In our criminal justice system the accused is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law, and even after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison or death, an inmate can appeal a wrongful conviction, can fight to clear his or her name. It might take years, but eventually even a wrongfully convicted lifer can get the decision overturned. And that's a good thing.
In the credit reporting racket, however, you are presumed to be a deadbeat and errors on your personal credit report are presumed to be fact until or unless you can get the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) aka credit bureaus to:
1.investigate the items you dispute, and
2. delete and/or correct errors on your personal credit report. And therein lies the problem. To dispute errors on your credit report you first have to get a copy of your credit report. And if the credit bureaus refuse to give you a free copy of your credit report-- which you're entitled to once each year, how can you dispute the wrong information on it?
In the credit report rackets, there's no court appointed lawyer to represent you against the faceless machines running the three big ones: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Information in a credit report can be used by landlords, potential employers, banks, and mortgage companies to determine your credit worthiness and decide whether you'll get a job, an apartment, a mortgage, a car loan, a credit card. Outdated negative information/wrong information can negatively impact your life, to say the least--which is why consumers are advised to get copies of their credit reports at least once a year. The U.S. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) requires the 3 major credit bureaus to provide every person one free credit report per year.
The last time I received a credit report from Experian was in January, 2006.
In 2007 I figured it was time for a new one, because I knew there were accounts on the old report that I'd paid in full and/or were wrong. I called the toll free number --877.322.8228-- for free annual credit reports and requested a copy of my free annual credit report. If, as Experian claims, a copy of my credit report was provided to me in the past year, it wasn't sent to me: I never got one.
In July/August I printed out request forms from the internet http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and mailed it in, again requesting my free annual credit report from each of the Big Three. Thereafter began a game of mail tag and stonewalling that has continued through November. The preferred avoidance tactic they use is that they needto verify "proof" of my address/ social security number. So I sent them copies of my paystub with my name, social security and address printed on it. After this the CRAs sent me back letters asking for the same documentation I'd already sent them.
Consumers are entitled to a free credit report if they've been denied credit within the last 60 days based on information provided in their credit report. So I applied for a credit card, got turned down based on information provided by Experian, and sent Experian a copy of the denial letter within 60 days. It was at this point that Experian switched its avoidance tactic to the excuse that they have to "verify" my mailing address and social security number. They letter tagged and foot dragged me for the next 60 plus days, until the credit denial time frame expired. Then Experian reverted back to its "we already sent you a credit report this year" letter.
With a few days remaining in the year 2007, still I've got no credit report this year. At this time, Experian continues to falsely report at least four debts that I paid in full over one year ago, could have discharged in bankruptcy, but chose not to, and have receipts to prove it.
Additionally it's probably reporting a judgment against me that was subsequently voluntarily dismissed with prejudice by the collection agency (Asset Acceptance) when my lawyer made it aware of its "mistake," and yes I can prove that too.
There are at least five negative items on my credit report that Experian and the other racketeers refuse to let me get copies of so I can dispute the WRONG information, information that the CRAs freely provide to third parties. For whomever is viewing my credit report--the same credit report the Big Three refuse to give me copies of--here's the real deal:
University Community Hospital emergency room bill --paid in full November 2006. I have a receipt.
University Community Hospital charges not covered by insurance. Paid in full 2005 I have a receipt.
Emergency room physicians bill. Paid in full November 2006. Yes, proof I have.
Back rent owed due to job loss in September 2001 (that's seven years this September). Paid in full. Receipt, proof. Yes.
Judgment for plaintiff Asset Acceptance in breach of contract. (what contract?) Voluntary dismissal with prejudice. Copy of court document available upon request.
Where's the due process in this scheme? There is none. This is the economic equivalent of Guantanamo. The consumer is guilty because the CRA's and the money grubbing vampires/raising old debts from the grave past their natural demise collection agencies say so, and the "accused" is denied access to the so called evidence of the debts/mistakes and is denied the opportunity to clear his/her name or otherwise defend him/herself against these predators.
If the health of our economy is so dependent on consumer spending as is claimed, then why are consumers treated like criminals with no rights? It's enough to make an honest citizen want to be an anarchist...(tea party, anyone?) http://infoshop.org/
Update: From the depths of some swamp there now emerges a new predatory collection agency that sends one of its parasitic letters to my family's home. It's addressed to a person with my misspelled last name and the wrong first name. The letter states I owe $198.00 and change and these lowlifes are willing to settle for $59.60. So I check an old credit report dated 2002 and find a matching account number linked with a different name that is "scheduled to be reported until 2003." Which makes this account number seven years old in 2003. Which makes it more than 11 years old now. It's past the statute of limitations for every state. Furthermore the original account is some kind of mobile phone account. This is known as "re-aging" an old debt.
Well, guess what. I've never had a phone contract. I use only prepaid phones, and always have.
And this too will be reported to the FTC. http://www.ftc.gov/
All you carpetbagging, speculating, real estate flipping, predatory lending (barely)legal loan sharks: haven't you done enough damage-- to the economy; to thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people's lives; to communities, to neighborhoods?
It's a New Year comin' on. Why don't you predators all get honest jobs somewhere like the people you victimize and terrorize and stop being parasites that suck the life out of poor and working class families?
Happy 2008--to everybody except the parasites and poverty pimps! May you rot in substandard housing with no heat.
FCRA Part 603 "Prohibition against circumventing treatment as a nationwide consumer reporting agency."
In the credit reporting racket, however, you are presumed to be a deadbeat and errors on your personal credit report are presumed to be fact until or unless you can get the credit reporting agencies (CRAs) aka credit bureaus to:
1.investigate the items you dispute, and
2. delete and/or correct errors on your personal credit report. And therein lies the problem. To dispute errors on your credit report you first have to get a copy of your credit report. And if the credit bureaus refuse to give you a free copy of your credit report-- which you're entitled to once each year, how can you dispute the wrong information on it?
In the credit report rackets, there's no court appointed lawyer to represent you against the faceless machines running the three big ones: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
Information in a credit report can be used by landlords, potential employers, banks, and mortgage companies to determine your credit worthiness and decide whether you'll get a job, an apartment, a mortgage, a car loan, a credit card. Outdated negative information/wrong information can negatively impact your life, to say the least--which is why consumers are advised to get copies of their credit reports at least once a year. The U.S. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) requires the 3 major credit bureaus to provide every person one free credit report per year.
The last time I received a credit report from Experian was in January, 2006.
In 2007 I figured it was time for a new one, because I knew there were accounts on the old report that I'd paid in full and/or were wrong. I called the toll free number --877.322.8228-- for free annual credit reports and requested a copy of my free annual credit report. If, as Experian claims, a copy of my credit report was provided to me in the past year, it wasn't sent to me: I never got one.
In July/August I printed out request forms from the internet http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and mailed it in, again requesting my free annual credit report from each of the Big Three. Thereafter began a game of mail tag and stonewalling that has continued through November. The preferred avoidance tactic they use is that they needto verify "proof" of my address/ social security number. So I sent them copies of my paystub with my name, social security and address printed on it. After this the CRAs sent me back letters asking for the same documentation I'd already sent them.
Consumers are entitled to a free credit report if they've been denied credit within the last 60 days based on information provided in their credit report. So I applied for a credit card, got turned down based on information provided by Experian, and sent Experian a copy of the denial letter within 60 days. It was at this point that Experian switched its avoidance tactic to the excuse that they have to "verify" my mailing address and social security number. They letter tagged and foot dragged me for the next 60 plus days, until the credit denial time frame expired. Then Experian reverted back to its "we already sent you a credit report this year" letter.
With a few days remaining in the year 2007, still I've got no credit report this year. At this time, Experian continues to falsely report at least four debts that I paid in full over one year ago, could have discharged in bankruptcy, but chose not to, and have receipts to prove it.
Additionally it's probably reporting a judgment against me that was subsequently voluntarily dismissed with prejudice by the collection agency (Asset Acceptance) when my lawyer made it aware of its "mistake," and yes I can prove that too.
There are at least five negative items on my credit report that Experian and the other racketeers refuse to let me get copies of so I can dispute the WRONG information, information that the CRAs freely provide to third parties. For whomever is viewing my credit report--the same credit report the Big Three refuse to give me copies of--here's the real deal:
University Community Hospital emergency room bill --paid in full November 2006. I have a receipt.
University Community Hospital charges not covered by insurance. Paid in full 2005 I have a receipt.
Emergency room physicians bill. Paid in full November 2006. Yes, proof I have.
Back rent owed due to job loss in September 2001 (that's seven years this September). Paid in full. Receipt, proof. Yes.
Judgment for plaintiff Asset Acceptance in breach of contract. (what contract?) Voluntary dismissal with prejudice. Copy of court document available upon request.
Where's the due process in this scheme? There is none. This is the economic equivalent of Guantanamo. The consumer is guilty because the CRA's and the money grubbing vampires/raising old debts from the grave past their natural demise collection agencies say so, and the "accused" is denied access to the so called evidence of the debts/mistakes and is denied the opportunity to clear his/her name or otherwise defend him/herself against these predators.
If the health of our economy is so dependent on consumer spending as is claimed, then why are consumers treated like criminals with no rights? It's enough to make an honest citizen want to be an anarchist...(tea party, anyone?) http://infoshop.org/
Update: From the depths of some swamp there now emerges a new predatory collection agency that sends one of its parasitic letters to my family's home. It's addressed to a person with my misspelled last name and the wrong first name. The letter states I owe $198.00 and change and these lowlifes are willing to settle for $59.60. So I check an old credit report dated 2002 and find a matching account number linked with a different name that is "scheduled to be reported until 2003." Which makes this account number seven years old in 2003. Which makes it more than 11 years old now. It's past the statute of limitations for every state. Furthermore the original account is some kind of mobile phone account. This is known as "re-aging" an old debt.
Well, guess what. I've never had a phone contract. I use only prepaid phones, and always have.
And this too will be reported to the FTC. http://www.ftc.gov/
All you carpetbagging, speculating, real estate flipping, predatory lending (barely)legal loan sharks: haven't you done enough damage-- to the economy; to thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people's lives; to communities, to neighborhoods?
It's a New Year comin' on. Why don't you predators all get honest jobs somewhere like the people you victimize and terrorize and stop being parasites that suck the life out of poor and working class families?
Happy 2008--to everybody except the parasites and poverty pimps! May you rot in substandard housing with no heat.
FCRA 605 "No CRA may make any consumer report containing (4) accounts placed for collection or charged to profit and loss which antedate the report by more than seven years."
FCRA Part 603 "Prohibition against circumventing treatment as a nationwide consumer reporting agency."
