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Finding The Right Credit Bureau Agency
Consumer advocates say credit bureau agencies mistakes still happen, and they believe the new law will help you through the nightmare. "We think it will make a big difference with the mistake problem, making it easier and cheaper for consumers to get reports and get mistakes corrected," said Consumers Union attorney Michelle Meier. "Our experiences with consumer complaints are that it can take months to correct an error or it can drag on indefinitely."
But those improvements come at a cost: The credit bureaus know that their enormous databases are a gold mine, and they want broader rights to sell information on you to direct marketers. If that provision of the bill passes, you'll see more unwanted solicitations landing in your mailbox and more telemarketing calls in the middle of your evening meal. Currently, credit bureaus may sell names and addresses to direct marketers only when credit is involved - usually a pitch to give you a credit card - and only when the offer for the card is virtually guaranteed.
The plan now being considered would allow a variety of companies looking for customers - everybody from auto dealers to hardware stores - to buy name and address lists of consumers with specified financial characteristics. "There's a huge demand for it," says Denise Darcy, attorney for Trans Union, which has defied the Federal Trade Commission by using its list for direct marketing. "It is a good business to be in, and a lot of consumers like to get all the choices in the mail." Direct marketers already can learn quite a bit about you from other mailing lists, and they make educated guesses about you based on your ZIP code.
But lists compiled from credit files give marketers - who have never done business with you or even laid eyes on you - a much more detailed and foolproof profile. They could be sure that you paid at least $ 100,000 for your house, that you shop frequently at Home Depot and Macy's, that you have extra space on your credit cards, that your household income exceeds $ 75,000 and that you're driving a car worth $ 25,000 or more. Considering the American public's widespread concern about privacy, Congress's willingness to give up some ground in these areas may seem surprising - except to those who frequent Capitol Hill.
"The financial industry is among the most powerful lobbies in Washington," said Mierzwinski, of U.S. PIRG "The banking committee and the full Congress of both houses traditionally gives the financial industry what it wants." Talking to executives in the credit-reporting business is a bit like talking to someone who has gone through a 12-step recovery program. They aren't proud of their dealings with consumers over the years, and they make no bones about admitting it. "We didn't deliver customer service in the past," said Lee D. Lovvorn, an Equifax vice president. "We sort of looked at consumers as an expense."
Nearly three years ago, Equifax opened a consumer-service center on three floors of a Cobb County office building, primarily to handle telephone calls and correspondence from consumers.
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