TU sent letter regarding Credit Repair Companies

[LearningCredit]

I received a letter from TransUnion which states the following:

Re: General Policy

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires TransUnion to investigate free or charge, information on your credit report that you believe is innacurate.

If you have reason to believe that the fee charged by a credit repair company was too high, and/or its services were misrepresented, please let us know if you would like your situation to be referred for investigation by filling out and sending us the form below. With your permission, we will provide the information you send to the appropriate authorities. It would also be helpful for you to attach any brochures or documents you received from the credit repair company.

Name of Credit Repair Company_______________

Contact Person's Name_________________

Contact Person's Telephone #_______________

Address of Credit Repair Company____________

Amount you were charged_______________

What you were promised________________

Complaint___________________________

I didn't use a credit repair company. IS TRANSUNION TRYING TO TRICK PEOPLE WITH THIS TACTIC SO THAT THEY CAN RED-FLAG THEIR ACCOUNT???

[DocDon]

No, that's their tactic when you write to them like you know what you're talking about. In their arrogance, they think all consumers are stupid morons.

Send a copy of the letter back with a note saying you did not use a repair agency and they now have XX days left to complete the investigation.

[bluealex915]

LearningCredit,

TU is a bunch of freaking A-holes, they are counting on the " uneducated " consumer and are using this as some type of stall tactic. Maybe they think that this is a round about way to get you to admit that you used a credit repair company. You should take this as a compliment, I mean your letters must have been that good!(ha ha ).

I have written over 65 letters and not once have I ever got that reponse from a CRA. I agree with DocDon, send that baby back certified and with a green card. Tell them they now have so many days to complete thier investigation or delete the information if they cannnot complete it within the FCRA time allowed.

Oh ya, one last thing. When I write my CRA dispute letters I always put this at the bottom now " this letter was written without the involvement of any third parties and in the interset of having the most complete and accurate information represented on my personel credit file ". This seems to work if you don't want to mess around with the " credit repair " letters that they send out. Now on the other hand some people like the " credit repair " letters becuase they can get the CRA caught up on it in court, it's up to you though.

Good Luck.................

[LearningCredit]

Thank you very much bluealex915 and DocDon. The only problem is that the disputes with TransUnion are 2 inquiries. TU sent this stall tactic letter in regards to 2 inquiry disputes. It is their strict policy that they don't investigage inquiries. I can tell them that they have X many days remaining but they don't care. What's my next step, to sue? If I sue them, DocDon mentioned something about your account being red-flagged and only handled by 1 representative.

[DocDon]

It's called their "special handling" department. If you file a formal complaint against them, threaten a lawsuit, or file suit, they like to pay close attention to the situation that led up to that result.

If they hired quality people and actually followed the FCRA, there would be no need for it.

[bluealex915]

Well, I think that you need to consider the situation. Are you willing to take this all the way over two inquiries? What I mean is do you have some neg trade lines that you could work on instead then come back to the inquiries at a later time. Also look at how old your inquiries are. If they are older then six months alot of places won't even factor them in when deciding to extend you credit.

If you go into special handling they do pay close attention to everything that you dispute. As far as Tu saying that it is thier policy not to investigate inquiries, well you should let them know that their policy is against the law. The FCRA states the following:

(a) Reinvestigations of disputed information.

(A)In general. If the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer's file at a consumer reporting agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly of such dispute, the agency shall reinvestigate free of charge and record the current status of the disputed information, or delete the item from the file in accordance with paragraph (5), before the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which the agency receives the notice of the dispute from the consumer.

Let me emphasize the term “any” in the first line, this means that an inquiry is eligible for dispute by the consumer.

In the event the information cannot be verified it must be treated under the following from the FCRA;

(5) Treatment of inaccurate or unverifiable information.

(A)In general. If, after any reinvestigation under paragraph (1) of any information disputed by a consumer, an item of the information is found to be inaccurate or incomplete or cannot be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall promptly delete that item of information from the consumer's file or modify that item of information, as appropriate, based on the results of the reinvestigation.

There it is for you, I guess you need to look at what is more important to you right now. Like I said, if you have some negs you could be working on it might be a better idea to take those on first and then come back to the inquiries since an inquiry has the least affect on your report.

But on the other hand if all you have to work on is those negs and they are recent enough to affect your score then go for it and get those inquires off of your report. Remeber to keep excellent records if you are going to proceed. This one might be a good small claims case if you take it that far. Just remember, if you start it you should finish it.

I hope some of this helps and good luck with everything.........

[LearningCredit]

Thank you very much. You've been very helpful. Now that I see what you're saying, I don't think it is worth getting the account into SPECIAL HANDLING over 2 inquiries. I still have a few negs I can work with.

THANK YOU!!!