Actually, the CRAs dont "report" items of information. They record what is reported to them, and include them in your CR. Due to the statutory requirement that all information reported to a CRA must not knowingly be false, the CRAs are not normally responsible for monitoring and investigating the accuracy of information reported to them, and thus included in your CR. However, that is not to say that the CRAs are blind slaves to always accept the accuracy of information reported to them. They can, if they have reasonable cause, refuse to accept or post reported information. But they are not a policing agency, and for the most part accept the accuracy of reporting to them.
That is why disputes to the CRAs of accuracy of information are referred to the party who reported it for their verification of accuracy. FCRA 611(a) does give the CRAs something call "reinvestigation" authority, but I am unaware of situations where their reinvestigation has produced results contrary to those reported back to them by the party who reported the information.
One check on the CRAs is your authority to find out the process the CRAs used when conducting their reinvestigation of a dispute, including what parties they referred it to for their investigation, and the procedures used to conduct their investigation, such as their use of their automated e-Oscar process. This is commonly called a "method of investigation," or MOV, letter. You can either reqest disclosure of their MOV in the body of your dispute itself (FCRA 611(a)(6)((B)(III)), or after receeiving the results of their investigation/reinvestigation (FCRA 611(a)(7)). You might try an MOV letter. At the least, that would tell you who they referred the dispute to, and who verified the accuracy back to the CRA.
That could be very helpful in the case of a reported tax lien. Since tax liens are public records, they are often reported by parties who review public records, and thus may not have been reported by the party who posted the lien.
Once you are aware of the party who reported the lien, you can adress them directly with a request for good-will removal, or if the lien itself is contested, you have the authority under the new direct dispute process (FCRA 623(a)(8)) to dispute the accuracy of the credit reporting directly with the party who reported it. So if you can determine the name of the reporting party, you can then file a direct dispute with them, and take the CRA totally out of the process.
Personally, I always recommend intitially using the direct dispute process rather than the cumbersome and sanitized dispute process through the CRAs.
