June 27th, 2003:

After all of these credit issues, I thought it might be wise to look at my credit report from all three agencies in order to make sure there is no other incorrect or unknown information on them. Each of the agencies make the credit reports available to you online. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, for two of the three companies, if you are entitled to a “FREE” report (because you live in certain states or because you have been denied credit due to that report) you have to order them over the phone or in writing and wait for them to show up via US Mail. TransUnion is the only company that verifies your eligibilty for a free report and issues it to you immediately online. That’s the way it should be.

It seems rather unfair that an agency in the United States can hold, duplicate, and distribute possibily fraudulent or misrepresented information about an individual. Especially since this information is never distributed to the person it describes unless a formal request is made. Additionally, since the contesting process takes so long consumers should have a method of being notified immediately of new information so that it can be corrected as soon as possible.

However, most people are of the impression that, if you paid your bills on time and in full, you would never have an issue. Unfortunately, this is not true. If you look at my case against SouthWestern Bell, my bill was paid in full over a year ago, and yet, according the credit agency, I still owe them money. Additionally, Jaclyn comes to mind with her case of stolen identity and the possible negative effects that could have on her credit.

However, it isn’t illegal to hold and distribute information about someone if that information is accurate. And, since no company or individual is required (nor should they be required) to tell every person and corporation every little piece of information they’ve heard about them in order to ensure its accuracy. Therefore, there are only two ways to correct the process. One way is to convince those companies that use the information that they should find an alternative source of information. That’s a difficult task. The other option is make the information held by these agencies so corrupted, that it is no longer of any use. If EVERY person who ever BELIEVED that ANY person or company owed them ANYTHING reported this information to all three credit agencies, I doubt there would be many people or companies with a clean record. Have so much possibly inaccurate data in the system will cause the system to either breakdown or be reformed.

For instance, even though I paid the two apartment complexes the money that they claimed I owed them in order to clear up my credit, I don’t believe that they money was justified. One of the apartment managers demands that the assement they made was correct. The other doesn’t bother to call me back. In both cases it is easy to say that I made an attempt to retrieve the debt that is owed me. Especially if you consider that I was never even contacted by the first apartment complex and yet a mark was placed on my credit. If, as a consumer, I could issue a statement to the credit agencies claiming that these companies (and the individuals that represent them) owe me money, the system would be more accurate. Unfortunately, it seems that, without the proper credentials, it is not possible to get these credit agencies to accept your information. I’m going to look into what it would take to allow me to make negative reports aganst another person.

Yesterday, Jess and I drove to Mesquite for lunch in order to pay off the last of the apartment bills. Now everything is taken care of (and we’re $1101.30 poorer). Next, we need to drive to the new apartment and show them that everything has been taken care of. Then I’ll make copies of all the information and craft one letter for each of the Credit Agencies and mail them off. That should take care of all of my credit issues for the time being.