Turner introduces bill to ban 'credit scoring'

[Judi Lynn]

Jan. 26, 2005, 10:44AM

Turner introduces bill to ban 'credit scoring'
If OK'd, electric companies would not be able to deny service over a poor financial history
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - Electricity providers would not be allowed to deny service or charge higher rates to customers with poor credit history under legislation proposed by a Houston lawmaker.

Rep. Sylvester Turner said he is not aware of any providers using "credit scoring" to set rates, but he thinks the Legislature should act pre-emptively to ban the practice.

"Credit scoring is discriminatory and wrong, and we must prohibit this detrimental practice," said Turner, a Democrat.

Credit scoring by insurance companies has been a hot issue at the Capitol, although lawmakers declined in the last session to ban the practice. But Turner said electricity can be a matter of life and death.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3009441

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thank god for Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner.

[Lorien]

1. That would be great

I have a terrible score because my client-a major US corporation- hasn't paid me in nearly 7 months. I'm responsible with my money, and I'm going after my client daily to cough up what they owe me, but I don't know what else I can do. I also ran into trouble five years ago because of huge medical bills that my insurer refused to pay. Many people get into debt who simply AREN'T irresponsible.

[DulceDecorum]

3. Many foreign nations have the same problem as you

The US takes goods on credit but does not pay and then the World Bank, IMF, and cronies tell that nation that their credit rating is going down and their interest rates are going up because they have been somewhat tardy with the repaying development loans taken out with money that is owed to the US.
So then the nation has to send MORE goods to the US to cover the missed payments.

It is a scam.

[MidwestTransplant]

12. 70% of bankruptcies are a result of medical bills.

[liberalhistorian]

23. Exactly!

And now the fucking politicians who have the most perfect health care insurance in the world are trying to rewrite federal bankruptcy laws to screw those who desperately need the current system, especially those overwhelmed by medical bills from the "crime" of having cancer or another major illness. Senators and congressman who never have to worry their pretty little empty heads over health care because they have perfect insurance, courtesy of the very taxpayers who don't have the same luxury of such insurance and who are being screwed big-time by hospitals and doctors and who often need to declare bankruptcy in order to keep any assets at all and keep the hospital's greedy little hands off everything they've worked so hard for all their lives. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT TO ME? :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[liberalhistorian]

25. Also, if I

were diagnosed with cancer or another serious, life-threatening illness, or a chronic, serious, expensive illness, and I had no health insurance, I think I'd rather just die than deal with all the bullshit I'd have to endure because I didn't have insurance. You'd get lousy treatment, if any, they'd take anything you owned to pay for it even if it leaves you on the street, and if you declare bankruptcy (which, considering just how fucking expensive most treatments are, is pretty much the only thing to do), you're screwed for many, many years. Even if you get better, you won't be able to find a job (double-whammy of having been ill and bad credit), housing, services, etc., etc. Fuck that, I'd rather die!

[bushisanidiot]

73. I've already decided that I'm going to leave my assets to my

kids rather than spend it all on medical bills if I end up terminally ill (of course I say this as a healthy person now).
I can't stand the thought of leaving my kids with nothing
because of the greed of the health care, health insurance, and
pharmaceutical industries. i'm not gonna pop 20 pills a day
just to stay alive until age 100.

when it's my time to go, i'm gone.

[liberalhistorian]

79. Sounds like a plan

to me, I'd do the same thing! Why the hell should you work hard all your life only to have the goddamn profit-driven health care and pharmaceutical systems get their greedy little hands on everything you own?

[KansDem]

103. Tell me about it!

In August of 2003 I had a heart attack...Now I'm a kind of pariah. I can barely afford my meds each month and my insurance rates are skyrocketing. I'm no longer classed as a "Healthy American." Last week, a salesman called me about my home-mortgage insurance, wanting to know if I want to increase my coverage to cover the increase in my home value. I said I might be interested and he asked me in I was sill a "Healthy American." I asked what that meant, and he replied, "Do you have...diabetes?" I said I did (diagnosed with the heart attack), and he asked me "Are you on insulin?" I said I was...His response was that I could probably get an increase on my home-mortgage insurance to cover the increase in home value but it'll cost something like $200-300 a month!

I never did tell him about the heart attack. He'd probably have just laughed and hung up...

But I'm with you. You get to a point when you just don't want to f*ck with it anymore.

[liberalhistorian]

112. Sorry to hear that, and

I'll sure keep you in my thoughts! It won't be long, frankly, before it'll be a "crime" to be sick, that's already happening in a lot of instances. The shit that sick people have to go through, even if they have insurance, is just unbelievable. They can lose their job and have trouble finding another one when they're well, forget about health insurance, they're hounded by debt collectrolls for the medical bills which causes their credit to be bad which causes them to be denied housing and other needed credit, and their illness and debts cause them to be rejected for jobs, etc., etc. Who needs to get well only to deal with that shit? I know I wouldn't want to.

My uncle is dying of cancer at 54, he's been fighting it off and on for eight years, and you wouldn't believe the shit that he and his wife have gone through and are going through. Losing jobs, her being threatened with termination for daring to take time off to take him to treatments and appointments and for her own emotional health, and to care for him, insurance hassles, being hounded by medical debt collectrolls who don't give a shit that he's dying, they want their fancy commissions and their goddamn greedy hospital clients want their money so they can pay their CEO's his huge bucks and endless perks, being fearful of losing their house and assets, etc., etc., etc. It just infuriates me to no end to see this.

And my best friend went through something similar when she was fighting cancer, it was lucky her mother had money and stepped in to help or she'd have been screwed. She still can't find a full-time job even though she's been well for some time now.

No one should be punished for having cancer or another serious illness, or for just being sick, and no one should have to lose their jobs or houses or assets and have to deal with no money and no credit because the goddamn greedy for-profit health care system, insurance companies, and drug companies only care about profits, not people, and just keep wanting more and more and more and more. We're the only industrialized country that still has a for-profit health care system, and that permits medical bills to be included on credit reports, and it's going to kill us in the end.

[NecessaryOnslaught]

102. Stop it

You're getting me all pissed. FUCK big pharma and their whores in white coats!!!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[liberalhistorian]

113. It's not just Big Pharma,

it's Big Health Care System, and Big Health Insurance Companies, and their whores in white coats, that are also causing the problem. But all doctors care about is the phoney-baloney bullshit so-called medical malpractice "crisis." They don't realize that if they don't start actually caring about their patients and the patient's financial hardships, they ain't gonna have to worry about medical malpractice because they ain't gonna have any patients!

[Ms_Mary]

31. I know a lot of people in that situation. Medical debt should not be

factored in. Most people here are uninsured. One broken bone could ruin their credit for years. I read an article a while back (maybe linked here) about a Walmart employee whose paycheck was garnished by a hospital for medical debt. The hospital refused to work out a payment plan with her.

It just ain't right.

[liberalhistorian]

36. Don't even get me started

on hospitals and how they treat the uninsured and underinsured, and what they do to them to get their fucking money. They'll take everything people have, they don't give a shit that they're leaving them with nothing. And these are people who don't have much to begin with. I've been uninsured, and I've suffered through that shit with hospitals and doctors, and it's unbelievable.

I'm a paralegal, and I saw shit like this all the time in one of my previous jobs. It was enough to make my boss and I want to blow up the hospital and their grossly overpaid CEO's fancy-schmancy car that he paid for by screwing people who could least afford to be screwed. Unlike a lot of other creditors, hospitals want ALL their money fucking NOW, they want nothing to do with payment schedules. And they will hire the most ruthless, aggressive attorneys to deal with it, too, my former boss, an attorney, went head-to-head with such fuckers way too many times. Never mind that studies have shown that a minimum of 18,000 people die yearly just from not having any insurance, and that's a conservative estimate. Pretty soon, it'll be a crime to be sick, if it isn't already for too many people.

The Wall Street Journal, of all papers, did an expose last year on how hospitals are not the most aggressive collectors in the country, especially against the uninsured and those who can least afford it. Even if you only get minimum wage, they'll take that, too. They don't give a shit that it might put you out on the street. And as a paralegal, I have nothing but the utmost contempt and disdain for such collection attorneys, especially considering that most of the legal needs of the poor and lower-income are going unmet.

And I would just love to know why in the fuck medical bills are even on credit reports in the first fucking place, they have NO PLACE ON THEM AT ALL. It should be illegal, frankly, for ANY medical bills to be reported to credit reporting bureaus, and for them to be on reports. But just try passing something like that with the repukes in charge.

[conflictgirl]

66. I used to have a job reviewing medical bills for insurance companies

It was horrible, seeing the things that we were told to deny. Eventually I quit because I couldn't take it anymore. The company I worked for was like a middleman (because, you know, the insurance companies can't possibly be expected to make their own decisions - many of them contract out that job to someone else) and we were just given general guidelines and told of specific dollar limits we had to stay within for each procedure. The most common denials at the time were coverage for tests and post-operative pain medication.

Not having insurance is worse, though. Three years ago we made a cross-country move after my spouse lost his job. We were without insurance, but we had a really huge amount of liquid cash since we'd just sold our house and he got severance pay. We took our infant to a walk-in med clinic type place, where we were told he had a severe ear infection and given meds, and told to follow up with a pediatrician. We couldn't find a single pediatrician in the area that would see us, since we didn't have insurance! I would tell the receptionists as I tried to schedule an appointment, "Look, we don't have insurance, but I have cash and I will pay for any services rendered before we even leave the office" and they wouldn't do it. They said they had "policies" against taking patients without insurance.

[liberalhistorian]

74. Yeah, and I wonder how many

of those pediatricians were "pro-life", too! :grr: :mad:

Take the insurance middleman and the profit-driven system OUT OF HEALTH CARE! Health care should NOT NOT NOT be profit-driven, or run by for-profit insurance companies, these are people's lives we're talking about. And I understand why you quit, there's no way in hell I could ever do a job like that even for one day. And the people in charge of things like that are total hypocrites; they'll do anything at all to get out of paying something, but they and their own families are well-taken care of. Fucking monsters, every last one of them.

[livinginphotographs]

107. The credit union I worked for a few years back

Wouldn't factor in the medical collections when it came to granting loans. Of course, you'd still get the higher interest rate due to the credit score, but the loan officers would pretty much disregard any outstanding judgments you had that were medical-related.

Of course, I doubt large banks are anything like that.

Now I'm in health insurance. I swear, I'm going to have to do 20 years at Greenpeace to work off the bad karma I've built up over the past few years.

[liberalhistorian]

114. Credit unions are, indeed,

a lot better than banks in that regard, very few of them consider medical bills as a part of your credit. They're better in many other respects, too.

[BigBigBear]

2. I don't think credit scoring is wrong

Lenders have the right to adjudicate solid and poor risks. And that's coming from someone who's been on the wrong end of a few very high interest loans himself.

I do think it's wrong to use it as a means test for access to utility services, though.

[LostinVA]

4. Or Car Insurance

It's crazy. You're a good driver or not. I have a case of ID theft, and because of that, have a bad credit rating. BUT I have decades' worth of 100% clean driving. Not even ever a parking ticket. But, because of the credit rating, I pay over twice as much as I should. I pay more on a 5 year-old car than a friend pays on a brand new car worth more than mine.

This isn't a loan, it's your driving record.

[progressivebydesign]

13. Credit Scores are too vulnerable.. Here's my wierd story..

My stepdaughter has almost the same name as me. We are one letter apart from having the same name. We lived in the same house when she started working, and got her first credit card. We did not cosign on anything.. etc.

When buying a new house, my credit reports ALL reported that I was going under HER name, getting credit, etc. PLUS it reported that I had TWO social security numbers (made me look like a criminal). HER credit info was all over MY report! And.. it drove my score down. Conversely, at the time she was a 19 year old, working part time at McDonalds, with little credit history, and a 750 credit score! Oh.. because her credit reports all showed MY good credit card accounts!

It took so much work to get her info off of my credit reports, but it didn't help my score. She had my things taken off of hers, but her good score remained.

[livinginphotographs]

109. I saw that happen so many times at the bank I worked with.

Lucky for her that it only increased her credit score. I knew daughters who were driving their credit into the ground, and it ended up completely screwing over their mothers as well.

I am definitely going to name my children something totally different than what my name is.

[liberalhistorian]

20. See, that's what really bugs me

about these fucking things. It takes forever and ever to establish good credit. Then, if you're going through a rough time whether due to job loss or illness or medical bills or whatever, all it takes is just a couple of months of slow payments and your carefully-built-up credit is TRASHED! That makes no fucking sense to me at all, none whatsoever. And it doesn't matter how well you've paid in the past, just have a couple of months of problems, and you're persona non grata to your creditors, they don't care if you've had YEARS of good payments!

[henrik larssonisking]

22. insurance

the insurance companies use a lot of statistics to work out their rates, the numbers show that people with bad credit actually put more claims in, hence the higher rates. The downside with getting rid of credit scoring is that people who pay their bills etc end up having to pay more in insurance as the companies have to equalise the risk and premiums, when maryland got rid of insurance scoring, everyone who had good scores suddenly got rate increases that were astronomical. I gotta say i disagree with not using credit as a scoring tool, its just one tool in the chest.

[LostinVA]

32. Can't Agree

The GAO says almost 80% of credit reports have at least one error on them. I have a $3,000 credit card charge off for a credit card I have NEVER had. It was ID theft. Three different attorneys told me they could take care of it... for several thousand dollars. I am 40-years-old, drive an older car, have a spotless record, am in an "excellent" statistical profession, am female, don't smoke, etc., live in a low crime area. When I called my insurance company, they told me the credit rating was the ONLY reason my insurance was so high. So, it is NOT one tool in the chest.

And, just because someone has a bad credit rating does not mean they are deadbeats, which is what you are implying. there's having no medical insurance and an ER visit, a divorce, identify theft, a screw up by the credit companies (my BIL's name is very common, and he routinely has 2-20 things added a MONTH to his rating which aren't his), etc.

It's bull -- that's why several states no longer allow this as a factor in car insurance rates. It's too error-ridden. Just a major scam.

[EC]

40. Bullshit.......

The reason they got increases were because they lost discounts, period...they were being rated the same as everyone else....if they had high bills, it's because of their claim history and MVR's....

[LostinVA]

41. I Was Just Going to Write This!!!

When this happened, my sister called her insurance company pissed off, because her insurance went up like $10 a month. They wouldn't tell her anything, so she called her Congressmen, who called the company. She and my BIL had sent in two claims, and he had some speeding tickets. But, they had been getting discounts for the top credit rating. So, THERE "grading curve" was taken away, and they were then on a level playing field.

HAHAHAHA!!!

[livinginphotographs]

110. Exactly!!!

I'm glad someone else pointed this out.

I hear so much whining from Maryland about how "over-regulated" their insurance industry is, and from what I've seen, all it is doing is no longer penalizing people for being sick and making the healthy people who have been getting the discounts for so many years pay a little bit more.

To quote a great politician, I'm not exactly "crying in my tea-cups" for those people.

[mulethree]

57. do you suppose this relates to 'insurance fires'?

People get bogged down with debt, can't pay their car loan, can't sell it for an amount sufficient to pay off the loan or expect a big payment at the end of their lease for 'excessive wear and tear' and POOF their car mysteriously burns up.

If so, then they should be tying the insurance to the financing terms or resale values rather than just the credit rating.

[EC]

89. Yep,

and that is why theft and fire claims stay on your record for 5 years instead of 3 as is with tickets and other claims... also, if there is a theft of fire claim, it makes it harder to get insurance and you will more than likely get cancelled from the one that paid the claim...

[liberalhistorian]

93. SIGH. I get SO tired of

worrying about how every little thing like that will affect some type of rating that's used to determine a major part of my life, especially when there's no regard for context. I'm SOOOOOO tired of that, whether it's getting an illness while uninsured and having medical debt or losing a job or having an accident with a car, etc., etc., etc.

[jdj]

100. you are right, when I almost changed companies and

compared rates, I was stunned at what I was quoted. I had a bankruptcy, and the lady said "well, statistically people with bankruptcies file more claims." I've never filed a claim in my life, never had a ticket (knock wood) at 36. I was so pissed.

[liberalhistorian]

101. Again, that's an example of what

pisses me off. You're just considered a statistic and your own personal history is not even a factor, the CONTEXT is not looked at. It's just another way to screw the already screwed.

[Mountainman]

9. These are not lenders they are service providers they just find ways to

charge higher rates to those who can least afford them.

Also, a person with perfect credit one day can lose a job and have a lousy credit score in the future for a long time. I had a very good score until I lost a job once and it is hard as hell to get back to where I was.

[LostinVA]

If You have a SPOTLESS Driving Record

for, say, more than 10-15 years, have NEVER been in an accident (no matter whose fault), then credit should not be a factor.

[liberalhistorian]

11. Oh, bullshit!

Credit scores are used far too much, without any consideration for the context behind them. For instance, are there large medical bills on them (medical bills should never, ever, be on credit reports or included in scores, ever, it is NOT a crime to become ill and not have enough money to pay for treatment), or did the person suddenly lose their job, or is the bill really not owed and the creditor put it on there (which happens all the goddamn time, since I used to work in that industry, I know), etc., etc.

And why do creditors raise interest rates horrendously on someone going through a tough time financially? That's nothing but a kick in the pants. If someone's having trouble paying what they currently owe due to job loss, illness, medical bills, etc., what the fuck makes the fucking bloodsucking creditors think they can pay even higher rates, and how the fuck do they expect the person to get back on their feet if they have to try to pay even higher rates that they just don't have the money for?????????????????????

[Bono71]

27. I disagree...companies want to do business with people...

a credit score is only one factor they consider..if they see debt is because of medical bills they will elect to do business more often than not...

Why should companies be forced to do business with people who will stiff them?

[liberalhistorian]

33. BULLSHIT again!

As I've said, I've worked in this industry and I know how these people think regarding credit scores. They don't care about the context of a particular score. They don't care that the person suffered a sudden job loss, or an illness, or something like that. They don't consider the individual or the reasons behind a particular score. THEY DON'T FUCKING CARE.

And as for their understanding concerning medical bills, that's total bullshit. Again, THEY DON'T FUCKING CARE. They're not interested in knowing the story behind that; in fact, in many cases, such as overwhelming bills for cancer treatment, it makes it even worse because if a person is/was sick, they don't want to deal with that, either, especially if it's an employer. 90% of the time, they don't understand or care about the medical bills part, all they see and care about is the score. AND THAT'S BULLSHIT.

My best friend went through all that bullshit when she almost died of cancer. She spend three years fighting it, with the resulting bills and huge gap in employment since she was unable to work that whole time. She damn near died, and we were so glad when she recovered. Now, she wishes she hadn't, because of all the bullshit she's going through with medical info on credit reports and she can't get a fucking job. So, please don't even try to say that they understand about medical bills.

And an awful lot of people with are not irresponsible and will not "stiff" companies, and I resent being pigeonholed into a particular profile just because of certain circumstances.

[Bono71]

68. Wow...that is a lot of profanity...

very articulate...

I have wroked in the industry as well, and no, credit scores are not all they look at, though credit scores do play a roll.

[liberalhistorian]

80. Sorry, you're right,

and I do tend to get pretty worked up about this. But it really, really pisses me off, and I'm afraid that credit scores really are the main thing looked at. They don't even consider the context of the score, and the real human story behind it. Even if it's medical bills, they don't care. I've seen that too often.

[mulethree]

82. "these people" ?

Problem is, it isn't people.

Whether it's the computer calculating a risk rating and incorporating credit rating as a risk factor; or the Insurance company - a profit-making-machine. You are just a pile of numbers. Your bankruptcy/default risk is the same whether the bills are from emergency medical or from a spending spree or from a casino.

Only real hope is to find a job working for a real person - i.e. not a Corp or a big private org with a 'human resources' dept. The work history needs to be fixed just like the credit history - e.g. several years of good work references - before a mechanical boss will accept that a bout with cancer hasn't made you an ongoing liability. But getting a job that offers health benefits may forever remain impossible - the health insurance industry does not seem to have any time-related risk reduction. You can get a bankruptcy off the credit report after x years, and accidents or moving-violation points off your driving/car insurance record; but the health industry seems to remember cancer forever.

[mulethree]

62. Don't you pay your insurance in advance?

In NY and PA you pay 6 months up front and each time its renewed.

How are they going to get 'stiffed' when they constantly owe you money and not the other way around?

[Bono71]

69. These companies do write off a ton of bad debt every year...

moreover, if they do not use credit scores and wind up having higher levels of bad debt, what do you think is going to happen to rates across the board?

[liberalhistorian]

81. Insurance companies

DO NOT write off a ton of bad debt every year. If you don't pay, you aren't insured, therefore they don't pay any claims for you, so they're not out any money. And employers sure as hell aren't writing off tons of bad debt every year! It's none of their goddamn business what your score is.

[Bono71]

85. What if you're an employer and the employee will be handling money...

I'd want to know if that employee paid his or her bills and if he or she had a ton of debt...

If we're so concerned about folks who have a low rating based on medical bill defaults, couldn't we tweak existing legislation to carve that out...do we have to throw the baby out with the bath water?

[liberalhistorian]

91. See, again, that's

a good point in theory, but it doesn't translate well in real life. Most jobs do not involve handling of money, frankly, Most employees do not and never will have any access at all to a company's money. For the ones that do and will, maybe it's not a bad idea. But, again, the context of the score and report needs to be taken into consideration.

For instance, if you or a spouse/child has cancer, even with insurance your medical debts will be horrendous. Or you have a child with a chronic, serious illness. This may cause you to fall behind on other bills because hospitals want their money NOW and will do anything and everything to get it NOW. So, your score may not be what they want it to be but does that mean you'll be a bad or risky employee?

Or say you've suffered a sudden job loss and it takes awhile to find another one. During that time, you've had to drain your savings and other assets and now can't pay any bills at all. Despite your previous history of good payments, you fall irrevocably behind and that fucks things up with your score (been there, done that). Should you be punished for that, also? Once you've fallen behind like that, it takes forever to catch up and meanwhile all the years of good history don't seem to count thanks to a couple of months of rough times. And that makes no sense, either. It takes forever to build up good credit, and only a couple of months of misfortune to fuck it up royally.


The ONLY potential employee who should have their credit checked is one who will be responsible for handling money or who will have access to the company's bank account or who will have responsiblity for financial decisions/matters. Even then, CONTEXT MUST be taken into serious consideration, and I'm afraid it's not in most cases.

As for making exceptions for medical debts, that's been tried in the past and the health care, health insurance, and doctor's lobbies have thrown all their weight against it. The law used to be that you could NOT report medical debt. Then Raygun came along and changed it; now, you don't have to but you can if you want to, and 99% of hospitals and doctors do not hesitate to do so. It desperately needs to be done, though, because it's just not right to include that.

[EC]

92. That's the way it WAS...

They just added the med debt in the last few years, while re-writing the bankruptcy laws...Even when getting a mortgage or loan, med debt used to be treated seperately, now - no...

[liberalhistorian]

94. No, medical debt has not been

treated separately for a very long time now, at least twenty years. And with the new bankruptcy laws they're trying to pass, it'll be even worse. Bankruptcy laws haven't actually been overhauled for over twenty years.

[Bono71]

86. Re: insurance, you make a good point re: the bad debt. n/t

[DrGonzoLives]

64. Wrong

They look at the score, not what's on the report. And since when is a poor credit score an indication that you are going to "stiff" someone?

[Bono71]

70. If you have stiffed in the past, the theory is you wil stiff in the future

and by the way, companies have to fork over financials and "credit scores" before banks deal with them...it's just the way business works...

[bpilgrim]

106. not if your in business

maybe we need to change the rules before NO-ONE does business with us anymore :shrug:

peace

[geek tragedy]

48. No one's saying that we should get rid of scoring--just limit it to credit

providers as opposed to utility companies.

[Bono71]

87. Gotcha...I agree with that. n/t

[Deja Q]

105. In theory, anything can look good on paper. In practice, however?

Beware of the unscrupled.

[salin]

5. The democrat who jumps on this in the Michigan statehouse

will be a wise one. There was just an article out about an 88% increase in heating costs (in Michigan) between 00 and now.

[liberalhistorian]

6. THANK YOU REP. TURNER!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I'm so fucking sick of fucking credit scores being used for damned near everything nowadays, when it was originally only supposed to be used for making loan and increased credit decisions. When they started using them for insurance and even EMPLOYMENT application purposes, for God's sake (like it's any employer's or potential employer's goddamn business what your fucking credit score and financial information is), however, that really, really took the cake. And now that hospitals and doctors are even using them to determine a patient's "creditworthiness" and, for doctors, whether or not to even treat someone based on their fucking credit score (believe it, folks, I used to work for an employment screening company and one of their divisions was providing exactly that information to medical personnel for just that reason), that REALLY makes me sick, so to speak.

And since medical bills are included on credit reports now (which is total fucking bullshit, medical bills should NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT be anywhere near credit reports), and a lot of people either don't have insurance or have a lot of insurance co-pays they can't afford or have trouble paying, or they can't pay what insurance doesn't cover, etc., an awful lot of people, even middle-class, have lower credit scores just because of that bullshit.

What really pisses me off is that quite often the CONTEXT of certain items on credit reports is totally lost on those who use them, and creditors can put damn near anything they want on the fucking reports. Sure, you can dispute it and put your own explanation in, but frankly nobody pays any attention to them, if you want to know the naked truth. I'm so tired of the worthiness of people and their lives being determined by their fucking monetary status. The repukes constantly complain about the overreaching use of social security numbers, especially since they were never intended to be used for anything other than identification for purposes of maintaining social security records. And they're right, frankly, ssn's shouldn't be used for anything other than what their original intent was, and that hasn't been adhered to at all. So, where the fuck is their outrage over the same thing happening to credit scores and fucking credit reports????????????? The sound of crickets is deafening from them. They obviously don't give a shit, since it involves their pals, corporations and businesses.

And things like heat and electricity involve people's very lives, they are NOT luxuries!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Redstone]

10. Liberalhistorian, thank you

for saving me the ten minutes or so it would have taken me to write my rant, because yours says exactly what I would have said, and says it well.

Excellent commentary.

Redstone

[progressivebydesign]

16. A relative is trying to get into low income, disabled senior housing..

Guess what? If you don't have the right credit score, you can't get in. This is for extremely low income housing.. (and most of the senior disabled have bad credit from MEDICAL bills). How ironic.

[EC]

34. I thank you too, I'm in insurance, it didn't used to be so bad

until, well the last 3 years, when we started using credit...Did you know that if you have a good credit score, the companies don't even check your MVR or claims history? You will also qualify for discounts...THIS IS REDLINING - CLEAR AND SIMPLE

I challenged our main company American National Property and Causualty (out of Texas) and they told me that people with higher credit scores have less claims, so I went through our accounts and compiled proof that it was the other way around and sent it in...haven't heard a word, except that now they are lowering the approval rating for credit scores in my state to less than 600...Geez, the ones with the highest credit scores (799-999) don't hesitate a minute to put in a claim - no matter how small - hail damage, scratch on fender, dented siding on the house, what ever, they had at least one to two claims a year...so give a break, anyone can make any report to show what they want and no-one checks them out...

[LostinVA]

39. Plus, I Expect They Have MORE Expensive Cars

Than someone with a poorer credit score. Just a guess...

[EC]

44. Not neccesarily

There are credit clean-up scams out there that will lend at high interest rates-5 year payment plans, to anyone that makes at least $l00. a week and has had the same job for 3 months, to buy a car. The loan will outlast the car and that is why now insurances offer gap insurance, because the total worth of the car is most of the time less than the loan balance if car is totalled.

[LostinVA]

47. Ha! Smart lad (or lass)! n/t

[liberalhistorian]

45. Good point!

I'm sure that's the case.

[Ms_Mary]

35. IA, Verizon made a mistake and disconnected my cell instead of

downgrading the plan. Not only did it take several days to get it correc ted, they wouldn't do it without running another credit check. I didn't have anything to hide, but GEEZ, it was their mistake! I didn't choose to disconnect my phone. It didn't get disconnected for non-payment. They made an error. I'd had the phone for years.

[liberalhistorian]

50. I know, and that's yet

another thing (geez, can you people tell yet that this whole thing rally gets me worked up, lol!). THEY make the fucking mistake and YOU'RE the one who has to spend all your time and energy cleaning it up, and then YOU'RE treated like the criminal!

I was robbed at gunpoint last year; he got my ATM card and my PIN# by shoving the gun into my neck and demanding it since I didn't have any money on me; at the time, I thought he was going to get into the car and make me drive him to the ATM, so I gave him the number. It's amazing what having a loaded gun shoved into your neck will do for honesty! Anyway, he managed to get $700 bucks out of my account FIVE HOURS AFTER I'D REPORTED THE CARD STOLEN. The bank claimed they'd never gotten the call to block the card, but I was sitting right across from the policeman taking my statement when I made the call, and the policeman verified it, as did the station's records.

Nevertheless, I had to go through endless hoops just to get my own fucking money back that they never should have allowed to be taken in the first place, and they treated me like an inconvenience the whole time. I even had to explain why I'd given him my real PIN#. Oh, geez, I don't know, maybe HAVING A LOADED GUN SHOVED IN MY NECK MIGHT HAVE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT! And then I found out that they'd reported my account to an agency because I'D committed FRAUD with it! My boss at the time, an attorney, was beyond pissed and got it straightened out pronto. But I keep thinking, what if I weren't a paralegal who knew these kinds of laws inside and out and what if I didn't have an attorney for a boss who was able to get it straightened out? And the only reason I got my money back was after my boss and I bugged them every fucking day for a whole month!

[Ms_Mary]

119. Sorry that happened, what a bad situation.

[Robert Oak]

7. 60% of all credit reports have errors

electricity, water and so on are necessary basic services in the modern
world.


With so many errors plus identity theft and so forth, this using
a credit score for everything under the sun is ridiculous...
like a job...

gee wiz if they had money they wouldn't be applying for the job
in the 1st place so what does a credit score have to do with
most jobs (not ones involving money)?

Using a credit score to get auto, home owners insurance?

How ridiculous! What does a credit score have to do with someone
being a good driver or maintaining their house?

Some idiot has claimed that a good credit score correlates to
other behavior. They probably got a bonus for this rot.

Let's see the study for I suspect "foul statistical play" with such
a thing but also this sort of stuff just gives credit card companies
and banks and those evil ones who overcharge, demand money then
ruin your credit history even more power over people's lives...

it's a kind of extortion and this should be limited.

Good job Re. Turner.

[liberalhistorian]

15. You're damn right most have errors,

and, again, having previously worked in the industry (and I never, ever will again, no matter how hard up I am, those fuckers are INHUMAN!). They're so quick to put your bills on the reports, but just try to get the damn things off once you've paid them! I actually had to have my then-boss, an attorney, go after a couple of credit card companies that had refused to list my bills as paid in full, when I'd paid them both off completely TWO YEARS BEFORE! And that happens all the time, they jump to put the fucking bills on and have to be threatened with lawsuits in order to report the bills as paid in full!

[LostinVA]

37. They had my student loan as not having been paid for

FIVE YEARS straight, even though I had never missed a payment. It just appeared one month on my credit report. It took me six months and a friend calling making believe they were a lawyer before it was taken off my report, even though I had all of the cancelled checks. The explanation I was given was that they had gotten my SSN mixed up with someone else's.

[sleepyhead]

108. Something similar happened to me

with my student loans. I have several, and one of them was sold to another bank without my knowledge, but the original bank continued to bill me, and in the confusion I ended up sending payments to the original bank for a few months. Even after the mistake had been corrected, it took FOUR YEARS for me to finally get the false information off my credit report. I still have the file with all the correspondence I accumulated and it is several inches thick. I live in fear that something similar will happen again, even though I am very good about paying my bills.

[TahitiNut]

53. It's legalized slander, extortion, and outright theft of personal data.

The (dis)organized exchange of financial data and collusion by companies to build a financial surveillance database on everyone should be, by my sense of equity, illegal.

These 'credit reporting' companies (Equifax, et. al.) use private financial data they collect about ordinary people to sell a 'service' to businesses and the pretend to tell those citizens they can send a 'correction' to the data if denied credit. It's a scam. People are being denied access and recourse to data regarding themselves - data collected by others to make a profit. They can, in collaboration with any predatory company submitting false data, cause a person great financial harm, interfering in a business relationship between that person and another business and there's no reasonable way to undo the harm.

The abuses of this collusion are spreading. Employers are now using credit reporting data to "filter" potential employees. Insurance companies (e.g. auto) are denying insurance on the basis of credit reporting. Please note that insurance companies bear no exposure: when you don't pay, you're not insured. It's not 'credit'.

[liberalhistorian]

63. Exactly!

And what burns me up is that people have to pay to get access to their own damned information and data, that is, if the companies even feel like giving it to them. Like I've said, I've worked in this industry and these people are INHUMAN FUCKERS! They did everything they could to avoid giving people information they requested, and dragged their feet on correcting false information.

[progressivebydesign]

8. ABOUT DAMN TIME!!!!!!!!!!! SCORING is racist, sexist, draconic, etc..

Credit scoring takes into account your: MARITAL STATUS, YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, How many people NEAR YOUR HOUSE have filed for bankruptcy (SERIOUSLY!), your race (tho they'll deny it, it's in there based on your neighborhood). It's totall bullshit. It's too secretive... the credit companies refuse to reveal HOW they come up with the system. I find it so disconcerting that company like TRW (who also makes bombs for the governemnt) has such control over people's lives.

[Mountainman]

14. I predicted this many years ago. I saw it coming. You will have to fit a

certain profile to have any kind of life in the future. I don't doubt they will include your medical history, political and religious beliefs soon. With the ability to share information between institutions you have no privacy anymore. It floors me how people are so ready to wip out their grocery store membership card and swipe it thinking it is doing them some good. It is just buiding a bigger and bigger computer record of you. I won't use them.

This will force a bigger and bigger underground economy. Conservatives love this kind of stuff until it bites them in the ass.

[liberalhistorian]

17. And it will bite them in the ass,

make no mistake about it. It'll just be too late for everyone else.

[progressivebydesign]

18. Unfortunately, MEDICAL HISTORY is already IN a nat'l database. n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. All the points you made are correct!

Credit scoring has been exploited by insurers to milk more money out of people who don't make claims.

The use of it to decided employment is laughable. let's say you're laid off from your job due to downsizing and can't meet all your bills on unemployment. You actually lower your chances of finding work due to a bad credit score! Now try and tell me there's not something wrong with that picture.

[Bono71]

30. It really takes into account marital status? Are you sure about that?

I have applied for many, many loans and have never had to give my marital status (neither has my wife).

[EC]

49. Depends on the state

Here in WI, if you are married, you have to have spouses signature an any credit ap, even if you are separated, until final divorce.

[Bono71]

72. But does that affect the score? n/t

[EC]

95. It could if you marry someone with shitty credit

or if one of the two is secretly using credit the other doesn't know about or bounces checks or if there are too many cards or if they are applying for credit individually and it adds up to too many "hits" on their report...

[liberalhistorian]

52. Absolutely it does

in far too many states. It shouldn't be asked at all, unless you're applying for a joint loan.

[Bono71]

75. But wouldn't bankruptcy and other insolvency laws make it

wise for companies to ask the question?

[liberalhistorian]

76. How so? Unless you're

applying for a joint loan or a joint credit care, it really shouldn't be an issue and is none of their business.

[The Night Owl]

19. Highschools should teach the meaning and importance of credit scores...

Too many young people don't realize how badly they can fuck up their lives by ruining their credit.


____________________
Even George W. Bush knows that the Smear Boat Veterans are dirty liars...

"Senator Kerry is justifiably proud of his record in Vietnam and should be. It's noble service.” - George W. Bush

[liberalhistorian]

24. People ALREADY KNOW

how credit scores can fuck up their lives, and a lot of it has nothing to do with "irresponsibility" on their parts, that's bullshit. Why isn't there more attention paid to the bullshit inhuman practices of creditors and credit-reporting companies??????

[The Night Owl]

84. Most young people know that ruining their credit can ruin their lives...

Most young people know that ruining their credit can ruin their lives, but many don't.

I am not arguing in favor of the practices of creditors. All I'm saying is that as long as the current system of lending is in place, young people should be informed about how that system works. Young people should be made aware of the opportunities and pitfalls of credit.

In many cases, we can rely on parents to teach their kids about credit, but in many cases we cannot.



____________________
Even George W. Bush knows that the Smear Boat Veterans are dirty liars...

"Senator Kerry is justifiably proud of his record in Vietnam and should be. It's noble service.” - George W. Bush

[genieroze]

26. They shouldn't use your credit history for anything but credit. Insurance

isn't credit, you don't pay it you don't get it. Credit has nothing to do with your health, for health insurance, your driving, for auto insurance, or your home for flood or fire insurance. I can understand it for mortgage insurance though. If you don't pay your utility bills then you get shut off.

[LostinVA]

38. Exactly

For loans and credit cards. That's IT. Especially in this economy.

I don't even think it should be used for apartment rentals IF you have a n excellent rent-paying history over a certain amount of yours.

[liberalhistorian]

43. That was the original

intent, for scores and reports not to be used for anything except getting loans or credit cards or increased credit. THAT WAS IT. Now, like social security numbers, it's used for goddamned near everything, when it was NEVER intended to do so.

[genieroze]

90. What politician opened up this can of worms? Just curious if it was a Dem

[liberalhistorian]

115. I'm not sure, but I think both

parties are at fault. It was a gradual process, laws being gradually passed allowing more and more uses for credit reports and information. I believe the repubs did a little more pushing for that on behalf of their corporate clients, naturally.

[American Tragedy]

28. This seems not to address the source of the problem

Maybe I'm wrong, I admit I don't know much about this.

But, why do so many people have such poor credit history?

I've been very lucky; I have perfect credit. But I am also a single woman with no dependents, who hasn't had any immediate medical crises or disasters, or been subject to fraud.

[liberalhistorian]

42. You just put your finger on it,

you're single with no dependents and you haven't had any immediate medical creises or disasters or been subject to fraud.

Medical bills can be reported to credit agencies, and they'll put a horrendous dent in your score, even if everything else is good. If you're uninsured, you're really screwed because anything medical at all, even minor, can really send your finances into a spin. And doctors and hospitals are absolutely ruthless in getting their money.

If you don't have kids, you have far less expenses, so you're not as tight for money and your paycheck stretches much farther. And if you haven't been subjected to identity theft, then you don't have to worry about spending months trying to clean that mess up and having your rating trashed in the meantime.

[LostinVA]

46. Identity Theft

I tried for over a year to get this taken off of my report, and NONE of the major credit reporting companies would do it -- Hey, it was my name, SSN, and address on the card, right??? It HAD to be me!!! Of course, I never saw my signature on ANYTHING, or was able to get a copy of the charges...why? because I didn't know the damn thing existed until it was charged off and sold to some "law firm." Then THEY kept threatening me for a year, until I found out they could pretty much do nothing to me. But, I have bad credit for four more years....

If it happens to you, you're pretty much screwed...

[Liberal OIF Vet]

51. Credit Bureaus

You are not screwed. Get a copy of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and read it. Learn it like th back of your hand. And then sue the ever-living fuck out of the credit bureaus. Sue the creditors and the collectors for that matter. Last year alone I collected $4,000 from people that fucked around with my credit reports illegally.

[liberalhistorian]

56. Excellent point,

and credit bureaus and agencies are indeed held accountable for their bullshit. The problem is, suing takes a long time and most people need to have their credit cleaned up ASAP, or they're screwed. Also, I worked for one of the major bureaus previously, and it was hit with many judgments, even one for five MILLION dollars for fucking up someone's credit and life so badly. But that still didn't phase them much. Meanwhile, it took years to get the judgment and the person's life was pretty much screwed until he got it.

[liberalhistorian]

29. You know what I should probably do?

I'm a paralegal with in-depth knowledge of all of this, and experience in the field (unfortunately since, as I've said, those in the industry are INHUMAN MONSTERS), and I'm fucking sick to death of seeing too many people get screwed by all of this shit. I should start a "credit coaching" business, helping people deal with credit bureaus and credit reports, getting incorrect info off, advising on what their rights are and what they can do, dealing with debt collectrolls, all the little tricks they can use to improve their scores and in dealing with bureaus and creditors, etc., etc. That actually wouldn't be a bad idea at all, especially in this are, which was just called the poorest city in the country (Cleveland).

[Liberal OIF Vet]

54. Credit Coaching

I am thinking about doing the same thing. Just be careful though. There is a law on the books called the Credit Repair Organization Act that governs how you help people repair their credit.

[liberalhistorian]

55. Oh, I know that,

it would definitely be all on the up-and-up. And my former boss would be able to help. I've actually started a business with him last year, an independent paralegal services business. I do most of the work, frankly, but he lets me use an office within his office and he's available to answer any questions and review any work. I'm just getting it off the ground and trying to get clients, mostly marketing to attorneys right now. But this would be a great and natural expansion of services, since I already know the laws and there's such a huge, unmet need, since most people don't know their rights and most can't afford attorneys to help them.

Hey, wanna go into business together, seriously? :D

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

59. Need immigration services?

Add me on!

I've been doing some freelance immigration work on and off... It would be nice extra cash (but I am honest and I do not give advice, nor do I do asylum/deportation and a few other things).

[liberalhistorian]

65. See my post below,

and feel free to PM or email me.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

58. I'll be your test case...

I volunteer my hubby and I's credit, which is about dead, after my hubby was unemployed for over a year and I had medical bills not paid by my insurer..

I got to tell you, everyone is aghast about using a national ID card, when instead no one is discussing how that awful Social Security Number is basically used as an ID, as a credit tool, etc.

To those who think only irresponsible people have bad credit: not at all. I am a prime example. Spotless history and only two credit cards with low limits, until medical problems and my husband's unemployment hit, pretty much at once, and we quickly ran out of savings, severance package, etc., despite having modest expenses.

It is almost impossible to fix your own credit reports. The three major bureaus make things difficult and "verify" their incorrect information in mysterious ways.

Credit scoring is a one-way street in favor of the credit scorers and the companies that make money off them, not the consumer.

[liberalhistorian]

61. I'd be glad to help,

PM or email me if you want to. I'm a paralegal who's previously worked for this industry, and I know these laws inside and out. I also know how to deal with the goddamned credit agencies. People shouldn't have to put up with this shit, and if I can use my knowledge to help out, all the better.

[ally_sc]

60. there should be limits..on what credit bureaus are allowed

to check on utilities and some housing rental people should not be allowed to based on a person's credit score.
scores are to generic.an incident or two can keep you from renting...

[Godspeed_Democrats]

67. If anyone need help learning about ways to clean up

your credit report even how to sue when you have been wronged here is an excellent site to learn how to beat these guys at their own game.

http://www.artofcredit.com/phpBB2/

[Liberal OIF Vet]

77. Hahahah

I am there right now! I have AOC'd quite a few people!!

[One_Life_To_Give]

71. Whats in the actuarial tables?

I don't think I can have a opinion one way or the other. Not until I see how the tables are built. If you open a buisness every June and file bancruptcy every January, well maybe I don't care to provide you with my services.

[liberalhistorian]

78. You CAN'T

"file bankrupcty every January." You can ONLY file for bankruptcy once every seven years, and if you have one bankruptcy and try to file again, anytime after the seven-year period is up it's much harder the second time. And the bankruptcy usually stays on your record for up to ten years afterwards.

That is why people who've just been discharged in a bankruptcy are usually deluged with pre-approved credit offers because the creditors know that they can't file again for at least seven years.

[One_Life_To_Give]

88. You can't but your buisnesses can n/t

[liberalhistorian]

96. Are you sure about that?

Businesses are under some pretty strict guidelines as to how often they can file bankruptcy also.

[One_Life_To_Give]

98. As EC said in 97

You re-incorporaate as a new entity. Same people, new name, fresh history (non-history). Which gives them a low credit score.

Some will do this frequently exploiting those who give them some credit.

[thinkingwoman]

99. actually this isn't quite true

your new corporation doesn't have a low credit score. It has NO credit score. That means potential creditors require the prez, or ceo, or chairman of the company to personally qualify for credit.

My corp had it's first bday a couple of months ago and I'm still having to give out personal info.

[EC]

97. Restrurants are notorious for this

They'll file , change their name and start over with new credit...

[Gothmog]

83. Way to go Sylvester

Turner should had been elected Mayor of Houston back in 1991. I still do not watch the ABC station news because of what they did to Sylvester.

[skoobeedu]

104. Another thing that irritates me

is applying for a credit card and getting a denial that states that there have been too many requests for my credit information. WTF? I got one of these and so I got a copy of my credit report and not one of the companies checking my report ever asked my permission before they did it. I've never understood how they can use this against you?????

[liberalhistorian]

111. They're not supposed to be

used against you. Those kinds of inquiries are called "soft inquiries", where companies have requested the credit information from credit bureaus of people who fit a particular profile they're looking for in order to send credit offers. They are not supposed to be considered in the "too many credit info requests" factor. The only inquiries that are supposed to be considered part of the "too many requests" factor are those where you've applied for credit to a particular company and they've checked your report. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way, a lot of times the "soft" inquiries are counted against you when they're not supposed to be.

[Solon]

116. The most annoying thing to me...

These are all I have on my credit report, Car payment I paid off years ago, Student Loan I paid off several years ago, and one negative, and that is a 1100 dollar debt that I had to pay when I was sued, happened about 5 years ago. What pisses me off is that I paid that settlement($400) the SAME DAY we settled, signed the papers and everything, but it was still put on my credit report as $1100. Now I can't get so much as a car loan, and the reason is no pluses(refused to get a credit card) and one negative. Now why the fuck is the fact that I have never been in debt on a constant basis a negative? I paid bills on time, car payments, and yet, because of no credit card, they penalize me? I don't want to get ripped off, I HATE credit card companies and that ridiculous interest of theirs.

[liberalhistorian]

117. There's a simple reason for that, as

annoying as it is. Credit scores measure not only your payment history, but the TYPES of credit you have and whether or not you have any current debts or loans that you're making payments on. They want to see a current payment history, in other words, you have to have loans or credit cards you're paying steadily on in order to be considered for other credit.

This is because they want to see what type of payments you'd make currently, too many closed accounts and not enough current credit are two very big problems for your credit score. The score measures the amount of credit you have currently versus what you use and pay on, and if you don't have any current credit, loans, or debt you're paying on then you're going to have problems applying for credit. It's bullshit, I know, but that's just the way it is.

[Solon]

118. See that makes even less sense...

If someone has 20 credit cards, unless they are a multi millionare, I wouldn't loan a dime to them, who knows how much longer they can hold out on making those payments. Also, I would think being OUT of debt means you are fiscally responsible, especially when you already paid off car or student loans. Its not like I couldn't control myself with credit cards, its just that when they first started the offers, you know, when you are like 16 to 17 years old, I looked into it, on the internet and elsewhere, and simply said "Fuck this, I don't want to be scammed." That's all these credit companies are, a fucking scam, and I refuse to participate, I could understand loans, but borrowing money for day to day expenses? I'm not the government, that's just stupid.

[liberalhistorian]

120. I totally agree, I'm just

the messenger, lol! I also refuse to have credit cards anymore. I had a couple that only had about $400 balance on each one. I lost my job suddenly and wasn't able to make any payments on either of them for several months. I had more important stuff to pay, you know, little things like rent, food and clothes for the kid, utilities, etc. Well, the goddamn fees, late charges and penalties drove the balances up on each card to well over two thousand dollars before I was able to make any payments. I finally managed to pay both of them off and just swore off credit cards after that, fuck them and the scamming companies.

But I agree with you, unfortunately, we're not the brilliant minds who were charged with developing the damned scoring system and no one was or is interested in our opinion, never mind how much it controls our lives now.

[sendero]

121. IMHO....

.... the biggest problem with credit-reporting companies is that their databases are total crap.

Many many years ago I applied for a home mortgage. They came back with a red-flag on my wife. They said she owned the electric company $160 in a city she'd never even been to. Not only that, but she still had her maiden name at the time the debt was incurred.

I had to go the the damn bureau and fuss with them and prove it wasn't her. Once I clearly convinced them that it was an error, I asked them "how is your data useful with so many innacruacies and how did this happen"?

They declined to answer the first question but admitted that anyone on a mortgage office with one of their terminals could MERGE TWO PEOPLE'S RECORDS. So, based on nothing more than a name (they are supposed to use at least one more piece of data like birthdat, SSN, etc) they had merged my wife's record with some unknown in another town. Freaking unbelieveable.

[liberalhistorian]

122. As a paralegal who used to work for

one of the major credit bureaus, and who relies on public record searching in my private business, I can say with certainty that you're absolutely correct. There are TONS of mistakes, inaccuracies, and blatantly false information in not just the credit reporting agencies' data, but all the other public record databases that they rely on and that are relied on by many other similar agencies.

People have no idea just how incorrect their reports may be. And they don't do enough to verify them, either, especially for really common names. Even though we were supposed to have more than one identifier for public records such as court and recorder's office records, more often than not we were told just to flag it as a record even if only the name matched and we had no other identifiers. And this was AFTER this particular agency had gotten hit with a five MILLION dollar judgment for fucking up someone's records and refusing to correct them even after being given irrefutable proof that said records were incorrect. They just don't give a shit. They rely on the fact that most people don't know all the mistakes on their records and that they don't know how to get them corrected.

The whole goddamned industry is just like that, they just couldn't care less, even though they are liable and most courts will definitely hold them accountable. By that time, though, a lot of damage can be done to a person's records and hence their life in general, damage that's very, very difficult to overcome once it occurs. I was very happy not to work there anymore and I never, ever will again. I believe in using employment to help people and not fuck them over every day.