I wasn't going to post it -- but...

Here is the letter I used to get access restored to Credit Watch the second time it stopped working and Equifax wanted to split my file.

Copying it verbatium and sending it to Equifax will probably not be helpful and just make it ineffective so please don't.

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Dear Mr. Chapman,

I was not kidding about my intention to make this problem very public. Here is the letter that is going out to as many news organizations as I can find if you do not provide the "unlimited" access to my credit report and score that your website promises. I expect to have that access or knowledge of a reasonable date and time when such access will be restored by July 1, 2002.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I thought your news organization might be interested in pursuing a consumer interest story about credit reporting and an on-line service offered to the public from Equifax, a consumer credit reporting agency.

Equifax is offering a service they call "Credit Watch" on their public website at http://www.equifax.com. For a fee of $69.95 per year, they offer "Unlimited access to Score Power - your Equifax credit report and FICO score". As you may know, a FICO score is a numerical representation of a consumer's credit history generated using a secret formula developed by Fair, Isaac & Company used by most lenders when they make decisions about granting credit. Until recently this important score was deliberately kept from consumers, but due to popular demand and legislative pressure from a number of states, credit reporting agencies have begun to offer credit scores to consumers.

For the most part this new willingness to disclose credit data to consumers is a good thing. When I reviewed my personal credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union I found many errors and have spent the last several months attempting to correct my credit information. Credit reporting agencies make this process very difficult for consumers to correct inaccuracies in their credit files and in my case often violate the law or make false statements to consumers regarding the credit reporting law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act. While it seems unfair that the consumer must perform the duties of the credit reporting agencies, namely to ensure that only accurate data is reported, on-line services such as Equifax's Credit Watch are a helpful way for consumers to gain access to their credit files.

Of the three credit reporting agencies only Equifax and Experian provide on-line services that purport to allow unlimited access to consumer credit files. Each company's on-line service places a so-called "soft inquiry" on a consumer's credit file when a consumer views an updated report. A "soft inquiry" is generated for these types of consumer disclosures, for promotional purposes when a creditor wants to offer pre-qualified consumers some type of credit offer and when a consumer's existing creditors wish to monitor credit performance. These types of inquiries have no impact on a consumer's FICO score. This is different from a so-called "hard inquiry" which is generated when a consumer applies for new credit. These "hard inquiries" can have a substantial impact on credit scores.

While Experian's on-line system works correctly, Equifax's on-line system runs into difficulty, so they say, when a consumer's credit file contains too many total inquiries, including the number of so-called "soft inquiries". The problem is, each time a consumer uses the Equifax service the system can generate two, three or even more of these "soft inquiries". Thus, when Equifax advertises to the public that they provide "unlimited" access to credit reports and scores on-line for an annual fee of $69.95 they are telling an outright lie. Each time a consumer uses Equifax's on-line system they are contributing to a silent countdown to a time when they will be locked out from on-line access. If a consumer actually disputes information on their credit file, several more of these "soft inquiries" will be generated during the dispute process which will speed the eventual denial of service. Equifax is thusly making a show of providing consumers with an easy way to check the accuracy of their credit information, for a hefty fee, while they are actually making it more difficult for consumers to verify and dispute their reports in the long run. In my opinion this is an elaborate fraud.

I have attempted to contact Equifax about this problem and they have ignored me. It is my hope that by involving your news organization I can help consumers gain better access to information reported about themselves by these data collection agencies. I also believe that the subject of credit reporting and credit scoring in general is of great interest to your audience.

I would be happy to provide you with more information. I can be reached by telephone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx or at my home address at the top of this letter.