| Comment Number: | 522110-00002 |
| Received: | 4/12/2006 11:55:36 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Brock Fletcher |
| State: | OK |
| Subject: | Procedures to Enhance the Accuracy and Integrity of Information Furnished to Consumer Reporting Agencies |
| Title: | Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Parts 660 and 661 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Dear Sir or Madam: In response to the FTC's interest in hearing outside comments on the subject of credit reporting, I offer my comments and experiences. In the past I have found a handful of mistakes on one or more of my credit reports supplied by the three national credit reporting agencies. The mistakes include, but are not limited to, wrong birthdate, incorrect social security number, my wife's information and items ending up on my report on accounts and items that were not joint credit. These mistakes, as inconvienent as they are, are not to major concern to me as they are disputable and reversable given the proper steps are taken. The issue that concerns me most, as a consumer and as a banker, is the way that some reportable industries, namely the medical industry, submit negative information on a consumer with no regard to such things as pending insurance payments, or payments made by insurance companies that were of an incorrect amount. These issues can take at least 30 days to process and often take more than 120 days for the medical office to receive, all while the outstanding amount is being reported negatively to the patients credit file. New rules involving the delay of collection efforts (including negative reporting on the consumers file) on medical claims until a certain time frame, would be helpful in preserving the integrity of a consumers credit file. I understand and sympathize with the argument by the billing offices that the delay will cause significant losses in the 30,90, or 120+ days that it takes to collect from insurance companies. However, I've known few consumers who pay in the face of collection efforts out of their own pockets when an insurance payment is due any day. By all means report people who simply do not pay. As I analyze credit reports it's obvious that an honest consumer is getting hit on three sides by the medical office, insurance company, and the credit reporting agencies as they try and to take care of the above situations. Thank you for your time, and the opportunity to submit concerns. Sincerely, Brock Fletcher Bank Manager