I requested the procedures TU used in one of my reinvestigations. This account has been deleted long ago by the other two CRA's. I sent a letter to them detailing exactly what I wanted to see regarding their investigation. This is what I received in response: 1. Letter #1 - "Thank you for contacting TU. Our goal is to maintain complete and accurate info on your credit report. We have provided the information below in response to your request..... If you would like to contacta creditor regarding the info they supplied to us about you, please contact them at the addresses below." Three pages of addresses follow, most of which I don't even recognize the creditor. 2. Letter #2 "Thank you for contacting TU. Our goal is to maintain complete and accurate info on your credit report. We have provided the information below in response to your request..... Re: Dispute Status "We received your request on xx/xx/xx and are investigating. We will conclude it in 30 days." 3. Letter #3 "Thank you for contacting TU. Our goal is to maintain complete and accurate info on your credit report. We have provided the information below in response to your request..... Re: Verification Documents Not Available "We store info in our records as it is supplied to us by creditors. When info is disputed, we are requiired to investigate and record the current status. We dont provide dispute verification responses received from creditors. If you need to obtain documentation or verification regarding your accounts, contact the creditor directly." They attach the same 3 pages of addresses again. 4. Letter #4 3 pages of addresses only with no explanation at all. Here is my question- 1. What are they doing? 2. Does this in any way satisfy their obligation to tell me how they conducted their investigation? 3. Has anyone received a good description of procedures used when they requested them. Please give me some guidance on this one guys!
Rule 611 (b)(iii) of the FCRA states as follows: (iii) a notice that, if requested by the consumer, a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information shall be provided to the consumer by the agency, including the business name and address of any furnisher of information contacted in connection with such information and the telephone number of such furnisher, if reasonably available; Giving just addresses does not fulfill their obligation. They must also provide the method used to verify each and every acct. you asked about.
LKH, in your experience, has an adequate description ever been given to you? This is all form letter stuff. There was no thought put into it. I would assume that is what everyone gets when they ask for description of the procedures in an investigation. Can I consider this a violation? Where do I go from here?
LISA, I received almost the same exact letters over the weekend from trans union, except for letter #2 with a re-dispute I put in on a collection account. they told me that they already investigated this once and it was verified and that they will not do it again and considered it frivolous?. I also called them on April 30th because they still have not sent me out an updated credit report from the last disputes. I'm hoping that these letters I received are not what they are consituting as a credit report. I'm curious to know if they are in violation as well. also, I got back a letter from Experian. which I had disputes in since last month and they are telling me that I need to send them proof of my address (2 forms of ID for this), also proof of my address for the last five years, only then will they do the investigation on the items that I asked. I moved in the end of February with a family member and I have no proof of address, because nothing is in my name at this residence. I don't know what I'm going to do about this one, because Equifax is doing the same thing to me. I'm getting no where with them. I ready to just give up. I've been trying to dispute with Experian and Equifax since March, I'm getting nowhere.
Kathy, come on. Keep your chin up! This stuff is awful to deal with. I hate it! Everyone on this board knows the hassles and heartache associated with it. You have to be tougher than they are. If this will help you at all, try it. I felt like you did about 2 months ago. I was ready to give it up. I have always kept impeccable records related to my efforts. I basically started over at that point. Now, as I look back to the time I nearly gave up, I have racked up some pretty good wins since then. It gets bad, but it gets better. It is a constant rollercoaster. Like today, I am frustrated over this whole TU procedure thing. I pulled my report, and they have deleted 6 inquiries! They have never, ever deleted one of my inquiries or even disputed it. SO, that is today's good news. Now I have to deal with the bad news. Keep checking this board. There are lots of great people and lots of sage advice. I have learned so much here. Chime in when you can--you never know when someone else is going through the same thing. Lisa
Lisa, sorry about the last post, I hint the wrong button. anyway, your right,. If I back down, I'm giving them exactly what they want, so there for I'm not going to. I will get over this address thing If it is the last thing I do. Thanks so much for the words of encouragement. I think I just had a disgust moment brewing. All the people on this board are wonderful in my account. I actually know more about this stuff now then I did 3 months ago. anyway, does anyone know If they could tell us If want trans-union is sending is any kind of a violation ? I would be really interested to know. kathy
This is only my opinion: When I've received these form letters it bums me out - especially in the cases where you know there is no way they actually verified it. I think the form letter satisfies the letter of the law but that it definitely violates the intent of the law. I'm thinking the intent of the law was to make the CRA state exactly how they verified data as well as give the comsumer a way to 'double-check' the results. I think an FTC opinion letter (weak) or a lawsuit would be necessary to force them into satisfying the intent of the law. I'm currently putting a letter to the FTC together on the whole "TU delete the whole account" nonsense whenever even part of a tradeline is unverifiable. Maybe somebody else could take on this bad boy! Tom
If they sent you addresses and phone numbers of the creditors they verified, that is ok. But, the FCRA also says they must include the method they used to verify. It appears by your posts that they sent no description of the method used. Although it may be a violation, I have no idea how far you could get with it. Now, I can assure you that they also were in violation for not placing a "in dispute" notation on your reports when you disputed. They never do. That is a violation. So maybe by pushing both violations you could get somewhere with it. You might just want to send another request for procedures but this time include the rule from the FCRA.
No, LKH, they did not attempt to include the process of the verification. Not only did they include the address of the item in question, they gave me a complete dump of every address of all items appearing on my report. This includes all inquiries-hard and soft, all tradelines open and closed, the whole thing. I agree, this form letter does not address the intent of the FCRA requirement. It probably does satisfy the basic legal requirement or they wouldn't even bother with a form letter.
LisaMc' I received the same letters. They don't give you the procedures for the account you inquired about, just pages of all the addresses of all the creditors on your report and inquiries.They give a general discription of the methods used. It is such a cop out! I sent another letter out with specific questions, who did they speak with, at what address, what phone number etc. They'll probably just send same stuff back, or say they won't reinvestigate because its frivolous.
Tu's system by default will generate fcra violations on every dispute you put in. Why? How? Once you start an investigation pull your report again (better yet, have a local bank pull it for you and keep it..) . there will be absolutely no "In dispute" notation. NONE. their system is too old and they're updating it right now. Meaning: anything you can get in dispute automatically violates the fcra by their system not being able to show you or a creditor that the items are in dispute during the 30 day period...
you know, you could always write the ftc and enclose the letters and ask.... I think it doesn't meet the standard, which is quite impressive since the standard is laughably weak... or you could ask an atty Honestly, if a "reasonable man" looks at what they sent and still can't see how the items were verified... it seems like it doesn't make the grade.
