Credit Card Payments & Early Warning

[Anonymous]

---

@Kevin86475391 wrote:

 I wanna see someone make a documentary about this.

---

+1000

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information.

[Appleman]

Great info. Looks like you can call Early Warning and request a copy of your report. I found the phone number at Earlywarning.com

If someone finds a way to get a report on-line, please post. Also, anyone know how often we can get our own report?

[Anonymous]

You can only request the report over the phone. I don't think they allow you to freeze it either, which sucks.

[longtimelurker]

Think of it as the banks version of MyFico/FlyterTalk/Reddit Churn etc.   On those forums we discuss the offerings, and point out shortcomings and negatives.   With Early Warning, they do the same, just about us.......

[Anonymous]

Longtime lurker,
I kinda see where you're going with that....
But the HUGE difference IMO with a forum where individuals share their
Thoughts
Opinions &/or
Theories
Is not quite the same as banks sharing EXACT data,
Data that they OWN by virtue of an intimate business relationship.

I don't have much of an intimate relationship with you or anybody on this forum (I'd consider it mind you😉) and we don't OWN anything except our ideas and thoughts.

These guys are collecting and trading real data and keeping real records on what actually happened and way more detailed than a report generated by a 3rd party like a credit reporting agency....

Here, we have the data reporter and the reporting entity as one and the same...talk about POWER
Makes it easy to 'investigate' disputes when you are the company investigating yourself huh?

I mean it is what it is...my only point is it's much more than a 'forum' for swapping information...it has way more power!

[iv]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
You can only request the report over the phone. I don't think they allow you to freeze it either, which sucks.

---

EWS is a CRA, and is subject to the FCRA and to the state-level freeze laws...

Yeah, most of the "lower-profile" CRAs try to weasel around that, make your FCRA/etc rights difficult to exercise, or do the minimum-legally-required (or sometimes not even that, until challenged).  But the laws do still apply to them.

Not that a "freeze" has much effect on the data-sharing being discussed here... that data will still be reported by your current banks (so it doesn't stop the info from appearing on the report), and will still be visible to your other current banks.

It would just stop a new bank from being able to pull an EWS report if you (or an ID thief) applied.  And if you lift the freeze to apply? Well, now the new bank can still see the full set of prior data - since freezes don't affect data updates to current accounts on the file at all.

"Freeze it" frequently seems to be treated as some sort of magic bullet to stop data sharing... it's not.

A frozen report still has exactly the same data added to it and stored.

A frozen report is still visible to any current lender/bank/etc, and to any new lender/bank that you lift the freeze for.

The only thing blocked by a freeze is "applications for new credit"... so it's good for ID theft concerns (and I suppose for those with poor impulse control?) - but it does NOTHING to prevent data from being recorded in the file.

[stellar]

If we don't like something that's going on...we can use our power as a group to change the laws. 

I for one am tired of companies selling my information.  I'm tired of the lack of privacy and not having any options.

The other thing we can do is switch our business to banks/credit unions that don't report everything to EWS.  And make it known that's the reason we're switching.

[Anonymous]

At the risk of going off topic, I think to rail against the financial industry comes at great expense. "Our power"? We (you and I) have no power. We play by the rules to get what we want. I've done so and am quite happy with what I've got. Those who would trade liberty and freedom for safety and security deserve none of it.

On topic: my CRB's are spot on with helping me build my credit. I'll look into this Early Warning company in the morning.