Do Criminals Have More Rights Than Someone With Credit Issues?

Over the years, Congress has passed several laws to protect consumers rights

. The most recognized is the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The purpose of this Act is to "assure accuracy and fairness of credit reporting." Consumer were given the job of assembling and judging a consumer credit and other info about consumers. This is to be done with fairness, impartiality and respect for the consumer's right to privacy.

The cards are stacked in favor of big business when it comes to credit related issues. For someone who is considering Do It Yourself Credit Repair, it is important to have an appreciation of the law that Congress passed to protect the consumer.

A credit agency is a for-profit corporation, which implies they are a business that expects to make a profit for its owners and/or stockholders. The Credit Bureaus compile and maintain files on consumers countrywide. They assemble, guage, maintain and furnish Consumer Reports to 3rd parties with regard to a consumer's credit rating, credit standing, or credit capacity. Their customers are banks, credit unions, outlets, businesses, employers, collection firms, and so on.

Do you see how this could be a conflict of interest? First off, the credit bureaus receive this info from their clients (i.e., Banks, and so on), at face value which means the information is said to be correct. They judge it, assign a value to it (credit score) and then sell this information to whoever has a legal right to get Consumer Reports. This exchange of information is done covertly and without any input in the slightest from the consumer. In reality, a consumer may be completely unaware that there's anything derogatory on their credit report till they make an application for a job or attempt to purchase an item using credit.

While a rapist is presumed innocent until proven guilty, a consumer is presumed guilty without one shred of evidence other than the creditor or collection company's word. The Credit Agency does not seek any input whatsoever from the consumer prior to putting derogatory information on a person's credit report.

This is truly an uphill battle, especially for someone who is considering DIY credit repair. Many times, the only recourse is filing a lawsuit. Each year lawsuits are filed against credit bureaus, creditors and collection companies because of errors found on credit files. While winning a lawsuit might be gratifying and will, at last, correct the record, the derogatory info remains on a person's credit file throughout the entire trial, which could be years.

Having derogatory items on your credit file is, in essence, a 7 to 10 year sentence in today's version of "debtor's prison." What is staggering is that you are automatically convicted without the benefit of a trial or any type of proceeding. In today's economy, many people, who are otherwise qualified, have lost job opportunities based solely on what is on their credit report. Is this really what Congress had in mind when they passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act?.

Shouldn't we be asking "why are the penalties for consumers crueler than for those given to {criminals|murderers|rapists"? Congress should be ashamed of itself!

by: Robert Atkinson

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