I recently had 3 issues I was disputing with all 3 bureaus. TU and EQ quickly took care of all 3 and they were removed. EX sent me my report with the same info and said they had investigated and here are the results. NOTHING REMOVED and no explanation. Now, for one of them, I produced irrefutable proof I had paid the debt 2 yrs prior to it "allegedly" being given to a collection agency. In fact I sent it to EX twice, since the first time they claimed they could not do anything due to my failure to include proper ID with my dispute. Neither EQ nor TU asked for all that ID for the dispute.
When I got the EX report in the mail, I was livid and took to the phone. First got a stupid girl on the phone who told me EX "probably" did nothing with the proof of payment I sent because I needed to get something from the original creditor saying it was paid. I reminded her the OC was not involved in the collection. She kept talking nonsense and I askled for a manager. Surprisingly, one came to the phone. He was extremely pleasant & professional. But he had the gall to first tell me they had no record of receiving any proof from me. I nearly lost it. Of course, everything was sent via certified mail. He put me on hold and came back to say he found it and apologized. Said he would remove the acct immediately - and he did. It was a recent baddie so score shot up 35 points. Then I asked about the other 2. I told him outright that I felt certain Experian had done nothing with my disputes & just sent me back my report pretending they had investigated. Strangely, he never reacted as if that was crazy, and never denied it. Instead, he said he was putting in the dispute right now for the other 2. I asked him asked what happened to the dispute they should have done 30 days ago. He could only say he wasn't sure. So many violations of the FCRA.
After the phone call, I put everything in writing to Experian with a copy to the CEO and a copy to the CFPB. In my letter, I asked for "a description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information obtained to validate the dispute" - pursuant to 15 U.S. Code § 1681i(a)(6)(b)(iii)).
I also included this legal notation in my letter:
"In Cushman v TransUnion, Stevenson v. TRW (Experian), and Richardson v. Fleet, Equifax, et al, the courts ruled in each of these cases that the CRAs could not merely "parrot" back the same creditor information which the CRA already had in its files. The courts ruled that the CRAs had to conduct an independent REASONABLE investigation to ensure the validity of the information along with the honesty and integrity of the creditor or CA in question."
As I undestand it, all the bureaus do is shoot over a stupid 2 or 3 digit code (e-Oscar) to the creditor and they respond back with a stupid code or response. And that's the investigation. What a bunch of crap. Transmitting codes to a creditor is NOT a REASONABLE invvestigation.
Everyone be mindful of the fact that investigations may be a farce, and in most cases we won't know.
