Consumer Credit Reports – equifax experian score

Shana L asked:


Within the Fair Credit Reporting Act – it states that information furnishers (creditors) must inform consumers about negative information which has been or is about to be placed on a consumer’s credit report within 30 days (they must correct the error or explain why the credit report is correct within 90 days).

My question is – if they informed the consumer through email ONLY and sent no notification through US mail – is that legal?
Also, how must a creditor legally inform consumers that they are attempting to collect a debt? The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is ambiguous – can they do so through email only and get away with it?

Carolyn

Johnny asked:


6 months ago I started getting phone calls, letters and even text messages from a law firm Sherman Acquisitions. I was a for a credit card debt from 11 years ago, Original balance was 3k now they want 7k. They threaten to take this to court where we will win a judgment against you then we will seize assets, garnish you and your husbands wages, with court cost and every thing this judgment will be well over 15k. I received 3 letters from them with this and about 6 voice mails that stated this threat. Then my parents started to get this calls and they left 2 voice mails like that. they would call non stop. My father went to our family attorney with this. I had to bring in credit reports ect. with all of the messages and letters. I had a credit report showing it was charged off in 1998. It is not on any of my current reports now. I got sick during that time period that’s why i defaulted. Our family attorney told us he will get them to stop contacting you, he also told us he would like to send this two a attorney that he knows that works with consumer rights, he see violations here.
Ok two months ago I went to see this consumer rights attorney he said with all of these letters, voice mails, calls we have a strong case against them. Attorney mentioned after we are finished they will be sued for 15k. Last week I got a call in to my Attorneys firm to sign the law suit. I dont have to pay anything unless I win, there for I pay them 33% out of my settlement. They are suing them for 17 violations in federal court. The stack of paperwork was like 50 pages all with tape recorded messages too. My attorney tells me he doubts I will have to appear in court “I dont really want too” most of this is done in settlement.
My question is have you or anyone else ever sued a collection agency?
I want to donate at least half of my winnings “if I win” to a orginization that helps consumers fight harassment from companies like that any suggestions?
I would like to see all of these junk debt buyers go down IMHO. A person suffered tarnished credit for 7 years.

Anna

claify asked:


I have a collection showing up on my credit report that was just posted for services I may or may not have received two years ago by a hospital. Problem is I never received a bill from the hospital, but I recently applied for a Parent Plus loan for my son’s college tuition and was denied because a collection agency provided this information to the Experian. I never received anything from the hospital or the collection agency. If I had received a bill I certainly would have contacted the hospital or the agency to validate it. But nothing, never received a bill. How can I get this off my credit report?

Chris

LIl L asked:


this is the letter:

This letter is in response to your recent request to open a Bill Me Later® account. Our records show that you requested a Bill Me Later account on 09/27/2008 in connection with a purchase of $727.30 at TigerDirect.com.

We regret that we are unable to approve you for the service at this time for the following reasons:

We were unable to verify information provided by you on your application for Bill Me Later.

Our decision was based in whole or in part on information from the consumer-reporting agency listed below. The reporting agency played no part in our decision not to approve you for the service beyond providing us with credit information about you. Therefore, the reporting agency cannot supply information about this decision. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to know the information provided to us. You can obtain a copy of the information provided by contacting:

Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc.
PO Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
1(800)685-1111

You also have the right to a free copy of the information provided by the consumer-reporting agency as long as you request the copy within 60 days of your receipt date of this notice. In addition, if you find any information contained in the report you receive is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to dispute the matter with the reporting agency.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

CIT Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah

i know i didn’t get approved but why? i can’t understand the letter, it doesn’t really tell me anything. i have good credit as i only used it once and every payment was on time. i can purchase things online with my debit card so my information is correct. i don’t see what the problem is. do i have to use different information as my debit card information. my drivers license information? where is the information they’re trying to verify?

Mitchell

DR loanseeker asked:


I recently prequalified for a home loan and i was surprised to learn that my credit scores (from Experian, Trans, and Equifax) my lender retrieved was way lower than what freecreditreport.com gave me. The loan officer told me that when creditors get reports the scores are usually lower than what consumers get. Is this true?

Harvey

heartscared asked:


I mean, like, which Mastercard should I get and from which bank, etc? Like the Capital One cards, the visa Black card, etc etc. Customer satisfaction, etc. Consumer reports? something like that. I **** my bank and I want to get a new card from someone else.

BRYCE

Chefy asked:


I’m in the mist of buying a house and am a few days away from closing. I have bought two cars in the past year and have had no problems. Just recently my title company is telling me there is a judgment against me from a credit card that I have paid off and closed four years ago. I checked my credit report and the credit card is reported as paid/closed by consumer. Is it possible there has been a judgment aginst me that I do not know about? And if there was wouldn’t it have showed up on my credit report? Any advise would help. THANKS!

LUCIO

Amy Gordon asked:


Whenever you get the chance of obtaining free annual credit report it is better to not to loose that chance. The importance of knowing the credit reports have increased to such an extent that you would have to be aware of every ups and downs in your credit status. This is so because you will have to show it in almost every financial purpose whether it is while seeking a loan, while applying for credit cards, getting an auto or a home loan or for applying for a job. Therefore, knowing about your credit score is necessary and do not loose a chance to know about it free of cost.

The credit bureau keeps track of your credit records and visiting them everything you want to know about your report is not possible. Therefore, you can opt for the online facilities. Here you will get to know about your credit records by providing the required information for your identity. However, for receiving an annual report for free you can also apply and get benefited. The annual reports will be delivered right in your home address and thus, you will have a detailed annual report. This will help you in being informed and alert for your records.      

Such reports contains information about all kind of expenses, loans and repayments, major financial transactions, credit status, outstanding payments and also credit score. This will help you in maintaining a good credit status and also in improving the bad scores. Moreover, keeping a regular data will save you from suffering any sort of identity thefts.      

Consumer credit report, business credit report or annual credit reports are the varieties of reports that you can achieve. It is this free annual credit report which will help you in borrowing money from the lenders. Every lender before lending money wants to see such reports and then decides the offered amount.



GUILLERMO

Tina Richardson asked:


Each year, over 13 million inaccuracies are discovered on consumers’ credit reports. This includes everything from faulty late payments, other people’s debts, and a classic is non-payment of an invoice from before they were born. Borrowers are able to challenge these errors; however, most do not know how.

In a 2004 survey conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office showed that over 40 percent of consumers had not checked their credit report for errors. Everyone is now entitled under federal law, to a free credit report from each of the three national credit bureaus. TransUnion, Experian and Equifax.

You do have the right to challenge any inaccuracy in your credit report, but federal law does not stipulate that key word. Therefore, credit bureaus are able to determine what is erroneous to their advantage.

For example, you would think that out-of-date information is incorrect. Wrong. This is not an arguable error according to Donald Girard, a spokesperson for Experian. Also, you would think that any missing data is also wrong. No. Credit limits do not have to be reported. Unless the creditor tells them, credit bureaus do not have to report it. This can in fact, hurt your credit score.

It is possible to challenge any personal information which may be wrong such as your address, name or social security number.

Credit bureaus are under no obligation to share information, so be sure to dispute any errors with each one. However, creditors are required to post any corrections to whichever firm that they report to.

The best way to challenge an error is by traditional U.S. mail with a return-receipt. This way, there is evidence that the credit bureau received it. Consumers allege that creditors do not make an adequate investigation. Instead, they may simply compare the claimed error against the inaccurate records or simply remove the disputed information.

According to the 2004 GAO study, almost 70 percent of consumers claimed that the information was removed. However, the incorrect information reappeared on 13 percent of these ‘successfully’ resolved disputes.

As mentioned previously, creditors are required to report any corrections to the bureaus that which they report to, however, this sometimes gets overlooked. If this happens, you will need to arrange another dispute, but this time with the creditor.

You can add a 100 word statement to your credit report if you are not satisfied with any corrections. 100 words are rarely enough to present sufficient detail, but this lets creditors know that there is another side to the story. Let it be known though that this statement will account for nothing in a computerized scoring system.

If errors have come about due to identity theft, you have the right to prevent the credit bureaus from reporting accounts opened by the thief, accounts of yours trashed by the thief and any other erroneous data. You can also prevent credit applications submitted by the thief from being reported. In order to accomplish this, you will need to fill out and file an ID theft report to the credit bureaus.

Finally, you may request a credit bureau to submit corrected copies of your credit report to lenders, insurers or other parties if these companies have based decisions on your erroneous report.



LEWIS

operaphantom2003 asked:


I have had problems with this company for years now. The debt is past sol and also past ability to report (it is at 8 years old now) and yet Midland Credit Management keeps reporting to the credit agencies. In the past three years of dealing with them they have NEVER validated and when i dispute with the credit report they mark it as disputed by consumer then a few months later Midland shows up again with another account number a new balance but the old one is never removed because they do not respond to the credit report. I still have no idea what they are trying to collect for except for a credit card I had in the early 90′s that is long since removed. I now have them listed 6 times all of which are listed as disputed by me but they are claiming to be in pre-litigation which they are not. How can I get them to go away and get the heck off my credit report? I have had no credit cards for 8 years and should have nothing on my credit report but they just wont leave.

WILLIS