May 27, 2004

GUS to demerge Experian?

Parent Company Confirms Review that Could Spin off Experian

"May 27, 2004 — LONDON - John Peace, chief executive of GUS, has announced during a presentation of the retailer's preliminary results that the board has decided to undertake a two-year strategic review that could result in a demerger of Experian.

The review will consider "all strategic options", which could include keeping the group's current structure, including retail chains Homebase and Argos, or a demerger of Experian, which analysts have valued at between £3.5bn ($6.43 billion) and £4.5bn ($8.26 billion) as a standalone company.

In the 12 months to March 31 2004, GUS reported group sales up 6% to £7.5bn, with underlying profits up 29% to £827m. Experian's sales were up 14% to £1.29bn with profits up 20% to £282m.

..."

That they are allowed to personally profit from the damages they inflict on consumers with their false and incomplete credit reports is just beyond belief. Why don't more attorneys go for jury trials?

Posted by Christine at 11:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 23, 2004

3/16/04 Experian/Jones Day letter - I have NO idea what's going on

Courtney Vaudreuil with Jones Day, the Experian and CIC legal team, replied to my 2/28/04 letter, Exhibit AN

Her reply is scanned below and she confirms that "... you are not able to dispute items over the internet, ..."

Why IS that? Why can't I dispute on the net and on the phone like everybody else? Why are all the CRAs retaliating?

I have no idea what she is saying in the second paragragh, whether my questions are about Experian or the ConsumerInfo.com report. I really don't give a rat's ass that "Consumerinfo.com is a separate corporate entity from Experian." I had questions about the 2/27/04 CIC report, my Exhibit AN-3.

Why can't I get any answers? Why is she acting like she doesn't know which report I'm talking about?

She HAS the exhibits, they were mailed WITH my letter!

I had sent questions about the CIC privacy policy directly to CIC, and she wrote on 1/13/04 that I need to send questions to her (see the scan below). So I did, and now THAT!

Then she gives me a lecture on discovery and assures me "I am willing to help you resolve any alleged inaccuracies on either your Experian credit file or Consumerinfo.com report. However, as we are currently in litigation, my treatment of this matter must follow the appropriate rules and procedures set forth under Federal and local laws."

She's telling me to (deleted) off. Just great. Of course they're ALL telling me to (deleted) off. They're so skilled.

And she's asking for DOCUMENTS to prove that Trans Union claims that CIC is altering their data.

Of course all I have is the telephone recording from Lisa at TU and the transcript, Exhibit P-3. Haven't posted the transcript yet, but here's the audio file. Sorry it's such a large file, 1.5 mb, maybe somebody can make that a little smaller?

I wonder if they expect me to die or something.

They know exactly how screwed up their credit reports are, they know that I can prove it, why aren't they AT LEAST trying to look like they're concerned with their FCRA non compliance?

This sure explains why most Americans are living in a daze, drugged, drunk and watching TV. It's tough to want to deal with this reality. It seems like the only functioning brains are working for evil corporation, trying to make sure nobody wants to think.

The 3/16/04 letter:

3-16-04-Courtney-reply-re-limits-pub.jpg

3-16-04-Courtney-reply-re-limits-p2.jpg


The 1/13/04 letter:

1-13-04-Courtney-re-CIC-privacy-policy.jpg

Posted by Christine at 09:50 PM | Comments (12)

March 12, 2004

My 10/05/01 dispute with Experian

The Union Bank account that was just corrected in September to "closed by consumer" had the notation:

"Status: paid. $0 past due as of 8-2001"

Huh? I must be missing the part on the ADVS that says that is was past due.

Obviously, this is a derogatory notation, although I don't know how Fair Isaac rates it.

For a manual review the MIS report indicates that the account was past due at some time and that I then paid the delinquent balance. Of course that's not true.

I actually never used this account, it was an overdraft line and I don't usually write bad checks.

Note that I addressed the dispute to Experian, but they forwarded it to MIS.

The dispute:

10-5-01-CDSW-dispute.jpg

Posted by Christine at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)

MIS Exhibit 6: 8/27/01 ADVS Union Bank

The Union Bank ADVS shows that the "Hist. Status # mo" was changed from 18 to 0. I have no idea what that means.

Also, the "SCC: undef. Amt." was deleted as with Cap. One.

I had disputed that it was closed by me, not the credit grantor, and it was corrected.

Union Bank is a problem account with Trans Union, as they report it as "unrated" and I'm afraid to dispute it because it might get deleted. I also would not dispute a "closed by credit grantor" again -- this was 2001 and I didn't know how important account history is for FICO scores.

The ADVS:

8-27-01-ADVS-UnionBank.jpg

Posted by Christine at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

Why did MIS/Experian ask who an account belongs to?

who the account belongs to.jpg

It's pretty obvious. They didn't want consumers disputing accounts as not theirs.

What gives Experian/MIS the right to ask this question?

Posted by Christine at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2004

OUCH! RNB ran my Experian ...

On 2/27/04, I called Retailers National Bank on my Mervyns account. I noticed that they had reduced the limit from $400 to $200.

They told me that they reduced the limit because I haven't used the card and to "protect me". So I asked what it takes to increase my limit again, and she said she'd have to run the credit. Thinking they'd do an account review, I didn't care.

I just checked PG and it's a HARD inquiry. And, they only raised the limit to $300. Ack!

Posted by Christine at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2004

Experian lies to minimize disputes

"Experian cannot delete or change information that is accurate or that has been verified as accurate."

That's the big lie. The FCRA specifically REQUIRES CRAs to review and consider consumer documentation:

§ 611. Procedure in case of disputed accuracy [15 U.S.C. § 1681i]

(a) Reinvestigations of disputed information.

(4) Consideration of consumer information. In conducting any reinvestigation under paragraph (1) with respect to disputed information in the file of any consumer, the consumer reporting agency shall review and consider all relevant information submitted by the consumer in the period described in paragraph (1)(A) with respect to such disputed information.

3-7-04-online-dispute-cannot-change-pub.jpg

I'm sure this outrageous lie saves Experian many millions of dollars.

Posted by Christine at 05:18 PM | Comments (3)

February 25, 2004

The Postal Service reports to Experian

From the ConsumerInfo.com credit monitoring service:

"Address Changes: The following address changes were reported to Experian by the United States Postal Service (Information is taken from Notification for Change of Address form)."

Posted by Christine at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2004

Another Experian order decline

I tried to submit the online dispute of the Cap One limits.

The CreditExpert monitoring service now has an option to dispute online with Experian, but apparently I'm still blocked.

Not only did I just PAY for the CreditExpert (Experian) credit monitoring service with MY credit card, but I also answered several security questions.

Their "Error" message is as idiotic as ever:

"We are unable to allow access to our online dispute service. We understand that the privacy and security of your information is important to you; therefore, we cannot provide a specific reason as to why we cannot allow access. Our registration process is designed to ensure that your credit information is released only to you. You must have a current copy of your personal credit report from Experian in order to dispute information. Please call 1 866 851 6901 to order your report through our automated service."

I called the automated 866-851-6901. Maybe it's because it's late, but I need some help here. I couldn't figure out which option to select to submit my dispute. I listened to various messages on how to order your report.

I do not want to ORDER my report, I want to dispute. If anyone knows how to dispute by calling this number, please post or e-mail.

Despite my repeated notices to Experian that ONLY online access is reasonable secure, and my Exhibit A proves how frequently mail is misdelivered, Experian decides to not only inconvenience me, but subject me to ID theft by refusing online access.

2-11-04-Exp-dispute-order-decline-sm.jpg

Posted by Christine at 02:45 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2004

More on CreditExpert and the FCRA violations

After spending some time at CreditExpert, I found the following major changes/violations:

It is as incomplete as ConsumerInfo.com (PrivacyGuard) reports, missing dates for derogs, closing dates, aging dates, payment history, etc.

NO soft inquiries, clearly another FCRA violation.

NO Experian report number, resulting in the inability to make phone disputes with Experian (I will have to do a test next week to see if they made any changes to the Experian phone dispute requirements.)

No more online disputes (not illegal, just another reason not to pay for it.)

And of course the new "PLUS" score is nothing but another snake oil score - a total fraud.

The free trial is still there, 30 days, you still get daily reports but it's a very tedious process, make sure you CANCEL within 30 days. It's not worth paying $90/year for that crap.

Posted by Christine at 07:00 PM | Comments (5)

CreditExpert monitoring cost?

Since CreditExpert (Experian) changed the site last week, I can't find any info on how much the monitoring is.

The signup form doesn't say.

"A free Experian Credit Report so you can make sure everything is current and accurate."

You get only ONE report? No longer unlimited access?

No free 30 day trial? Experian still has the link to the free trial, but it doesn't say anything about it on the signup page.

Posted by Christine at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)

Experian selling reports for $14.95, the FTC increased from the $9 max?

Just about all the bureaus and resellers have been overcharging for the tri-merged reports, but this is the first time that I see a $14.95 fee for an Experian report.

Did we have any changes to:

3. The Federal Trade Commission increased the maximum allowable charge to $9.00, effective January 1, 2002. 66 Fed. Reg. 63545 (Dec. 7, 2001).

Is it $14.95 now?

Posted by Christine at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2004

CreditExpert crashed - Experian "special handling"

Wanted to include today's Experian as exhibit to my FTC/FCC reply, but CreditExpert has been seriously down for hours.

Tried Experian directly, and got:

"Your report requires special handling. Please call us at 1 800 493 1058. Be sure to tell us that you received this message that your report requires special handling."

Posted by Christine at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2003

UK Groups -- What exactly are those "groups"?

I had a quick look at Media tycoon Conrad Black resigns

"The move follows an internal inquiry which found that Lord Black and other executives had received more than $32m (£19m) in unauthorised payments.

The group's other assets include the Chicago Sun-Times and Jerusalem Post."

This really has nothing to do with credit, but I've been wondering what these UK "groups" are since I learned about the GUS Group (Experian).

Posted by Christine at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2003

Credit Research v. Experian

This case (posted at CreditCourt) is most interesting to me for several reasons:

1) Experian had my credit report account shut down too, but didn't even bother to provide any warnings or any explanation whatsoever. I was blacklisted for years, and could still be blacklisted.

2) Antitrust concerns have been raised by many resellers. Apparently all 3 CRAs want all the consumer business themselves.

"Mortgage Credit Reporting Market Has Competitive Problems, AAI Tells Congress. AAI Research Fellow Jonathan Rubin's Report, Endorsed by CFA, Cites Price Squeeze by National Credit Repositories."

The CreditCourt thread

3) The bureaus CLAIM to be concerned with the FCRA requirements.

From Credit Research v. Experian:

"[14]
In order to safely transmit consumer credit reports directly to the consumer who is the subject of the report, the credit reporting agency must utilize rigorous procedures to verify the identity of the person requesting the report. "

Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Experian's ONLY concern is the increase in profits, and I outlined that quite well in my Objection to their CEO Craig Smith's Motion to Dismiss.

If Experian WAS concerned with FCRA compliance, they would make sure that only their clients WITH a permissible purpose access consumer reports and they would clearly identify the permissible purpose for each inquiry.

I sued Experian last year in small claims for my COMPLETE report. The complete report INCLUDING the permissible purpose of the entities who accessed my credit report.

Experian is the only CRA categorically refusing to identify promotional inquiries, misleading consumers to believe that any unauthorized inquiries without a permissible purpose are PROMOS.

Of course Experian fails to comply with the FCRA requirement for complete consumer disclosures to PROTECT THEMSELVES AND THEIR CLIENTS from lawsuits.

When consumers don't know which inquiries were promos, they won't sue Experian and their clients.

In my own case, I had NUMEROUS inquiries without a permissible purpose, but I was also thinking they were promos.

And as always, Experian IGNORED my request for complete consumer disclosures. Their Carla Blair didn't even respond to my complaint and faxes, and she lied in mediation.

RICO is the way to go. They KNOW they are inflicting damages on consumers, and maliciously continue to violate the FCRA in order to protect themselves and their clients.

If that's not a CRIME, nothing is.

Posted by Christine at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2003

Experian fails to report consumer disputes in violation of the FCRA

This is really important, and I'm always thrilled to see people who file those complaints with the FTC. Of course they do nothing but ignore those complaints, but it's important to be able to PROVE that the FTC knows what's going on and fails to act.

After all, this isn't about ONE violation damaging ONE consumer, it's about the Experian way of doing business and ignoring the FCRA entirely, intentionally and maliciously.

The FCRA requires that consumer disputes be reported on consumer reports. I believe that Trans Union also ignores this provision.

The discussion and FCRA quotes are at CreditForum.org.

Posted by Christine at 04:51 PM | Comments (5)

September 21, 2003

Experian CEO Craig Smith's Response

I just scanned the filing and posted it at CreditCourt:

9/8/03 - Craig Smith's Reply in Support of his Motion to Dismiss

I don't know anything about the law, but it seems to me that ANY attorney should be able to put Craig Smith in prison for a LONG time using my filings. If Craig Smith STILL doesn't *legally* know that Experian and ConsumerInfo.com are defrauding consumers on a MASSIVE scale, what could one possibly do to create some awareness?

I'm so tempted to dismiss all the bureaus and refile, SO much has happened since March and is missing in my complaint.

But then I'd never know the outcome of this case. I have to remind myself that the main purpose of my suit is to document and publish what happens.

Have to be patient ....

Posted by Christine at 01:07 AM | Comments (2)

August 28, 2003

My Objection to the Craig Smith Motion to Dismiss

Well, that was good practice - I'm sure the TU and Equifax CEOs will be next.

Posted my Objection at http://forum.creditcourt.com/discus/messages/803/2106.html

I could use a week off.

Posted by Christine at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2003

Experian's Ms. Hysmith left VM

Of course she called while I was on the phone with CreditData SW, she left their mailing address.

What bothers me most is their attitude that they call me at THEIR convenience. The consumers are supposed to sit by their phone and do nothing else until Experian returns the call. Why couldn't I just hold?

Posted by Christine at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)

Called Experian - they refused my call

Last night I got this message when I tried to dispute online:

"“Your report requires special handling. Please call us at 1 800 493 1058. Be sure to tell us that you received this message that your report requires special handling.”

I called and spoke with Martha, in the team Challengers:

She told me to call the 602-528-7785 for CreditData SW. I read to her the entire message above, but she refused to assist me or to transfer me to a supervisor.

I requested a toll-free number, and Martha stated that this # was local to me. I assured her that it is NOT local and asked whether they would reimburse me for the cost of the call. She stated that I would not be reimbursed. She again declined my request to be transferred to a supervisor and hung up on me.

I called back and spoke to Ron Gilbert. Asked why the online decline gave me their number when they couldn't help me. He didn't know. He again gave me the CreditData SW number. I asked why he couldn't provide me with a toll free number and he stated that's all he has. I requested to be transferred to a supervisor, he told me she was not available. Bethany Hysmith will call me back.

Posted by Christine at 04:03 PM | Comments (2)

August 26, 2003

Can't dispute online with Experian

Tried to dispute my Cap One missing LIMITS:

"Your report requires special handling. Please call us at 1 800 493 1058. Be sure to tell us that you received this message that your report requires special handling."

I still got the report.

Posted by Christine at 02:56 AM | Comments (0)

August 23, 2003

Experian Press Releases

Experian Press Releases

Posted by Christine at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)

Experian corporate info

From Overview

Experian has clients in more than 50 countries.

In the United States, Experian maintains credit information on 205 million consumers and 14 million businesses.

Experian processes 1.4 million consumer transactions each day on behalf of clients, at an average speed of half a second per transaction.

More than one seventh of the world's population has been classified by Experian into demographic groups for target marketing.

Experian web sites

Experian is owned by GUS:

The organisational chart

From Group overview:

"GUS is a retail and business services group. We provide information and customer relationship management services through Experian, general merchandise through Argos Retail Group and luxury goods through a majority shareholding in Burberry Group plc.

In the year ended 31 March 2003, GUS had sales of £7.1 billion and profits (before goodwill, exceptional items and taxation) of £642 million."

07/23/2003 GUS plc First Quarter Trading Update

"Experian’s worldwide sales increased by 16% at constant exchange rates, again showing double-digit growth in both North America and International. It continued to win new contracts in all major business areas.

Experian North America

In dollars, Experian North America grew sales by 14% in the first quarter.

Credit Information and Credit Solutions sales together increased very strongly. This was led by continuing high demand for credit profiles from the mortgage sector in a quarter where mortgage originations were exceptionally high. In the first quarter, Experian’s direct-to-consumer business grew by 78% year on year, with the number of paid members reaching 1.6m, up from 0.9m a year ago. An additional three affiliate bureaux were purchased in the first quarter, bringing the total to 14.

Marketing Information and Marketing Solutions sales together were also ahead of the same period last year, against a background of continuing subdued demand in the direct marketing industry.

FARES, the real estate information joint venture, had another exceptionally good quarter, again driven by strong mortgage refinancing activity."

From http://www.gusplc.com/gus/investors/reportsaccounts/annrev03/annrev03.pdf

Continued sales and profits growth

This has been our third consecutive year of sales and profit growth. Sales in the year to March 2003 increased by 11% and profit before amortisation of goodwill, exceptional items and taxation by 16% . Experian, Argos and Burberry all reported record profits.

Experian has further strengthened its position as a leading global business solutions company, providing strategic support to clients in over 60 countries.


Experian

Experian helps organisations to target, acquire and manage new customers and develop successful customer relationships. Its clients operate in a diverse range of sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, retailing, automotive and government.

Experian delivered global sales growth of 12% and profit growth of 20% last year, at constant exchange rates. This was driven by the improving underlying sales performance of Experian North America, the continuing strong progress of Experian International and the benefit of strategic acquisitions.

Throughout the year, Experian built on its leading positions in the US and UK, while extending its reach internationally. A number of key acquisitions were made to enhance Experian's global product range and to support its development within important growth markets.

Changes were also made in the global management structure to assist Experian in leveraging resources on a worldwide scale. In March 2003, Craig Smith, formerly CEO of Experian North America, became Chairman of Experian worldwide. He was succeeded by Don Robert, formerly Chief Operating Officer in North America.

John Saunders, who continued as CEO of Experian International, took on responsibility for Experian's global decision solutions business. This followed the acquisition of Experian's remaining stakes in Scorex, an international provider of credit solutions. Experian had been operating joint ventures with Scorex since 1996 and will now be able to develop an integrated product range for decision solutions, available across a wide range of markets.

Experian North America

Experian North America performed strongly during the year, despite some challenging market conditions. There were productivity gains and major new contracts throughout the business, with sales up 13% and profits up 20% in dollars.

Excluding the acquisition of ConsumerInfo.com, credit information and solutions sales increased 8% , helped by demand from clients in interest rate sensitive sectors, especially the mortgage refinancing market.

Demand for fraud protection systems was particularly strong, with clients of Experian s National Fraud Database reporting a dramatic reduction in losses after incorporating the database within their credit application processing systems. The ability to authenticate consumers over the Internet was another growth area, allowing clients such as VISA, Dell Financial Services, First American Payment Processing and Yahoo to reduce fraud and improve each customer's online experience.

Experian also embarked on a major programme to acquire its 38 affiliate credit bureaux. This will provide Experian with direct control of an important distribution channel and ensure that the clients of these affiliates have direct access to the full range of Experian products.

Demand for marketing information and solutions continued to be affected by difficult market conditions, with most clients reducing expenditure in this area. Despite this, sales were on an improving trend throughout the year and up 4% during the last six months. AOL, Citigroup and Dell were among the companies that awarded major contracts to Experian in order to enhance their ability to reach new customers.

There was particularly strong demand for Truvue, the Experian customer management solution, which enables businesses to integrate the records of different business units or databases in order to create a single view of each customer.

Direct-to-consumer sales now account for 11% of Experian sales in North America, compared to less than 1% in the previous year, following the acquisition of ConsumerInfo.com. This business provides consumers with online access to their credit reports and has been combined with Experian s own direct-to-consumer operation to create the clear leader in this growing market.

The recent acquisition of PromiseMark will enable Experian to strengthen its direct-to-consumer offer even further by providing insurance against identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in the US.

The FARES joint venture, which is Experian's chosen way of competing in the real estate information sector, had another good year and continued to benefit from strong activity in the mortgage-refinancing market. Experian's 20% share of FARES profits was up $ 6m to almost $ 50m.

Experian International

Experian International, which accounts for 40% of Experian s worldwide sales, had another successful year. Sales increased by 11% and profit by 21% at constant exchange rates.

Sales of credit information and solutions grew by 15% , with particularly strong growth in business information and account processing. Experian's presence outside the UK was significantly enhanced by the acquisition of Nordic Info Group, the leading consumer and business credit information provider in Denmark and Norway. The acquisition brought the total number of information bureaux operated by Experian to 16 and provided a strong platform for the sale of a full range of integrated information and decision support solutions.

Experian also benefited from recent investments to bring its consumer marketing and decision solutions skills to the field of business information. This resulted in a range of new products, including commercial versions of Experian s credit application processing system, Autoscore, and its geodemographic profiling system, Mosaic.

As in North America, Experian International is meeting the growing demand for credit solutions, not least in the fight against fraud. In the UK alone, card not present fraud increased by over 60% during 2002, as criminals used stolen credit card details to make purchases over the telephone and Internet.

Significant progress was also made in account processing, with a number of major contracts awarded to Experian by clients expanding their operations into Europe. In the UK, Experian supported the pilot of the new Marks & Spencer joint credit and loyalty card.

Sales of marketing information and solutions grew by 14% , despite difficult market conditions. This was driven by strong growth in the automotive and insurance sectors.

Within the automotive sector, Experian continued to enhance its Car Data Check database, while developing the market for dealer management and sales reporting systems. Lexus, the luxury car manufacturer, was one of a number of automotive clients to adopt an automated online system in order to make faster and more informed marketing decisions.

Outsourcing accounted for about 30% of Experian International's sales and showed 4% growth in the year. In the UK, Experian won a major contract from NTL to supply consumer billing services. In Italy, Experian was chosen by CartaSi, the country s leading bank card, to support its customer contact operation.

In the UK, Experian enhanced its ability to provide strategic advice to clients with the acquisition of one of the leading economic consultancy groups, Business Strategies. The combination of Business Strategies analysis and forecasting abilities with Experian's information assets will open up new areas of expertise and product development.

Numerous Financial reports and accounts

Posted by Christine at 02:00 AM | Comments (1)

Craig Smith, Chairman of Experian worldwide

Found out that Craig Smith was promoted from CEO Experian North America to Chaiman of Experian worldwide.

The 3/25/03 GUS announcement of the Board appointment

"Craig Smith, 51, was appointed CEO of Experian North America in June 2000. Before this, he was one of five founding executives of MBNA America Bank and spent 12 years with the bank from its launch in 1982. Mr Smith has over 30 years of senior financial services experience and, from 1994 to 2000, ran his own international management consultancy, Hamilton Partners, specialising in advising financial services organisations."

Below is Craig Smith's bio and the GUS (Experian's parent company) director compensation for the year ending March 2003.

CraigSmith-pic.jpg

Details on the compensation structure.

Check out the stock options, he's got more than anyone:

2003-Experian-Execs-sm.jpg

Posted by Christine at 01:15 AM | Comments (4)

August 22, 2003

Scanned the Craig Smith Motion

8/12/03: Defendant Craig Smith's Notice of Motion and Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff Christine Baker's Complaint; Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support thereof.

Posted at CreditCourt

I'll transcribe it tomorrow.

Posted by Christine at 04:32 AM | Comments (0)

August 21, 2003

Experian Motion to Dismiss Craig Smith

"Although Plaintiff accuses Experian of violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), defamation, and fraud, at no point does she provide any basis for extending such allegations to Craig Smith."

"Craig Smith is Not a "Consumer Reporting Agency""

The law allows corporate officers to lie, cheat, exploit, defame, defraud and steal - they can do whatever they want. Nobody is responsible for anything: it's the corporation!

Experian CEO Craig Smith will never read my complaint. He doesn't give a rat's ass about anything except their profits, their lawyers will protect him.

I tried.

Posted by Christine at 04:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2003

ConsumerInfo.com account termination

I faxed/e-mailed my requests to terminate the ConsumerInfo.com account to Experian, Equifax and Trans Union, and faxed a copy to the FTC.

------------------------------------

To: Equifax
Attn: Legal Department
Via fax to 866-233-3777

To: Courtney E. Vaudreuil
Jones Day, Attorneys for Experian
Via fax to 443-263-3077

To: Trans Union
Attn: Legal Department
Via E-mail to tcs@custhelp.com

August 17, 2003

To Whom It May Concern:

On March 19, 2003, I filed my complaint, case # CIV-03-525-PCT-RCB, in Phoenix District Court.

In their Notice of Motion to Dismiss, dated July 24, 2003, ConsumerInfo.com claims that they are NOT subject to the FCRA requirements for complete and accurate consumer disclosures. In addition to selling tri-merged reports with incomplete and inaccurate credit data, ConsumerInfo.com also fails to disclose promotional, account review, consumer disclosure and other INQUIRIES not reported to third parties, commonly referred to as "soft" inquiries. You may be aware of the FCRA requirement for disclosure of ALL inquiries in consumer disclosures.

As you may know, ConsumerInfo.com also resells those reports to PrivacyGuard.com (Trilegiant) and possibly others. Every one of these tri-merged reports is not FCRA compliant.

I hereby request that you immediately terminate ConsumerInfo.com's access to your consumer credit databases until their tri-merged reports are FCRA compliant.

I hope you agree that ConsumerInfo.com has to comply with all FCRA requirements and is subject to the FCRA requirements for consumer disclosures.

Please feel free to contact me at 206-202-4653, fax to 571-222-1000 or e-mail to christine@bayhouse.com.

Sincerely,

Christine Baker

c: FTC - via fax to 202-326-2012
posted at http://www.creditsuit.org/

----------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:03:04 -0700 -0700
From: faxaway@faxaway.com
Subject: CONFIRM: ConsumerInfo.com account termination

Hello from Faxaway, the world's easiest E-Mail to Fax service!

CONFIRMATION OF YOUR FAX TRANSMISSION
FAX STATUS: SUCCESSFUL TO 18662333777
COUNTRY: 1-NORTH AMERICA
TRANSMISSION: 18-Aug-2003 05:03:00 GMT.
1 Page(s).
DURATION: 1 Minute

----------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:08:56 -0700 -0700
From: faxaway@faxaway.com
Subject: CONFIRM: ConsumerInfo.com account termination

Hello from Faxaway, the world's easiest E-Mail to Fax service!

CONFIRMATION OF YOUR FAX TRANSMISSION
FAX STATUS: SUCCESSFUL TO 12023262012
COUNTRY: 1-NORTH AMERICA
TRANSMISSION: 18-Aug-2003 05:08:51 GMT.
1 Page(s).
DURATION: 1 Minute
TOTAL COST: $0.10

--------------------------

From: "tcs@custhelp.com"
Reply-To: "tcs@custhelp.com"
Subject: ConsumerInfo.com account termination [Incident: 030818-000002]

Thank you for sending us your question. We will reply as soon as
possible, usually within one business day.

....

-------------------------

Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:10:15 -0700 -0700
From: faxaway@faxaway.com
Subject: CONFIRM: ConsumerInfo.com account termination

Hello from Faxaway, the world's easiest E-Mail to Fax service!

CONFIRMATION OF YOUR FAX TRANSMISSION
FAX STATUS: SUCCESSFUL TO 14432633077
COUNTRY: 1-NORTH AMERICA
TRANSMISSION: 18-Aug-2003 05:09:37 GMT.
1 Page(s).
DURATION: 1 Minute
TOTAL COST: $0.10

Posted by Christine at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)