Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
Subject: Recent study on credit accuracy
Organization: ClariNet Communications Corp.
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 91 17:32:16 GMT
Message-ID: <1991Apr30.173216.16716@looking.on.ca>

Here is an item that came over our news service yesterday.  Reproduced
with permission...

From: clarinews@clarinet.com (KAREN TIMMONS)
Newsgroups: clari.biz.economy,clari.biz.finance.personal,clari.biz.top
Subject: Study shows credit reports often inaccurate
Keywords: federal government, government operation, consumer, economy,
	personal finance
ACategory: financial
Slugword: credit

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The credit reports on file for millions of
Americans often contain errors that could cost consumers a good credit
rating, approval for housing or even a job, a study concluded Monday.
	The study conducted by Consumers Union showed 48 percent of reports
it reviewed from the country's three major credit reporting firms
contained at least one inaccuracy and 19 percent contained a ``major''
error that could adversely affect a consumer's eligibility for credit.
	``A credit report can make or break your application for credit,
housing, insurance and even a job,'' said Michelle Meier, counsel for
the consumer watchdog group.
	``The high error rate we found indicates that lots of consumers may
be at risk because of inaccurate credit reporting,'' Meier said.
	One participant was denied credit during the course of the study
based on inaccurate information that she was delinquent in paying a $19
balance on a department store credit card. In fact, Meier said, the
participant had paid off the account and returned the card to the store
five years earlier.
	Another participant discovered information about her mother's credit
history erroneously on her own credit report, including a large loan
dating to when the daughter was only 11 years old.
	Meier said the CU study also revealed a major concern about the
confidentiality of some 400 million credit reports currently on file for
nearly 90 pecent of Americans.
	``We found that a full 27 percent of the participants (in the study)
... indicated that third parties had gotten access to their reports
without their permission,'' Meier said, adding another 27 percent
reported it was ``difficult to tell'' by reading the reports if others
had been given access.
	``One of our participants reported back to us that when she received
her report, another report, that of a stranger, ... was attached to her
report,'' Meier said.
	The CU study involved 161 credit reports on file with the contry's
three major credit reporting firms: Equifax, Trans Union, and TRW Credit
Data. Participants were primarily CU employees based in Washington, New
York, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas.
	Meier said even though the study included a relatively small
sampling, the findings mirror those of earlier reports and indicate
continuing problems with both accuracy and confidentiality within the
credit reporting industry.
	Industry figures show each year about 9 million consumers ask to see
copies of their credit reports and of these some 3 million request
corrections, she said.
	``One of the problems is we really don't know how many consumers have
inaccuracies in their reports because many don't ever ask,'' said Bill
McGuire, author of a report on the study in the May issue of CU's 
``Consumer Reports'' magazine.
	Meier said the cost of obtaining a copy of one's credit report, often
as high as $20, is prohibitive for many consumers, particularly if
reports are on file at all of the ``big three'' firms.
	While some states have placed a cap on the amount that can be charged
their residents for copies, Meier said CU supports federal legislation
that would allow consumers to obtain one free copy annually.
	More importantly, she said, Congress needs to enact laws that would
help ensure the accuracy and privacy of credit reports.
	``Congress has to get the credit reporting industry to clean up their
files,'' she said.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473