A personal horror story of why you ALWAYS need to check credit reports!

[liberalhistorian]

My 16-year-old Cavalier was finally on its last legs after serving me well for a few years (two years of no car payments was WONDERFUL). Due to a job loss a few years ago and the fact that I couldn't find another one for eleven months, my credit wasn't too great so I went to JD Byrider. It's a national used-car chain that sells good cars to people with not-so-great credit and that doesn't hose you on interest rates like a lot of "special financing" places do.

I got a great car, a 1998 Buick Century in great condition that should still be in pretty good condition four years from now when the loan's paid off (300 bucks a month).

While we were getting the budget and financing terms together, the rep from the financing agency showed me my credit report from one of the major credit bureaus. Like many people, I had been very reluctant to look at any of my credit reports, no matter from which agency, because I was afraid it wouldn't be that great and I just didn't want to deal with the resulting frustration and depression.

To my surprise, it was a lot better than I thought. Most of the negative information was from those fucking medical collection agencies that don't hesitate to ruthlessly report even $25 non-payment, never mind if you didn't even know about it 'cause you thought your insurance had paid it already. The rep told me that not only did her own company not consider medical bills on the reports, but most other agencies didn't really put much weight on them either since most people had them, most people's insurance didn't pay everything, and they knew just how ruthless most doctors and hospitals and their fucking collection agencies were, often not even giving people a chance to set up any kind of payment plan. Besides, she said, it's not like someone just ran up a huge credit card bill on extras and luxury items and then just decided not to pay it.

But here's the really infuriating, horrible part. Almost ALL of the negative information that was listed as either unpaid collections or as a profit and loss writeoff HAD ALREADY BEEN PAID OFF, IN MOST CASES OVER TWO YEARS AGO! One agency that had collected two of my medical bills, one of which was several hundred dollars that I'd busted ass each month to pay, never reported either account as paid in full and still had the full amount listed as unpaid from TWO YEARS AGO!

And here's the REALLY bad part: The two credit card bills that I'd finally managed to pay off after busting ass for several months, the bills that had piled up through late charges, penalties, and other fees during the nearly twelve months I'd been unable to pay anything on them when I was out of work, the bills that were for almost THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS EACH, and that had been paid in full over TWO YEARS AGO were STILL LISTED AS UNPAID PROFIT AND LOSS WRITEOFFS! I almost choked on my rage when I saw that! Jesus H. Christ on a raft, I paid my obligations, and busted ass to do so, in good faith that these fucking agencies and their goddamn greedy clients would do the right thing and do their part once I'd finally managed to pay everything I owed.

I had even decided against paying the discounted bill they offered, because I felt I had an obligation to pay everything I owed, not just a part of the bill, and that it was only fair to the companies that I do so. And THIS is what happens? THEY DON'T REPORT THE ACCOUNT AS PAID IN FULL TWO FUCKING YEARS LATER???????

I could understand if it was just a few months later or so, even though they're supposed to report it every month. But TWO YEARS? And one of the medical bills for several hundred dollars that had been paid in full and was still listed as owing was paid FOUR FUCKING YEARS AGO! That's right, FOUR YEARS ago!

Fortunately, I'm the office manager and paralegal for a solo attorney, and you better fucking believe that the very first thing I did the next morning when I got to the office was fire off two very nasty letters demanding that the record be corrected within ten days, or my attorney was going to take immediate action to ensure that they did so, and to collect damages from them. Because, see, I had applied for financing for my new hearing aids that I absolutely had to have because my old ones finally conked out on me and I simply can't work without them, and had been turned down cold due to my credit report. My boss the attorney had to co-sign for me so that I could get them. I realize I should have requested and reviewed my credit report right then, but I figured it would be bad and I just didn't want to deal with it. But no more. No matter what, from now on, I am reviewing my report from all three major bureaus EVERY SIX MONTHS, and taking immediate action if anything is wrong or incorrect. I'm so angry at these agencies for not doing their fucking jobs and reporting accounts paid in full and leaving that incorrect info on for YEARS afterwards, I could just spit an ocean of nails. They're so ruthless and relentless, and so fucking quick to put negative information on your report, indeed, they just love to threaten you with that, but just try to get them to report it when it IS paid in full, and that's total BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!

Who the hell do these agencies think they are, anyway, especially the fucking medical collection agencies who make money off of the misery and misfortune of others and who are fortunate enough to have health insurance unlike the people they harass and bother. My uncle is dying of cancer, and my aunt is constantly being bothered by those fucking inhuman agencies for the money not paid by insurance, either that or she's fighting with the insurance companies to get them to cover the slightest little thing for him when she SHOULD be focusing on him and not further enriching the already well-enough-to-do doctors and hospitals and medical collection agencies.

So now, EVERYONE, you MUST CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORTS FROM ALL THREE MAJOR BUREAUS AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR, IF NOT EVERY SIX MONTHS! I know it can be depressing if it's not good, but any false info needs to be corrected before it damages you. DO NOT ASSUME THE AGENCIES WILL DO THEIR JOBS ONCE YOU'VE PAID AN OBLIGATION! I made that mistake, and I will NEVER do that again! And why are medical bills even on credit reports to begin with, anyway, especially if you have a chronic, serious, or terminal illness? Why should people lose their homes or be forced into bankruptcy because they or a family member has a chronic, serious, or terminal illness? THAT IS INHUMAN BULLSHIT!!

And another thing, why is it that WE are the ones that have to correct the information and do all of that bullshit, when it's THEIR mistake and THEIR laziness and inaction in the first place, after you've done your part in good faith? GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR, I'm so fucking angry at these people I could just throw something all the way across the room! And you better believe that my boss and I reported that agency that had had TWO medical accounts, not just one, listed as unpaid when they were paid long ago to both the Better Business Bureau and the agency in charge of enforcing the Fair Credit Reporting Act. I told them that, and I also told them that I planned to investigate them for further violations of the Act, that's for damn sure!!!!!

[madrchsod]

1. same thing happened to us

we applied for a home loan and found out past judgements that were paid or dismiised were not taken off the credit report. the loan officer told us we had to do this when they were settled. we gave her all the papers and she cleaned everything up for us. always check that`s for dam sure...

[liberalhistorian]

2. God, isn't that infuriating,

and what really pisses me off is that you're assumed by whatever you're applying to for credit to be lying until you can prove you paid the fucking bill when you did your part and the company's the one not acting in good faith!!!!! Banks and mortage companies and insurance companies and every other place that uses credit reports just automatically assume that everything is correct, and don't even bother to try to understand the context behind some of the bills, such as is they're medical bills, or were you sick or out of work for awhile, etc., etc.

[dofus]

3. My very first full time job

many, many years ago was for a credit bureau. This is before ANYTHING was computerized, although they were already planning ahead for computerization, and I learned any number of interesting things which are not all connected to credit or credit reports.

First of all, that's where I acquired my intense aversion towards giving a kid the exact same name as a parent. Junior or some roman numeral makes no difference, trust me on this. The best way to make sure your credit report doesn't get confused with someone else's is to do your best to make sure you don't share a name with anyone else. I don't think I ever saw a case where kid had same name as dad where their credit records didn't get confused.

The other one is what liberalhistorian said above, that you cannot take it for granted that the information on your credit record will be accurate. I can tell you that way back then, in the dark ages before computers, we probably did a much better job of keeping the credit records correct than happens now. We manually verified much of the information, and simply deleted anything more than seven years old. I'm under the impression that these days everything stays on the file forever.

[liberalhistorian]

5. I think things stay on the file forever

because people don't check their reports and just assume in good faith that the agencies are doing their job once you've fulfilled your obligations.

It's up to the creditor or the collection agency, though, to report an account as paid in full once it's settled. I don't blame the credit bureaus if an account is listed as unpaid or a P%L Writeoff when it's been paid if the creditor or collection agency hasn't reported it as paid, that's the creditor's fault.

I do blame the bureaus, though, when they've been given the correct information and refuse to correct it or when they don't delete information over seven years old, which they're supposed to do BY LAW, or when they don't correct information even when they've been given all of the required. supporting evidence by the debtor. I

worked for the employment screening division of Trans-Union for several years, and I know how easy it is to fuck up information and how slow and indifferent they are to incorrect and false information. Not even getting hit with a 4.5 million dollar judgment several years ago for failing to do just that seemed to get through to them. THANK GOD I don't work for them anymore!

[arcane1]

4. amen, brother/sister

and woe to he who finds himself on the ChexSystems database! Not only can you be royally screwed by the legitimate info on there, it takes EONS for the paid-off items to disappear

[liberalhistorian]

6. What's the ChexSystems database,

dare I ask?

[arcane1]

7. they keep track of things like bounced checks, etc

and paid loans, rent, that sort of thing

bounce a check in 1995 and then try to get a bank account. They are almost ALL doing it now, and you can/will be rejected for having pretty much anything at all on there

[liberalhistorian]

8. That is such BULLSHIT!

This is why I go to credit unions now and not banks, because they don't focus on shit like that, at least none of the credit unions that I know do that. And banks are so desperate for customers now, you'd think they'd know better! But what is their response? Instead of inmproving their own operations and how they do business, they're going after the credit unions, trying to get laws passed to greatly curtail and limit what the credit unions can do.

And with the economy tanking the way it is, who the hell's gonna be left to be their customers if they rely on that kind of ridiculous bullshit?

[ellie]

9. You should check out the

Chex Systems Bites website at http://chexsys.tripod.com/. Lots of really great info including horror stories about banks that have put people on Chex Systems after making minor mistakes. If you are on Chex Systems, then you are unable to open a bank account (checking OR savings) for five years.

[liberalhistorian]

10. FIVE YEARS?

That is NUTS! Is it just me, or does it seem like we're not allowed to make even simple mistakes anymore without having shit like this happen to us? And just try to get anyone to care or do anything about false info, you might as well try to contact Santa Claus!

[ChoralScholar]

11. I had a checking account go belly up

after I lost my job in 2001. I was finally able to get a checking account with BOA after tying the overdraft to my BOA credit card.

ChexSystems sucks, but at least it rolls over in 5 years instead of 7.

BTW, things on your credit report are supposed to roll off 7 years after date of last activity. It's something to check. I only had one, but it was a good payment record, so I'll leave it on there.

[liberalhistorian]

12. Well, then banks better get ready to be the

victims of their own bullshit, because with the economy tanking for all but CEOs, and with so many jobs being lost and people being unable to keep up, they're not going to have to worry about whether or not someone will be a "worthwhile" customer, because no one will be able to meet their bullshit standards. Once again, two words: CREDIT UNION! Much better than the fucking banks!

And since when do employers and insurers get off using credit reports, anyway? What, you can't get a job if you don't have great credit but you don't have great credit because you lost your job and you need to get a job in order to repair you credit but you can't get a job to repair your credit because you don't have good enough credit? GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!