JVille: Thanks! Glad you found it helpful...
I noted the differences between the two reports you mentioned in my original post - *see numbers 4 and 10 on the list of reports included in the Full File Disclosure.
To answer your question, both. If the information you are disputing appears on both reports, it will be corrected or removed from both reports.
You should order a copy of your full file disclosure from LexisNexis and file a single dispute for any information you deem to be inaccurate. If, upon disputing information contained in your full file disclosure, the data is updated or deleted, it will be updated or deleted for all LexisNexis reports on which it appears. You will receive an updated copy of your full file disclosure once the dispute is resolved. The full file disclosure includes all reports I listed in the original post. So a single dispute will result in the correction or deletion of information contained in all applicable LexisNexis reports.
@Anonymous wrote:
So when we dispute should the results be getting the public record suppressed/removed from the riskview or insurview? I've seen letters stating both? Can someone clarify the difference in the two.
@thornback wrote:Those of you that have tried to dispute a public records item (bankruptcy, judegment, tax lien, etc.) on your credit reports are likely all too familiar with the third-party data furnisher, LexisNexis. Some of you may have been denied a bank account, or some type of insurance due to information reported by LexisNexis.
The purpose of this post is to provide information as to what LexisNexis is, the type of information they gather and sell, and how to handle inaccurate or outdated information included on your consumer Full File Disclosure.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis is a third-party data furnisher that gathers as much public information on individuals as possible. Much of the data is obtained from various public record sources, as well as credit and insurance companies, and is used to provide risk analysis to entities such as insurance agencies, credit reporting bureaus, employers, and banks.
Information included in a consumer Full File Disclosure
Consumer files contain items such as real estate transaction and ownership data, lien, judgment, and bankruptcy records, professional license information, and historical addresses. This information is then used to create consumer reports about you. A LexisNexis consumer Full File Disclosure includes the following reports:
(1) C.L.U.E. Report for Auto: Summarizes auto insurance loss history provided by participating insurance companies. It is used to assess applications and renewals of auto insurance underwriting.
(2) C.L.U.E. Report for Property: Summarizes property insurance loss history provided by participating insurance companies. It is used to assess applications and renewals of property insurance udnerwriting.
(3) Current Carrier Reports: Summarizes historical home and auto coverage infromation provided by participating insurance companies. It is used to assess current insurance coverage as well as identity gaps in prior underwriting.
(4) InsurView: Provides attributes using public record data. It is used for insurance underwriting and insurance prescreening.
(5) Traffic Violation Search: Provides search results from public records. It is used to asses applications and renewals of insurance underwriting.
(6) Bankos Report: Provides search results from national court records regarding bankruptices, tax liens, judegments. It is used to monitor developments that could affect a current account relationship.
(7) Benefits Assessment Report: Provides search results from public records, including property and personal information. It is used by public assistance agencies to evaluate applications for government benefits.
(8) Collections Descisioning Report: Provides search results from public records. It is used to determine a consumer's ability to pay an oustanding debt.
(9) Life Public Records Disclosure Report: Provides search results from public records. It is used for underwriting life insurance.
(10) RiskView Report: Provides search results from public records. It is used by lenders to evaluate an applicant's ability and willingess to repay a debt.
Obtaining a copy of your Full File Disclosure
Pursuant to Section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have a right to obtain a copy of your Full File Disclosure once every 12 months. You may request a copy be mailed to you by filling out and mailing a request form or simply calling them at 1 888 497 8920 and speaking with a representative - throughout my experience they have all been knowledgeable and polite.
Placing a security freeze on your Full File Disclosure
Security freezes are available, but the right of an individual to place a freeze on their report depends on the laws within their state. Some states allow individuals to freeze at will, for no reason, and for free; others only allow an individual to freeze if a threat of identity theft or fraud exists. If applicable, you may request a security freeze by phone. A pin number required to unfreeze your reports will be mailed within 7-10 days of your request.
Opting-Out of LexisNexis
You can opt out of some of Lexis/Nexis products, with limitations. All consumers can opt out of the Lexis/Nexis Marketing database. Per their website:
"Individuals may request to opt-out of having personal information about themselves made available through certain LexisNexis products and services, in accordance with legal requirements or if permitted by LexisNexis policy. Such requests are referred to as "Information Suppressions."
LexisNexis permits individuals to have certain personal information about themselves suppressed from LexisNexis public records that are available to the general public over the Internet."
The opt-out policy only applies to personal information that is available through LexisNexis-owned databases. Please note opting-out of LexisNexis databases will not prevent other companies or public record agencies from collecting or disseminating your personal information.
For more information: https://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/privacy/for-consumers/opt-out-of-lexisnexis.page?
To opt out online: https://optout.lexisnexis.com/
Big, Basic Difference Between Opt-Out and Security Freeze
As explained by the representative:
"Opt-Out only suppresses UNVERIFIED public records. Security Freeze suppresses VERIFIED public records."
Disputing items on your Full File Disclosure
Once you obtain and review your consumer file, you may dispute any items that are inaccurate or outdated. They provide an email address that you may use to submit any questions or concerns you may have about the information included in your file; you may also use this email for disputing information. Alternatively, you may mail your disputes to the address provided. Be sure to include your full name, as well as the Consumer Number and Case Number provided on the top of your Full File Disclosure. Y0u do not need to include your SSN in your dispute if you include your consumer and case numbers.
My Experience
So, I ordered my file in January, by phone, and received it within approx. 8 or 9 days. My file is 202 pages long and all sorts of historical information is included - including every email address I've ever used (dating all the way back to my AOL days - scary) - the majority of which was accurate. There were two addresses that did not belong as I had never lived there, but was associated to one due to a bill that was in my name for a family member and the other because it was a work address - I am assuming my holding of a corporate credit card somehow linked the corporate address to me. I was not at all concerned by these two addresses so I did not bother disputing them.
My concern was a paid & released Georgia State Tax Lien. The tax lien is why I ordered my filed in the first place because I have been fighting to remove the item from my credit reports forever (well, 4 months but forever seems more appropriate) but it kept coming back as verified, with LexisNexis as the source. I finally managed to have the lien removed from TU (EX removed on their own), but EQ has been a stubborn beast. So, I figured my last shot was to get the lien off of LexisNexis and, if successful, dispute with EQ again.
Two civil lawsuits also appeared on my disclosure file and that was a bit of a surpise. Both were filed by Midland Funding (I know many of you have had the pleasure) for a collections debt for Verizon. I remembered receiving a summons in the mail a couple of years ago - at which time I immediately called Midland and paid the debt to avoid having a judgment filed. But there were two civil cases noted in my file disclosure, for the same debt, filed on the same day but in two different counties. I searched for each case docket number using the public court records database for my state and found that one had been withdrawn and archived and the other had been dismissed by the court. It seems that the one that had been withdrawn was filed in a county that I lived in for a short amount of time; once they realized I had moved, they refiled a new claim in the county of my current residence. Once payment was received, the claim was dismissed. Great.
The tax lien is a long story, filled with Equifax lies, which I will detail in a later post - but bottom line, it has been paid and released by the state (GA does not do withdrawls). Once released, the lien no longer appears under an individual's name when searching the county tax / public records. I also received a statement of tax clearance from the state. LexisNexis, however, had no updated information of the lien, so their reporting was inaccurate as it still showed the lien as unpaid and active.
I saved (PDF) the results from searching the court dockets for the two civil cases and gathered my evidence of the non-existent tax lien and wrote a dispute letter to LexisNexis, which I sent via email on 1/27/2018. I simply asked that (1) the withdrawn civil suit be deleted; (2) the dismissed civil suit be either updated to reflect 'dismissed' or deleted; and (3) that the tax lien be deleted due to the absence of records. Once the dispute is sent via email, an email from LexisNexis with a link to check the status of the dispute, or to add additional information to your dispute, will be received.
The dispute status updated to "Solved" on 2/2/2018, so that was really quick - however, the resolution was not noted and I did not receive any further information in the following weeks. On 2/19/2018, I emailed them asking if I would receive the dispute resolution by mail, or if they could email the resolution to me. On 2/22/2018, they responded advising the resolution had been mailed on 2/21/2018. It seems you have to followup with them - I don't know if the resolution would have been mailed had I not followed up. Anyway - I received the resolution today (2/27). They deleted all three disputed items(!) and provided an updated Full File Disclosure. That was super easy - my entire LexisNexis file is clean.
Now, Equifax cannot claim they verified my tax lien with LexisNexis, so I just mailed them a new dispute and included copies of all sections of my disclosure that lists liens & judegments. Will update when I have the results. Fingers Xrossed.
My suggestion to everyone - whether you are just beginning your rebuild, far into your rebuild, have always had great credit, or no credit - get copies of your Full File Disclosures asap and review them. These reports affect various aspects of consumer life and it's important to make sure the information provided is accurate. Request and review them every year. The reports are fairly easy to read as they are simlar to hard-copy credit reports.
Side Note: I placed a Security Freeze on my file and Opted-Out of LexisNexis because the amount of information available was just creepy. The affect this will have on regular consumer activity remains to be seen. Will update on this point, if necessary.
Thanks for reading, I know this post was long but hope some of you found it helpful.
March 7, 2018 Update:
Success! EQ has deleted the tax lien from my report.
Thank you so much for all this information, TMR! I do have some additional questions I think you might be able to answer since you've done all just about a year ago. I recently ordered my report and my husband's from LexisNexis. Someone is advising me to freeze the report, as you have done, but I have concerns.
I am rebuilding my credit right now (deletions galore!) and may need to apply for some new cards later this year. I may also want to purchase a new auto insurance policy. Have you run into any issues obtaining insurance, bank accounts, or credit cards with these reports frozen? I know for a fact this is what they are using to generate ID verification questions in virtually every sector of the banking industry. I too am concerned with all the info they hold on me (like addresses from where I lived when I was 11 years old) and I also don't like the idea of debt collectors using all this to harass me or target me. Thanks in advance for your assistance!
Hi R&B....
I have opened new CCs, one new bank account, and got a new insurance policy in the past year and have never been asked for so much as copies of my ID --- until this past week when I apped for a Navy Federal membership. The CSR stated they were unable to auto-verify my ID and asked that I send proof of address and ID... I sent that info immediately (LN is still frozen) and am awaiting a status update as the membership app is still pending. I have no idea if their inability to verify has anything to do with LN being frozen -- but it's a credit union so it's very possible they utilize LN for such things. If that is the issue, then I'll simply unfreeze LN and refreeze once the process is complete. LN provides a PIN number for that process and, if I recall correctly, the LN rep stated it can take up to 24 hours for the request to complete. But in general - no, having LN frozen hasn't caused any issues for me - thus far. Interestingly, I still get the same type of verification questions I would get prior to freezing LN and am able to answer and move forward without issue.
Best of luck as you continue your rebuild and Happy New Year!!
@RehabbingANDBlabbing wrote:Thank you so much for all this information, TMR! I do have some additional questions I think you might be able to answer since you've done all just about a year ago. I recently ordered my report and my husband's from LexisNexis. Someone is advising me to freeze the report, as you have done, but I have concerns.
I am rebuilding my credit right now (deletions galore!) and may need to apply for some new cards later this year. I may also want to purchase a new auto insurance policy. Have you run into any issues obtaining insurance, bank accounts, or credit cards with these reports frozen? I know for a fact this is what they are using to generate ID verification questions in virtually every sector of the banking industry. I too am concerned with all the info they hold on me (like addresses from where I lived when I was 11 years old) and I also don't like the idea of debt collectors using all this to harass me or target me. Thanks in advance for your assistance!