Comment Number: 522110-00045
Received: 5/19/2006 12:48:01 AM
Organization:
Commenter: Bonnet
State: OK
Subject: Procedures to Enhance the Accuracy and Integrity of Information Furnished to Consumer Reporting Agencies
Title: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Parts 660 and 661
No Attachments

Comments:

I pulled my credit reports for the first time last year. I do have a small amount of charged off/sold and collection agency accounts on all three credit bureau reports. I have noticed that every (yes every) original creditor charged off/sold and collection agency account listed has many inaccuracies throughout each of the tradelines they have placed on my reports. Yes I realize that having charged off/sold and collection agencies on my reports is damaging in itself. But because they are reporting inaccurately, they have caused far more damage to my credit than if they were reporting accurately. The inaccuracies range from the original creditor of a charged off/sold account still listing the account as being past due, X number of days late, monthly amount due, along with many other inaccuracies. Date of first delinquency, and other information, differs by credit bureau. For the collection agencies I have noticed they show the accounts as being open, they claim to be a factoring company, the account is being past due, X number of days late, re-aging and many other types of inaccurate reporting. One collection agency actually uses another collection agencies name as the original creditor on my reports. That same collection agency has failed, more than once, to validate the debt they alledgedly own, even calling me for payment after they recieved a full cease and desist I had sent them. When I asked them why they had failed to validate, I was told, by someone who claimed to be a manager, that they have nothing in their records to validate with, yet they verified with the bureaus, again, on my next dispute. The way they are reporting to the bureaus, I have no idea if it is actually my account or not. I have disputed these inaccuracies more than once, with the bureaus and collection agencies, with the results being verified and no attempt to correct the inaccurate reporting on my reports. It has gotten to the point, on some of my disputes with the bureaus, that they are shown as verified within a day or two after the credit bureaus recieve my disputes. With one bureau even refusing to bother to investigate on one inaccurate tradeline. As I was told by them - it was previously investigated so it remains. The credit bureaus and the furnishers of information should know the FCRA and should report correctly. It should not be up to the consumer to have to continue, time after time, to struggle to have correct these damaging reports. The credit bureaus and data furnershers should realize that if they are getting continued complaints about a tradeline, that something could very well be wrong with it. Instead of automatically/mechanically verifiying it, they should investigate.