Complaint Review: TransUnion - Fullerton California

I have received a reply from TransUnion to my dispute. This time copies of my complaint, with all records, went to the Illinois Attorney General Consumer Advocate and BBB (I have yet to hear from them). Trans Union's letter states: "Our records show that your creditor(s) previously verified as accurate the items that are listed below. Therefore, uder the Fair Credit Reporting Act, we consider this dispute frivolous and we will not reinvestigate the item(s) unless you can provide court papers or a recent, authentic letter from the creditor(s) that explains what information should be updated." To say I am furious is putting it mildly! 1) They consider my dispute "frivolous" when it's impacting my entire life? 2) I gave them a copy of the the SIGNED and DATED document from Citi-Residential from the sale in March, a full and legally binding contract, and yet they do not recognize it and yet in the same breath ask for what I gave them?! I have asked them for proof, per their OWN policy, of how they came to their conclusions, and I got an additional included letter that stated: "TransUnion's procedure for investigating disputed information is to contact, by mail, electronic means or telephone, the source of information. Each source is advised of your dispute and is requested to verify the accuracy and/or completeness of the information reported. Once the verification responses are received, the disputed information is updated accordingly. Changes are reflected on this summary of results that is sent to you at the conclusion of our investigation. If you have any questions regarding the results of investigation, please contact the creditor directly. We store information in our records as it is supplied to us by the creditors. When information is disputed, we are required to investigate and record the current status of the information. We do not provide dispute verification responses received from the creditors." So the bottom line, Citi-Residential could be lying through their teeth NOW, and even though I have a clear and binding contract signed by them, TransUnion doesn't care and doesn't work with the consumer at all, only the creditor. They will not provide you with proof of what has damaged your own account, they will not accept a legal contract proving your right, they will not give you anything but form letters and excuses. Beware everyone, be sure you check your reports if you've had any mortgage problems. I will NOT stop until this is cleared up. I am hopeful the BBB and State's Attorney will come through. If necessary I will have my attorney take this to the next level (if they are doing this to me, how many are they doing this to? There should be a class action suit if this is being done constantly to people.).

Skip the BBB, and take them directly to court. There is a set of laws called the Fair Credit Reporting Act. From what you have written here they have violated the FCRA and because of this you can file a suit against them for damages. The section of the FCRA that you or your lawyer will want to look at is 616 and 617 which has to do with willful noncompliance and negligence. I am not a lawyer but in this case it seems that they would be subject to the harsher penalty for willful noncompliance of 616 616 A consumer may recover either actual damages or a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $1000 plus punitive damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs for willful noncompliance with the Act. 617 Recovery for a negligent violation is of actual damages, plus attorney's fees. Per 618 you have the right to file the suit in State or Federal court but must be done no later than 2 years from the date you discoverd the error or 5 years when it was reported. Which in your case is no problem.

Mike, Your mortgage company is the culrpit here, not TransUnion. Your mortgage co reports the status to the credit bureau, and then it is published by TransUnion. Also, forget the BBB. They are totally useless and have no authority to do anything. They are a joke. Keep in mind that the BBB is a for profit business, NOT any form of government agency. The FTC has authority over credit reporting, and those rights are spelled out in the "Fair Credit Reporting Act" [ FCRA ]. However, they do not do individual enforcement. You have to sue for your rights in court. I suggest since you already have consulted a lawyer on this, have that lawyer file a lawsuit on both the mortgage co and the credit bureau under the provisions of the FCRA. It is a slam dunk as long as you have documentation, and they will have to pay your legal expenses too. Don't get mad, GET PAID!! FYI...A short sale has no significant different impact on your credit than a foreclosure. The narrative is different, but the scoring is about the same. Your late payments will still be reported including any forebearance plan. If foreclosure was actually filed at one point, that may be reported too. Sorry, that is the law. Good luck!