Implementation Of Credit Law Hits Snags

On Day Two of a law to help consumers fight inaccurate credit reports, the Big Three credit bureaus didn’t appear to have their systems up and running. In particular, it was hard to find actual people to answer questions.

Under the new law toughening the Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit bureaus must make employees available - not just recordings - to talk to consumers who call on toll-free phone lines, the Federal Trade Commission says.

“We’re enforcing the law,” FTC attorney Clarke Brinckerhoff said Wednesday. If the Big Three - Equifax, Experian and Trans Union - fail to comply with that and other provisions of the new law, “They will hear from us,” Brinckerhoff said in a telephone interview.

The law requires the companies to provide 800-numbers “at which personnel are accessible to consumers during normal business hours.”

Each of the Big Three has two phone numbers. One is for ordering a copy of your credit report or resolving problems with that report. The other is for asking the credit bureaus not to give out your name and address to credit-card companies that want to solicit customers.

An informal survey Wednesday by The Associated Press showed that of the six numbers, only one of Trans Union’s offered an easy option on its recording to speak to an employee. A person answered after about five minutes.

With two of the numbers, people with rotary rather than touch-tone phones were told to write to the credit bureau. There was no option for speaking to a live employee.

Among the new law’s key provisions:

The credit bureaus face a 30-day deadline for resolving mistakes, instead of the stretchy “reasonable” time they had before.

Banks, department stores and other creditors that supply information to the bureaus are legally bound to be accurate or to fix their errors.

Before, creditors had little obligation to set things straight, leaving that mostly to the credit bureaus.

“When consumers find mistakes, they should be able to get them corrected promptly and easily now,” said Michelle Meier of Consumers Union, which lobbied for the law for six years.

Employers are prohibited from getting credit reports on job applicants without their permission. When they do get a report and find something that concerns them, they must give applicants a copy before telling them they are not getting the job.

There are limits to that protection, however. Nothing in the law specifically prohibits an employer from rejecting a job applicant who withheld a credit report.

Applications for credit cards must include the toll-free numbers provided by the Big Three credit bureaus for opting out of credit card lists.

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