Posted on 02/03/2013 11:52:41 AM PST by Kid Shelleen
--snip-- It's the biggest privacy breach in our time, and it's legal and no one knows it's going on," one critic, who runs an employment-background firm, told Sullivan. "It's like a secret CIA."
As a frequent critic of the credit-reporting system, I'm heartened when others are shocked at disclosures about the industry's practices. But here's the truly scary thing: If you ask some of the lawyers and privacy advocates who pay even closer attention, the Equifax disclosures don't seem so shocking.
"If people are outraged by this, they should be outraged by the whole idea of credit reporting and background checks,"
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Go to each of the 3 credit bureaus to order a free credit report - which you can do once a year. If you create a login to the bureaus instead of freecreditreports.com, you can flag errors for correction and make sure they were done correctly. If you use the free site, you con't to the disputes.
Try www.equifax.com www.transunion.com www.experian.com
>> My manager showed his disapproval when he found out I had no mortgage on my house and had no car loans. Most of the mgt structure were former IBM’ers.
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> Most former IBMers IMHO, are jerks. Only one I have liked is Ross Perot.
Yep, definitely ! And I had a low level exec who was formerly w/ IBM. She complained about me parking my old beatup truck by the building and I was told to park it in the back lot. I didn’t listen though.
Doesn't work. My boss tried that and had trouble buying a car and a couple of other big ticket purchases. No credit rating (because of no debt), no sale!
You like the man who gave us Bill and by default Hilary Clinton? What til their daughter runs.
I learned that lesson the hard way. I was in serious debt. Finally pulled my head out about 7 years ago and started paying off ALL debts.
It was tough at first but now there's light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm constantly harping on my kids not to make my mistake (so far they're doing well).
Not wanting to be disrespectful but that's bs. Both my wife and I have had our ID's stolen with credit cards and loans having been taken out in our names without our knowledge. We are still trying to clear up the mess the thieves created. We are of the belief that we are to "owe no man nothing" as the scriptures say but when some sleazy creep becomes you and begins to use your ID to buy homes, cars, businesses or any other merchandise you, not him, are responsible for the debt. The authorities will hunt you down and charge you with all kinds of crime not the least of which is fraud. And they will throw you in jail.
Used to be you were innocent until proven guilty but with the current credit reporting agencies, IRS and the communists that have taken over our once great nation you are now guilty until you prove your innocence. It took my mother in law 2 and a half years to prove that she hadn't purchased and run a daycare center in San Diego. Some ID thief ran up $150,000 in debt in my mother in laws name then went back to Mexico before anyone knew what was going on.
Don't be deceived. The three credit reporting agencies collect every scrap of data they can get their creepy little hands on. They don't verify s*** then they sell that s*** to anyone dumb enough to pay them for the bogus information. And please... Don't anyone try to tell me that all you have to do is XYZ and it will all be cleared up. The credit reporting agencies may pull something off your report but six months later it will return or.... The will leave the claim against you to stand with whatever rebuttal you may submit to them still on your report. Remember... They get paid for every byte of data, true or not, that they can produce on you.
The problems with the credit reporting agencies and their unwillingness to check and verify what they are selling caused my wife and I, former property managers, to stop using their services. We would get applications from people wanting to either rent or to buy a property, pull their credit reports and then check out the data. Nine times out of ten, after doing our own research with the data the applicants provided (i.e. - Job history, place of residence, banking information, etc.) and the data the big three credit reporting agencies provided we found that it was more cost effective to dump the credit bureaus and do our own checking. We also found that we ended up with better buyers and tenants by NOT using the credit bureaus....
Forgive me. I don't mean to get started and to rant like this. I seriously could go on all day about the credit agencies and their fraudulent system and the dangers they pose to you and everyone else in this country.
No sale? You mean, no loan. You cannot live out of debt and in debt at the same time. To be honest, it has caused me to not be able to rent a car sometimes. I end up having to go to another rental agency.
Sorry to hear your story, quite shocking that they will prosicute someone who is innocent, with the excuse of some other thief. Seems thieves come in packs.
But in my case, after having no debt for years, I can’t get a discount card at a store. The sales people assure me that everyone qualifies, but I never do. At my level of credit rating, hovering around zero, I dont think anyone could open a loan for a hamburger in my name.
I have not taken out a loan or any payment schedule for 25 years. I would be curious to see what a credit agency would come up with under my name.
You are correct. I meant living without credit, not living without debt. Big difference.
Hertz always takes a Debit card. All the major airlines based rent a cars do. It is only when you get down to the mom and pop rent a wreck level that you run into problems.
People are really worried about some company having information when the DC beast has every shred of privacy information, every account number, the power to jack private funds with a few keystrokes, every DC politician lawyer and faceless bureaucrat now has all your “private” medical information, cameras on street corners, etc. This article is a joke right?
By law they have to correct misinformation. They also have to include a letter from you that explains a reason for any outstanding debt.
It’s up to you to correct a faulty credit report, so you have to keep up on what’s in it.
By law you are entitled to a free credit report once a year from every credit reporting company. You have to request it though.
Do you have to supply “sensitive” information to obtain your own report? Do they need to know, for example, SS#? OTOH, how do they prevent your avg joe from getting my credit report?
Your name and address should be all they need for you to get a credit report.
I’ve only done it online a few times. You have to provide name, address and SS# to identify the correct record. Then there were a series of questions based on financial transactions from the past to verify it was really me and not just someone that grabbed my SS#.
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