Comment Number: OL-100113
Received: 11/26/2004 12:30:57 PM
Organization: individual
Commenter: Donna Clark
State: KS
Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Rule: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment
Docket ID: RIN 3084-AA94
No Attachments

Comments:

I do not believe individuals should pay ANY fee for their own credit score and information. The free individual credit report provided under this act should certainly be free. Indeed, OUR information is the PRODUCT that the credit bureaus sell. The bureaus are making a profit off OUR information. Without the individual information, the bureaus would have no profits and no business. Just as in any product labeling, the information must be accurate. The bureaus should be held to the same standard. Therefore, it would be a courtesy to the bureaus for individuals to REVIEW their credit reports for accuracy! Why should we pay ANYTHING for something of ours that makes a profit for an entity? The very least the bureaus should be required to do is to withstand the $4 to $8 cost of providing individuals their credit information, which the bureaus are selling for $50 or so. That is a very small product price to pay for a basic raw material--i.e., the individuals' credit data. I realize the bureaus have other costs for collecting, storing and disseminating the product and that individuals receive benefit from the bureaus' functions. However, again, the basic information BELONGS to the individual creditor AND should be verified by the individual creditor. Therefore, no fee is a reasonable fee for the "free" credit report called for under the Fair and Accurate Credit Reporting Act.