The dirty little secret Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion don’t want you to know about inaccurate credit reports.
Consumer Disputes are Outsourced.
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion all have similar business practices for reinvestigating consumer credit report disputes. The dirty little secret that they do not want consumers to know is that they no longer handle these disputes themselves. Not only do they not actually handle or investigate the disputes, they do not even open their own mail. Thus, these agencies never even see or touch consumer disputes anymore. They receive tens of millions of disputes each year and processing them is expensive, so they have decided to outsource that work to unrelated companies located in Costa Rica, India, and the Philippines. Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union do not want you the consumer to know their dirty little secret, so they intentionally hide it from you and use words like “WE” to describe who did the investigation. If you ask Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion for a description of how the reinvestigation happened, they will never confess the truth that they allowed outsourced companies to do everything. You should not be surprised to learn that these outsourced companies are provided very little authority to correct erroneous data because the credit reporting agencies do not trust them. And, as a result, very few disputed items are corrected unless the original creditor tells them to do so.
How to Write A Good Credit Report Dispute Letter
How can a consumer use the dirty little secret to their advantage? By mailing a good credit dispute letter to the credit reporting agency that clearly demonstrates why the information disputed on the credit report is objectively inaccurate. The best credit disputes letters describe why the information is inaccurate and include supporting documentation to demonstrate the inaccuracy. Three specific categories of incorrect information should result in the direct removal of inaccurate credit information: 1) inaccurate information that is inconsistent with the records of the credit reporting agency; 2) false information that contains a facial inaccuracy; or 3) information that comes from an unreliable source. Good credit dispute letters will describe how Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union have reported inaccurate information in these categories.
Outsourced Dispute Centers Do Not Have the Authority to Make Corrections
By pointing out and describing the inaccuracy, the outsourced foreign investigators have no excuse not to remove the incorrect information. Don’t expect miracles or that these outsourced processors will actually read your dispute and take the proper action. If they fail to take action and correct the inaccurate information, you will have a cause of action against them for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. While it is frustrating and maddening to deal with the credit reporting agencies who employ their dirty little secret, consumers have rights to stand up to Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union when they continue to report inaccurate credit information after having been provided notice of the credit report problems.
If you have an error on your credit report and need legal help getting it corrected contact the Virginia Credit report error lawyers at Blankingship & Christiano, P.C. (571) 313-0412 or fill out our contact form to discuss your case.
