Using CFPB Complaints to Dispute things

[Anonymous]

...with the credit reporting agencies. Has anyone tried this?

If so, please share your story or results. 

I've been helping a few of my real estate clients use the site to hopefully clean up errors etc on their credit so I'll have some data after a month or two to share but I wanted to check with you guys also.

-Glenn

[thornback]

CFPB and BBB seem to work best if you've already tried disputing directly with the creditor or bureau (though this is not required). But both are handy tools for getting more detailed responses. They each require the bureaus to at least acknowledge and provide a status of your complaint within 15 days, at which point they will either respond with a resolution, request for more info, or a status of "still working".

Of Note: CFPB allows the bureaus a full 60 days, from the date of complaint, to complete their investigation - in my experience, the bureaus completed the investigations within the standard 30 days.

The nice thing is you can upload any supporting documentation along with your complaint.

I've complained about 3 separate issues:
I had 1 success with CFPB and 1 failure which prompted me to resubmit the same complaint with BBB - success; and I have one CFPB complaint currently awaiting a response.

Transunion seems to be more responsive to BBB complaints; Equifax does not seem to care at all; I have no experience with Experian.

[RobertEG]

If you are referring to a dispute as defined under the FCRA, it is for seeking correction of inaccuracy or incompleteness of information reported to your credit file/report.  

The FCRA dispute process sets specific periods for conclusion of investigations and reinvestigations of consumer disputes, and also provides for civil action should an investigation of a dispute be found unreasonable.  It also imposes reinsertion limitations once a dispute is resolved.

The FCRA provides for complaints to the FTC, the CFPB, or other federal agencies, for asserted violations of the FCRA of FDCPA.

In general, a dispute may or may not involve assertions of some violation of the FCRA.  A typical example would be issues of non-complaince with the debt validation procedure under the FDCPA, which is not a credit reporting matter that involves a CRA, and is not disputable under the FCRA dispute process. 

Additionally, many inaccuracies do not become violations of the FCRA until they are first subject to the dispute process. Complaints to the CFPB do not impose statutory periods for completion, and do not mandate deletion by the CRAs based on lack of correction or verification within the prescribed statutory period for reinvestigation.

The most common type of dispute is a good example, which is the dispute of accuracy of information reported to the CRA.

Accuracy of reported information is governed under FCRA 623(a).

In general, FCRA 623(c) bars a consumer from bringing their own private civil action for violation of the reporting provisions of section 623(a).  It mandates that the consumer must first bring a dispute under section 611, which requires the furnisher to investigate, and the CRA to reinvestigate, the accuracy of the reported information.  It is then only the reasonableness of their investigation of the dispute that becomes subject to civil action by the consumer, and not the reporting of the information per se, even if knowingly inaccurate.

The intent is thus to draw a distinction between disputes to correct inaccuracies and the use of complaints to federal oversight agencies, such as the FTC or CFPB, as the first step toward correction of inaccuracies.

You should, under the FCRA, almost always address corrections of inaccuracies reported to a CRA by filing of a dispute rather than filing of a complaint to the CFPB or other agency.  Unless you have a specific example of wanting to pursue a specific violation of the statute by involvement of the CFPB, rather than simple first review of the accuracy of reported information, then I would definately use the dispute process.