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The Silent Monster
THE SILENT MONSTER
No, it’s not Halloween time. And, no, it’s not a movie scene. But for so many years we have been living with the “silent monster” that I thought it was time to enlighten you as to who it is and how it affects everyone’s life. I am speaking of today’s credit bureaus.
Do you realize how much power they have? Did you realize that they are NOT a part of the U.S.Government? Did you realize that Experian is owned by a group from the UK? Why would anyone from England own a credit reporting agency here in the US? The answer my friends is simple. PURE PROFIT.
Just imagine that of the three hundred million people in the country, how many credit reports are pulled each day. Now, when you place an average of $12.00 per credit report for each bureau you just might get some idea of the magnitude of dollar volume these companies create. The unfortunate thing is that you are the product and you don’t have anything to say about the product. Your credit report is NOT owned by you. So, how about that for a “twist of fate”.
Every wonder how the credit bureaus make their money and who their customers are? Well, anytime you want to buy something and make payments, the merchant will check your credit. This means that he has to go to the credit bureaus and pay them money and they will release to the merchant your history of how you pay your bills. Wow, what a great business. But, lets go further into this monster.
Lets say that you have a low credit score and something is wrong on your credit report. Try, just try and get them to correct it. Won’t happen. Wonder why? Well, if they allowed everyone to improve their credit and raise their credit scores, you would pay less for a loan or a product. Just check the automobile ads in your town. IF, you have pristine credit, you can get a zero interest car loan. BUT, if you don’t have good credit, you can still get a loan but it will be for a higher interest rate. So, who benefits? You guessed it. The merchant, whether or not he is an automobile dealer, furniture dealer or whatever, they all have a “back room” deal with the provider of funds to get a commission or a “piece of the interest” as a bonus for giving them the business.
I have been involved in the consumer credit arena for a long time. I cannot tell you how many times someone came to me and said “ I disputed this information and the credit bureau came back with the standard answer”. “We have verified with the furnisher of information and this account is reporting accurately”. That is plain X#^@!^. They simply checked with the furnisher of the information and had them check via your social security number whether or not you were a customer.
A few short years ago, Transunion was testifying at a Senate Sub-committee on banking and credit reporting. It came out that this credit reporting agency was off-shoring it’s dispute process to three countries. India, Philippines and Jamaica. Now, you tell me how someone in any of those countries can logically handle a credit issue? This was done because the cost of handling a dispute was a lot less when someone was earning $2.00 per hour versus someone here in the States earning $8.50 per hour.
Now, the life of someone that handles disputes for the credit reporting agencies is very low. Just think, if you were assigned a cubicle somewhere in a building without any windows or the chance to see anything and you had to work in this environment for eight hours. You would get tired very easily. Now, couple that with handling hundreds of dispute letters that all sounded the same. “You are the cause of my credit problems. I am going to let the air out of your tires” etc. How much of this negatism can you take? So, you work this job until your burned out and someone takes your place.
I want to get back to this monster. Because they have to maintain a certain amount of allegiance with their cash paying customers and you the consumer are not a customer, you can see why they don’t want to help you. The reality is, it costs them money to handle your disputes. So, why should they? The standard response always makes the average person disenchanted and they accept this as “gospel” and give up. Nothing accomplished.
But, when someone knows what they are doing and it looks like the credit reporting agencies might have to defend their actions in a court of law, they respond. Now, how does this have any affect on you? Put, two and two together. By keeping average folks in credit prison, you have to pay higher interest rates on everything that you do. Is this power? You bet your little “bippie” it is.
What is the answer? Well, for one thing, they must be made to comply with the existing laws. They also should give each consumer a pin number so that the consumer is the ONLY one that can access their credit. IF, someone wants to sell you something or check on your credit, they MUST notify you first and that way all of these inquiries would be limited. Why should these credit reporting agencies keep your information secret so only they can profit.
Regis Sauger
About the Author
Regis Sauger is a retired PGA Golf Pro and a licensed Florida mortgage broker. He has authored numerous articles with a readership in excess of 26,000 readers. Two of his articles were featured on the Oprah Winfrey Credit show. http://getoutofcreditprison.com www.yurcredit.com
