     Patricia Holly (Househunting) | Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 10:31 am 
I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Trans Union asking me to send a copy of a current utility bill or driver's licence to verify my address. They had received my dispute letter, but needed this information before informing me of the results. That's absurd, we have written back and forth to the same damn address for 3 years. And there was a generic 2 page letter about Credit Repair companies being investigated by the government for overcharging. And if I wanted to include MY credit repair company in this investigation to kindly fill out the enclosed form with their contact information. (Paraphrasing here ofcourse.)
Who are they kidding? I responded with a big sharpie marker question mark over the overcharging letter and attached my latest gas bill. I sent it with delivery confirmation. I remember a thread a few weeks ago about an unsigned letter triggering a credit repair letter saying something like, we suspect you are using a repair company what is their information please?
Is it illegal to hire someone to write dispute letters on your behalf? I did it not to delete accurate negative information but for them to correct the existing negative information in the report (get the dates reported correctly for pete's sake). I know that Shylock and others' opinions are that flooding the CRA's with disputes creates these situations but my experience has been they NEVER correct wrong information, even with proof. They either verify it as correct or delete, nothing in between. Clearly, a late payment in 1995 deleted is better for me than a corrected report showing it as 1995 instead of 2000, but they have NEVER done it. 3 or 4 disputes later the stuff is deleted but not corrected. The fact of the matter is, I don't feel bad about getting the stuff deleted considering how absolutely ridiculous some of their verifications are. I doubt they contact the companies, sometimes. I don't know what the solution is but the system is broke. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 01:02 pm
This is very interesting. I have never been able to get my credit reports online because I don't live up to their requirements.
Which law requires that I have a driver's license or utility bills? |
| Erik (Erik) | Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 01:43 pm
I had to send them a utility bill just to get my free report (after I was declined somewhere) several months ago. I thought it was annoying too... |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Thursday, February 15, 2001 - 03:02 pm
Did you need the utility bill to get declined?
If not, I would refuse ANY information not provided to the declining lender.
It's obvious that TU just wants to minimize the number of disputes. |
| SleepyheadNM (Sleepyheadnm) | Saturday, February 17, 2001 - 05:34 am
I think they're just using the utility bill or drivers license to confirm your identity. With all the identity theft problems that have been occurring in the past few years, I'm kinda glad they don't mail a copy of my credit report to just anyone claiming to be me. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Saturday, February 17, 2001 - 07:43 am
You don't mind "just anyone" applying for credit in your name? |
| Zachary1 (Drcredit) | Saturday, February 17, 2001 - 03:05 pm
No, I require somebody who's going to keep the balances low, pay on time, have 6.6 credit cards, and help me score 666 or better! Such a tall order, I know. |
