Credit Reports and a Bureau

Veggie PAK

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Does anyone else despise credit reports and the fact that businesses have saddled the American consumer with yet another way to extort money from our families? Does anyone have faith in a Bureau, that it will actually come to the aid of a consumer? Two important questions.

Look at the definitions for libel and slander as found in the American Heritage Dictionary:

libel (l b l) NOUN:
1.
a. A false publication, as in writing, print, signs, or pictures, that damages a person's reputation.
b. The act of presenting such material to the public.
2. The written claims presented by a plaintiff in an action at admiralty law or to an ecclesiastical court.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
libeled or libelled, libeling or libelling, libels
To publish a libel about (a person). See Synonyms at malign.



slander (sl n d r) NOUN:
1. Law Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation.
2. A false and malicious statement or report about someone.
VERB:
slandered, slandering, slanders
VERB:
tr.
To utter a slander about. See Synonyms at malign.
VERB:
intr.

To utter or spread slander.


What has happened in America to let businesses publish and report untrue statements about our payment practices without any liability on their part for libel and slander? If that isn't bad enough, WE have been made responsible for correcting the inaccuracies in the "credit reports". Well, if they are putting out libelous information about us that is detrimental to our reputation, why does the Government allow it to continue? What part of libel or slander has a credit reporting business not committed?

I got caught up in trying to correct inaccurate information on my own credit report (I despise that term) and found out that the corrections didn't last very long. Like a sheeple, I went and got the free annual credit report (they're so good to us!) and wrote many letters correcting the inaccurate data so that finally my report for the last viewable seven years looked pretty good. I didn't apply for any loans, accounts or anything that would affect the rating. A year later, I got my next free report, and was shocked to see that at the same reporting company, all my corrections had been wiped out and they went back 28 years to compile my report. All the untruths were back! The point is, they have NO responsibility to see that this information is correct, or is KEPT corrected after exhaustive efforts to fix it in the first place.

As far as complaining to a Bureau, you don't get anywhere. I fought Sears through a Bureau and it was a sad joke. It's not there to protect the consumer. In reality, it's just a club that businesses pay annual membership fees to in order to be a member and get a sticker for their door. Does anyone ever stop to think how interesting it is that the spending and payment history hundreds of millions of consumers is being tracked every day for their entire life span? Then why, after writing a couple of form letters about a valid conflict with a business against a consumer, does a Bureau wipe the complaint off their "club" member's file? The Bureau does not keep a public record of it and is not obligated to do so. Therefore, you can't see the history of problems with particular retailers because they AREN'T KEPT. But that same retailer keeps paying the annual membership dues and is a fine fellow in a Bureau's eyes because they have the "logo" on the door of their store and web site. Oh yeah, AND THEY KEEP SENDING A BUREAU AN ANNUAL CHECK FOR MEMBERSHIP DUES!

How absurd that the public allows this to continue. Have you had experiences like this?
 

abifae

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I have no credit so am lucky enough to side step the entire issue! Yet another thing to keep me from ever bothering to "build credit".
 

Veggie PAK

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The trouble is, they build a credit report for you based on utility payments or whatever else they can get their hands on, correct or not. Then they make it your responsibility to make sure it's accurate, even though you never wanted it in the first place. If you're an adult and breathing, they've made a credit report about you already.

It just isn't right, but the majority of consumers don't address it, so it goes on.
 
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