If you are a regular in our Community, you may have noticed how adamant I am about sending disputes of inaccurate information on your credit report to the Credit Reporting Agency/ies whose report reflects such information.

Is it Really a Waste of Time to Dispute With Credit Reporting Agencies?

If you do not save this info, and merely send them a letter saying basically “this is wrong, change it”, then you just may be at the mercy of an unscrupulous creditor who will just say “it’s accurate”. For instance, one poster on our Forum stated: “I guarantee you that, even if you send the bureau a copy of a PIF letter, the bureau won’t actually change your credit report. In all cases, they forward the dispute to the creditor/data furnisher who is reporting the information. This method of procedure is all that is required of them in the FCRA.” In order for the creditor to merely say “it’s accurate”, they would have to LIE and say that they did not send you the PIF letter (to use the example just cited), which is fraudulent on their part, or they are basically accusing you of fraud.

The Government Fights Back

According to the National Consumer Law Center’s Report Automated Injustice: How A Mechanized Dispute System Frustrates Consumers Seeking to Fix Errors In Their Credit Reports disputes to the CRA were being processed exactly as the above mentioned poster said. It stated: “Despite its importance, the FCRA dispute process has become a travesty of justice. The major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) conduct investigations in an automated and perfunctory manner.”

They aren’t supposed to just pass the dispute on, especially when the consumer is providing documented proof in their defense. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, also known as the FACT Act, was enacted because of this very reason. So even though they may have basically ignored disputes in the past, they are now fair game for a possible lawsuit by the FTC in Federal Court. If the CRA refuses to bend, again, file that complaint with the FTC. The CRAs may have differing information, but they are all beholden to the FTC. After the CRA spurns the heartfelt plea of the wronged consumer, they usually believe that they are beaten by an entity with power over their lives. This, my friends, is the very definition of tyranny.

How a CRA is SUPPOSED to Deal With Your Dispute

The FTC itself has power over the CRAs. The CRAs actually must investigate and take into consideration any documentation that the consumer supplies. According to FTC Reports to Congress on Credit Report Complaint Referral Program (page 2): “Sections 611 and 623 of the FCRA impose dispute investigation and resolution duties on CRAs and those entities that furnish information about consumers to the CRAs. … If a consumer disputes the accuracy of an item of information in his or her file with a CRA, the CRA must (i) complete an investigation of the dispute … (ii) review and consider all relevant information provided by the consumer“* [emphases mine]. The same paragraph continues that the alleged creditor must also investigate. THAT is why I say to always dispute with the CRA, it’s a one-two punch. Of course, first try with the creditor, and if they refuse to correct it, then go this route. That is a total of 3 denials, and you know what they say about 3 strikes.

Again, keep all documentation, you will need it. Send not only a copy of any letters, etc., but also the envelope it was mailed in. If emailed, print out the email with full headers. The more proof you have, the tighter your case is.

Daddy’s Watching!

The FTC randomly audits dispute data in the CRA records, because of complaints to the FTC that the CRAs are not removing info that is inaccurate. If they don’t, the penalties against the CRAs can be up to $2,500 per violation.

The Federal Trade CO-Mission (It Takes 2 – Us & Them)

I keep harping on about the Federal Trade Commission, but, seriously, they do their job very well. Perhaps people have become jaded against any Federal agency after so many reports of incompetence, especially the Katrina fiasco. But every agency is not like that. Some are headed by very dedicated people whose main motive is to defend people against unfair and deceptive acts or practices, and get a paycheck for it too! Win-win! But it takes legitimate and documented complaints for them to open an investigation. They can’t, both logistically and financially, sue every company that some citizen complains against, but a consistent history of similar complaints shows a purposeful flaunting of the law.

The same is also true of debt settlement companies, or that store down the street that sold you defective merchandise and refused to refund your money, or even that judge who rules in the creditor’s favor even though the defendant has a mountain of evidence in their favor. If you feel you have been ripped off, it is your duty as a citizen of this free country to demand a redress of grievances.

FTC Testifies on Efforts to Protect Consumers of Financial Services; Urges New Tools for Stronger Enforcement Authority is an attempt by the FTC for Congress to grant them more power to file charges against these rip-off artists. Right now, they have to file a request with the Dept. Of Justice, and that can run into one heck of a backlog. That’s why it may seem to take awhile before justice is served.

Thus Quoth The Raven: Nevermore

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” (Thomas Jefferson)

“[P]eople have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.” (Emma Goldman)

“So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent…to put shackles upon sleeping men. (Voltairine de Cleyre)

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* See also the FCRA Sections 611 (disputes to the CRA) [15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)(A)] and 623 (disputes to the alleged creditor) [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2].

Can I get arrested for default of payday loan?

I don’t think so. I haven’t heard anyone getting arrested due to default of payday loan. But there are certain things that you should know which can help you in dealing with the payday loans.

Payday loans are regulated by the payday loan laws of the state. Please check the payday loan laws of your state here. But there are some states where payday loan companies operate as Credit Service Organizations (CSOs) to avoid the regulation of pdl laws. Some of those states where many payday loan companies operate as CSOs are listed here. To know more on payday loan companies acting as CSOs, read this information.

What happens if you don’t pay a payday loan?
I have come across this question many times. To answer this question, first of all I have to tell some basic points. You can get a payday loan either from a store front or an internet/online payday loan company. Both of these are regulated by laws. To know more, read along. Read the rest of this entry »

Right from the day I heard about the Economic Stimulus Plan of President Obama, a question was popping up in my mind – is it going to help Americans? How?

To understand the efficacy of the Obama Economic Stimulus Plan, we have to understand the rationale behind it.

Economic stimulus – what is it? Is it necessary?

According to Congressional Budget Office,

During economic recessions, it has been observed, that people don’t have the money to buy goods and services. If they don’t buy then demand for these products fall. Thus supply of goods and services, already produced, increases in relation to demand leading to excess supply. From the demand-supply theory of economics we know that price falls when there is excess supply of goods and services in the market. In this situation corporations make less profit. Thus, they resort to cost-curtailment through layoff of workers leading to less money in the hands of common people.

In this abnormal market situation, the only thing that can save the economy is to boost up demand. It means, give more money to people so that they can spend it to buy necessities and luxuries. Once they buy, demand for goods and services increase. Corporations try to produce more such items to meet demand. More and more workers get employed and thus they get more money in their hands to spend. Hence, the market expands. The only way through which this can be done is through economic stimulus plan.

Obama Economic Stimulus Plan – how can it help you?
Senate has approved an economic stimulus of $789 billion which is expected to generate demand in our economy to bring it back to normality. Here are some points that can help us to improve our lives.

Read the rest of this entry »

What are the reasons due to which we are in such a position?
Let us analyze the problems which led our economy to this situation.

Main reason behind current US economic crisis is our over dependence on credit. Growth in US economy during the 1990s was mainly due to credit driven consumption by American people. Economic data shows that National Consumer Debt has more than doubled from $789 billion to $1.6 trillion between 1990 and 2001. Mortgage loans and credit card debts increased tremendously. Debt-Income ratio shot up from 67% during 1960s to 95.6% during 1990s.

The US economy received the first shock during the dotcom bubble burst and subsequent stock market crash in 2000 which led to a severe recession in 2001. Finance capital flew out from the IT stocks but soon found resort in the housing market. More and more investment in the housing market led to real estate boom and helped the US economy to recover.

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