By ,
Published December 23, 2015
Sen. Dick Blumenthal wants explanations from the three credit rating bureaus about a New York Times report about a VIP list they allegedly keep that favors the rich and famous over everyone else.
The Connecticut Democrat wrote a letter Monday to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion about the reported separate system in which errors and disputes are resolved faster and with more attention than with other consumers, who must rely on an automated system and outsourced customer support to clear up mistakes.
"I am deeply troubled by the implication that your companies are neglecting the majority of consumers and providing preferential treatment for wealthy, famous or well-connected persons, and I ask you to confirm or deny these reports and provide more information on your dispute resolution process," he wrote in the letter.
"An error-free credit report is vital to a consumer's financial health, and consumers must be able to quickly resolve disputes and mistakes with the cooperation of the credit reporting bureau," he wrote. "Every consumer deserves this cooperation, not just the rich and powerful."
But the credit bureaus deny keeping VIP lists.
"We did respond to the senator, and to be as clear as possible, we do not have VIP lists that provides preferential treatment to anyone," Tim Klein, a spokesman for Equifax, told FoxNews.com.
"We received the letter, and will be providing a response to Sen. Blumenthal," Gerry Tschopp, a spokesman for Experian, said in an email to FoxNews.com. "As we've stated before, Experian does not have a VIP list."
The New York Times interviewed an Arkansas resident who said she had been denied employment and credit because her filing was mixed up with a felon who had the same name and birthday, and a Louisiana consumer struggled to remove errors from her credit report that stemmed from a mix-up with a less credit-worthy person with the same name, similar address and Social Security number.
The newspaper also interviewed a number of consumer lawyers and advocates who accused the credit bureaus of lacking an incentive to improve the system because their main clients are the creditors, not consumers.
But Klein cited a new study from the Policy and Economic Research Council that showed less than 1 percent of all credit reports reviewed by the consumers prompted a dispute that resulted in a credit score correction and an increase of a credit score of 25 points or greater. It also showed that one half of one percent of all credit reports reviewed by consumers after the dispute process ended had credit scores that moved to a higher "credit risk tier" as a result of the dispute.
"We're not perfect by any stretch, but we get it right a preponderance of the time," he said.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senator-seeks-answers-from-credit-rating-bureaus-on-reported-vip-lists