was recently at Wal-mart and got a code three (he also had a zero at the beginning of his driverâ??s license number). He told the clerk to drop the zero and guess what? It went through with no problem!!!! Imagine that!!! The clerk thanked him very much because she said she was so frustrated and couldnâ??t understand why so many people were receiving code 3â??s. So much for fair and accurate consumer reports.
