     Lynn Whealer | Sunday, February 06, 2000 - 10:55 am 
In looking through ASK MAX (what a shill)on Experian's web site, I ran across the answer she provided (pasted below)on sharing of info among the 3 major CRA's. My situation is this: There is an entry (a released state tax lien in 1996) that I'd like to dispute for deletion, and it is on Equifax ONLY. Given Max's answer below, if Equifax DOES confirm the info and does NOT delete it, then does that mean that they may actually report the disputed item as to EXP and TU, thus actually worsening my overall situation? (I've already read the morality issues about disputing correct/incorrect info, so please, no lectures ; ) )
Here is the Q & A from Ask Max:
QUESTION:
If I get information corrected on my Experian credit report, will it also be corrected on credit reports provided by other companies? Do you share information?
- AJK
ANSWER FROM MAX:
There are three national credit reporting databases maintained by companies commonly known as Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. We are independent companies and competitors, so we don't share information directly. However, we all receive most of our information from the same sources – creditors who report account information.
To encourage all creditors to report corrections to all three databases, the three credit reporting companies and several large creditors worked together to design an electronic mail system to process consumer disputes. When a correction is reported to any one of the three national databases, the system automatically notifies the other two.
We are working to get every credit company linked to the electronic mail system. Not only does it offer the reporting feature, it eliminates mailing paper documents and significantly reduces the time it takes for us to respond to a consumer dispute.
So, while we don't directly share information, we do understand how important it is to consumers to have the same information in their credit reports, regardless of the service provider, and to have it corrected quickly if there is a problem. |
| Phil | Sunday, February 06, 2000 - 03:07 pm
Hi Lynn:
It's been my experience that getting one
report corrected does not correct another. What
Max is talking about is the ACDV. The Automated
Consumer Dispute Verification. (I think I have
that right) It's voluntary and I've NEVER seen
it work. Depending upon where you live Equifax
may never be used. All of my creditors use
Trans Union and Experian.
I can't advise you on the tax lien. I just
don't know about that........Phil
PS---------Max is full of shit!! |
| rcb (Rbielak) | Sunday, February 06, 2000 - 07:51 pm
Even though they claim to "share" the information, it doesn't change squat when YOU dispute it (with one of the CRA's) and it's deleted. And I'm not referring to the ACDV - that's a different (and useless) horse. The real system is primarily for the convenience of the creditor when updating information so that they only have to enter it into one source and not three.
When YOU dispute it, it doesn't get added, deleted or updated anywhere other than with the particular CRA that you've disputed it with (note that many of Max's replies direct the person to dispute the item with EACH of the other two CRA's as well).
And a CRA that doesn't get paid by a creditor (a non-subscriber) isn't going to get the benefits of paying subscribers just because of an automated system. If that were the case, then every creditor would only subscribe to one of the three and let that one do all the work. |
| kristy welsh - creditinfocenter.com | Monday, February 07, 2000 - 05:56 am
rbielak:
You are right. The bureaus are only required to "alert" each other that they have corrected information. Since there is no legal requirement to do anything with this information, they are not doing anything with it. |
