STOP! PAY ATTENTION! This is some serious shit that i am about to drop in your lap. I’m going to give you a few minutes to put the kids to bed, turn off the T.V. get your glasses and a pen and paper. Well are you ready? Let’s focus… This is a preliminary post with more to follow as i continue to research this craziness. Any finance or accounting pros out there please help us out with any info you can share. We all know about the 3 major credit bureaus, Equifax, Trans union, Experian. But you might not know that there are other CLANDESTINE companies who track the rest of your life.(collectively they are known as the FOURTH BUREAU). These companies sell that information to lenders, landlords, employers and even health care providers with out your knowledge or consent. These companies gather data from sources as varied as payday loans, magazine subscriptions, cable subscriptions, utility bills, auto warranties, also purchases of prepaid cards, visits to payday lenders, plus rent-to-own furniture stores, gym memberships, rent payments and cell phone bills. WAIT a f*****g new york minute. Are you listening to the words that are coming out of my mouth. These companies know whether your checks have cleared. WHAT! and they scour public records for mentions of your name. SON-OF-A-BITCH this pisses me off! These companies unfairly use your data to draw potentially harmful and unreliable conclusions about your credit worthiness and your ability to pay. Five – facts about the fourth bureau: (One). The fourth bureau collects what the big three don’t. There is no industry standard for the type of data that can be used in the fourth bureau. (Two.) 30-70 million U.S. consumers or more do not show up in the big three or have thin credit histories. Ahhhhh let’s think about this for a minute, i wonder who these people could be that are being targeted by these mother f******g vultures. Come on you have been following my blog for a while you know this answer come on its easy. IT’S THE YOUNG STUDENTS, IMMIGRANTS, MINORITIES OR LOW – INCOME CONSUMERS. Surprise, Surprise. (Three.) Fourth bureau data can help you qualify for a loan or better rate – or NOT. For consumers outside the big three, the data in the fourth bureau can help them establish a track record that proves they are financially responsible. Showing that you’ve paid other bills on time may help persuade banks to lend you money. But not all of them are willing to accept the data in place of a traditional credit history. On the other hand, if you have been late on your bills, it may come back to haunt you even if your record at the big three is clean. (four.) You may be charged a fee to look at your records. You can be charged as much as $11.00 for your file. However, anyone who hs been denied credit or gotten a bad interest rate can get one free report . (five.) No one knows how accurate the reports are.
Federal regulations do not always require companies to disclose when they share your financial history or with whom, and there is no way to opt out when they do. No standards exists for what types of data should be included in the fourth bureau or how it should be used. No one is even tracking the accuracy of these reports. That has created a virtually impenetrable system n which consumers, particularly the most vulnerable, have little insight into the forces shaping their financial futures.
Now it’s your turn – comment ,offer some advise, provide some research, MAKE SOME NOISE DAMN IT!
BREAK IT DOWN PETE 