This is a copy of a letter that I am sending to all of my Congressional representatives and state represenatives. If enough people do likewise maybe we can affect some change in this god-awful system. I have had little success fighting the Forces of Evil even with the help of this excellent board. The system itself is fatally flawed and maybe just maybe if the outrage reaches a certain levelsomething could be done. Any suggestions are appreciated and I urge all to do the same. Dear Senator/Representative, I am writing to you to voice my frustration and anger with the way credit bureaus operate. The current laws on the books(the Fair Credit Reporting Act) do not do nearly enough to control these corporations and their minions, collection agencies. Experian, Transunion, Equifax have created a system of "guilty until proven innocent" that is next to impossible for an ordinary citizen to combat. These corporate monoliths control almost every aspect of daily life. You cannot rent an apartment, buy a car, get utility service, and many others, without these three goliaths approval. Your car insurance rate is even affected by your credit rating!!! Apparently if I am a late on a credit card payment it means that I am a bad driver. These credit bureaus put anything that is sent to them on your report and the onus is on you to get it removed. For example, I have several inaccurate entries from collection agencies on my credit reports. I dispute them with the credit bureaus and they supposedly "verify" them. Basically this means that they confirm what has already been placed on your report with whoever placed it there. They don't have to get proof or do any actual "verification. This basically boils down like this. 1. Company A places incorrect negative information on your credit report. 2. You dispute the information. 3. Credit bureau supposedly contacts Company A and says "Is this correct"? Of course, Company A says "Yes it is" What purpose does this serve? They somehow came up with the incorrect information in the first place so of course that is the information that they have in their system. Imagine if the criminal justice system worked this way. Person A accuses Person B. Judge asks Person A "Did you accuse Person B? Person A replies "Why yes I did". Verdict: Guilty. 4. Credit bureau denies dispute and tells you that you have to contact the Company A yourself. 5. You contact Company A and demand validation of this alleged debt. By law they are required to do this but 99 times out of 100 they just send you a printout from their computer even when you specify that they must provide actual proof(i.e.signed contract). 6.Many letters, phone calls, countless wasted hours dealing with abusive companies to no avail. You are up the proverbial creek. You have only one option left and that is to sue them. This system is terribly flawed and something must be done. Why are consumers deemed to be guilty until proven innocent? It is patently unfair that ordinary citizens must fight these multimillion-dollar corporations at their own expense. The burden of proof should lie with these credit bureaus, not the individual citizen. They publish these reports but recognize no real duty to ensure accuracy even though they are required by law to do so. The laws currently on the books provide no real means of forcing these companies to comply. A violation of the FCRA carries with it a $1000 fine. This is absurd. The credit bureaus basically screw millions of people and the few who are savvy enough and have the resources to fight them in court might be able to get a small amount of relief. The vast majority are out of luck and are at the mercy of predatory lenders, landlords, and insurance agents. The credit bureaus view these fines as simply a cost of doing business. I'm sure it is cheaper to just do business the way they currently do because 99% of the people never fight them. The power being wielded by these credit bureaus is completely disproportionate to the amount of regulation they are subjected to. Your credit history becomes more and more vital to everyday life with each passing day. I urge you to introduce legislation to properly regulate these corporations. Obviously there is a need for accurate credit information to be made available to potential lenders so they can assess their risk. The current system is riddled with corruption, greed, and abuse. I again urge you to take steps to rectify this situation. Respectfully John Q. Public
1* We need to start calling it what it really is Fraud plain and simple. Do you call Burglary,Robbery or Rape a system?,No you call it what it is. We need to call this scam for what it is. Calling it a system is making excuses for it and there are none! 2*see 1 above. 3*A=Complain as you are doing. B=Sue Sue Sue. C=We Need to quit bending over every time they try to sock it to us!!! 1*
Great Letter! DITTO! I like it I'll be sending it via PFB to the Ohio Attorney General (Betty D. Montgomery) and cc'd to the following: Federal Senate George Voinovich (R) Federal Senate Mike DeWine (R) Governor Robert Taft (R) State Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell And also my congressman (Steven C. LaTourette) which you can contact yours for any state through http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Re: Great Letter! Great Letter. If we as consumers don't take a stand and draw the line we haven't see anything yet!
Another Idea.Not only send the letter your self also get ten other folks to send it too with those getting 10 more each & so on. Get the message out by The Media
Das, I like your letter. You sound like a real human being, one who's frustrated with "the system". It's a long read, but I think your approach will make them take everything you say to heart. Let us know what kind of response you get!
I like your letter, but if you are attempting to change the system through political means, you need to look at the situation from a political perspective. The CRA's are multi-billion dollar corporations, who employ thousands of people. They are also one of the biggest lobbyists in Washington. You can write your congressman and you most likely will recieve a letter back expressing outrage at the CRA's behavior and a promise to "look into the matter further" but that will be it. Politicians live and die by keeping their major contributors happy, the CRA's funding can mean the continuation of a political career, or the end of one. We, on the other hand are private individuals who at most can contribute a few hundred dollars to a campaign. When it comes time to either help out the consumer or keep their war chests full, the politicians will always choose the later. Although effecting change through legislation would be a time consuming and difficult endeavor, the CRA's have a major weakness that we can use to our advantage: Profit and Loss. The quickest way to effect change in this industry is through the courts, the only thing that will change the CRA's behavior is consistant court battles, hiring lawyers and paying damages time and time again has a major effect on their balance sheets. Hitting these companies in the pocketbook is our best option.
I am not naive and I do not expect any direct benefit to my situation by writing this letter. I believe Congress did not anticipate the power that these credit bureaus wield over people's ordinary. Creidt reports are being used in ways that were not foreseen. I am hopeful that the laws pertaining to them will eventually be changed. My credit should be clear long before that(even with inaccurate dates and unverifiable items my credit should be clear in 12-15 months). This letter was more to voice my indignation at how the system works. I agree with you that the most direct way to bring pressure to bear on the CRAs is through the courts and hurt their bottom line. It is the only language they understand. That being said it doesn't hurt to write letters as well. Who knows maybe someone in Congress has a conscience.
I agree, the system as it stands now is corrupt. The consumer is at a major disadvantage when it comes to the CRA's. The current political trends are biased towards businesses and corporations, although I am very conservative politically I think we should have more powerful laws to protect consumers. But I also get worried whenever we enact legislation, the little guy usually loses. I think our judicial system offers a great opportunity for relief when we are abused by the CRA. There have been many people on this board who have fought the CRA's in court and won if enough people do this the CRA's will change thier tune and will have to be more consumer friendly or they will lose profits.
1*True they buy the politicians but we supply the votes. 2*So be sure and vote against him at election time. 3*So can our votes 4*Vote them out and they won't be there to benefit from the war chest. 5*Right but it's not the only way. 6*Right again that is why we should not be doing business with them.If it wasn't for us they wouldn't have all that dough for lobbing.Where do you think they are getting the money for that.? Yes,we can use the courts to take back some of the money we gave them,but we could stop putting all that money in their pocketbooks to start with.
1*That is why if we refuse to do business with them they will come around.With out us they have no bottom line! 2*I am sure they all want our votes,but we don't have to give them that.
That brings up an interesting point -- what exactly does it take to be licensed as a CRA? Surely they have to have some kind of government license, or anyone could set up shop as the next big CRA! Just think ... it could be EX, EQ, TU, and CN (CreditNetters!).
