The following is a letter I sent to the 3 CB's and cc'd the listed government agencies. I know I am probably going to get some dessenters but i think this is something to consider.
When reporting public record information, i.e. IRS/FTB, only the name of the county recorder, address and phone number? The assertion by the credit bureaus, is that it is acceptable, to merely list the County Recorder, address and phone number, is not only erroneous but false and misleading. The county recorder is not a party to this. I do not owe the county recorder. A listing of this nature is flying directly in the face of the law based on inaccurate reporting of the name and contact information of the original party.
Because this has been going on for so long it is perceived as fact and therefore legal. I beg to differ. The FCRA laws are pretty forthright. A consumer must be able to dispute information with the original party; that an address and phone number must accompany the trade-line; that an investigation, up upon notification of dispute, be conducted in a manner that is fair and equitable to the consumer with regard to confidentiality, ACCURACY, relevancy and proper utilization of such information. 15 USC 1681 (b); that if re-disputed, a re-investigation, the credit bureaus must not solely rely on the CDV and E Oscar system of verification. The latter would amount to no more than regurgitating of the same information originally reported. i.e., the county recorder listed as the original party with address and phone number. With the technology of today, there is no reason why this information should be reporting in this manner. This does not allow the consumer to dispute this information with an confidence that an investigation will take place with any kind of impartiality. Clearly, when the vendors use the PACER system and/or personally obtain records from the courts, have the information in front of them pertaining to the original party to the record.
In cases where the original party is the IRS or FTB, I believe their information is deliberately not listed as this would lay way to a consumer being able to dispute the listing and since these agencies will absolutely not release information to anyone other than who it belongs to, the credit bureau would not be able to verify, leading to the deletion of the trade-line in its entirety. The credit bureau contacted the vendor who merely contacts the county recorder to verify, does not satisfy the law. The information must be verified with the original party.
Public record vendors make their living by procuring public record information. They cannot possibly verify according to the law because the simple fact is, the information will not be released to them. But if they can't procure, they have no job. I am not here to make life easier for you or them.
The credit bureaus have accepted this information which in turn makes them complicit as they readily report and verify knowing full well that this reporting does not come close to complying with the law. In my situation, Experian verified this information on two occasions. This begs the question. Who as the Franchise Tax Board of California did they verify this information with? Because that is the law.
As I stated in my letter to Mr. xxxxxx, a complete deletion of the trade-line is the only acceptable resolution that I will accept. I am more than happy to let a judge decide on the matter.
Cc; FTC, CFPB
Ca. Ag Kamala Harris
Well, that's it. I am not advocating ignoring your obligations, but the credit bureaus seem to be the only entity that is allowed to not list the information in this particular situation. Any other company, this would be a clear violation of the law. Even the government agencies are kind of clueless about how this info gets on the reports so how are they supposed to uphold the FCRA laws. It took me 3 years of fighting with Experian over an IRS lien that was filed in error.
I welcome any thoughts on this.
